"We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe," said Secretary LaHood. 

"This is an important safety step and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving."

The ban on texting for commercial drivers is effective immediately. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750.

"Our regulations will help prevent unsafe activity within the cab," said Anne Ferro, Administrator for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

"We want to make it crystal clear to operators and their employers that texting while driving is the type of unsafe activity that these regulations are intended to prohibit."

FMCSA research shows that drivers who send and receive text messages take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds while texting. Drivers who text while driving are more than 20 times more likely to get in an accident than non-distracted drivers. Because of the safety issues related to the use of electronic devices while driving, FMCSA is also working on additional regulatory measures that will be announced in the coming months.
 

Related Articles:

> Advocacy Group Aims To Take On Distracted Drivers

> Senators Push For A Ban On Texting While Driving

>Safety Group Calls For Cell Phone Ban While Driving

Wham, Bam, Spam Button Slams Email Marketing

Legitimate email marketers risk ruining deliverability and effectiveness of their campaign, if they get careless or greedy with the power of email.

The Dot Email marketing community site said the ease of hitting a spam button to mark an unwanted message jeopardizes future campaigns.

“I believe that a lot of people still don’t grasp the power of the

It’s not exactly been a banner year for the Windows brand. Microsoft released Vista in early 2007 only to be met with a lukewarm reception from both the enterprise and personal computing markets. Dell is also ramping up efforts to offer a Linux alternative to Windows for customers purchasing new computers from the store.

It’s not just the private sector, however, that is displaying hesitancy to upgrade to Windows Vista. Government agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration have publicly acknowledged the fact that finding alternatives to Microsoft products, such as Linux-based operating systems and Google’s Premier Apps office suite, is becoming a higher priority.

The FAAs efforts in this regard seemed to have worked their way up the pipeline, as now the Department of Transportation, the entity under which the FAA is affiliated, has officially prohibiting upgrades to Windows Vista, as is the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Here’s an excerpt from a January DOT memo documenting the rational behind such a decision:

Based on our initial analysis (from internal recommendations and analysis provided by Gartner Group), there appears to be no compelling technical or business case for upgrading to these new Microsoft products. Furthermore, there appears to be specific reasons not to upgrade including:

·    The cost of performing the upgrade (hardware/software upgrades, application upgrades, labor for planning and implementation, etc.)

·    Previous version compatibility concerns regarding Office 2007 suite components (primarily Word)

·    The protracted FY07 Continuing Resolution (CR) which limits available funding

·    The more to the new Headquarters DOT building that would be competing with the same IT expertise required to support the migration to any of these products

So, not only are these government agencies effectively banning the implementation of Windows Vista, but they are also preventing users from upgrading to the latest versions of Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer, a move that the top brass in Redmond can’t be too thrilled about.

Check out answers.com for somme very decent results! USers start with a wi-ki style format where you can get very accurate definitions for almost any term. Then use the search utility for somme great leads! http://www.answers.com – As a testbed I search for “alabama gis data” and the utility returns pointers to the following top resources: GSA Geospatial Data Clearinghouse , Alabama Water Quality Information System - Geo-Spatial Data, GIS Data Sets Alabama

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Second Chance Tuesday? As The Times succintly explains, this is the next stage on from First Tuesday, the internet networking business that typified the dot-com boom. Can a dot-com collapse be far behind? asks The Times rhetorically, answering its own question with “Time will tell, but some think there are definite similarities between today and those heady times in 1999.”

If 1999-style partying typifies Second Chance Tuesday’s focus, then a collapse looks pretty immediate. If Web 2.0 is the focus, then forget the partying and get those beta offerings out there into market right away and join the conversations, Web 2.0 style.

Otherwise, think Dot Com 2.0.

(via DrewB)

Related NevOn post:

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

Hurricane Katrina exposed a serious and ongoing problem with misinformation. It was widely reported that more than 10,000 were dead, when the actual figure was a little over 1,000. A rampage of murder and rape was reported. Not true. It was estimated that it would take three months to drain the city. Within six weeks, it was largely dry.

The Dot Com Bubble happened during a period when investors never had as much access to information. Lots of information did not encourage rational decision-making but rather fuelled irrational exuberance.

Human beings are much better at dealing with scarcity than with glut. This is particularly true when it comes to information. It has long been accepted wisdom that you can’t have too much information. You can.

Too much information makes for bad investment decisions, according to a 1980s study by MIT. Some students were divided into two groups. Each group was given a portfolio of stocks to manage. One group could only see the changes in prices of their stocks. The second group had access to the prices as well as a constant stream of financial news particular to these stocks. Which group did better?

“Surprisingly, the less well-informed group did far better than the group that was given all the news,” James Surowiecki writes in his excellent book, The Wisdom of Crowds. Surowiecki goes on to give another example of a group of students that were asked to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar. The initial average guess of the students was within 3 percent of the actual number.

Then the students were asked to guess again. This time they were told to take into account that there was air space at the top of the jar, and that the jar was made of plastic, meaning that it could hold more beans than might be expected. With this new information, the students’ average guess was off by 15 percent.

It is absolutely wonderful that people today have access to information in a way they never did in the past. We just need to become better at managing it. How do we do this? One way is to better develop our ability to think in the long term. That means resisting reacting to a lot of the news we are exposed to on a day-to-day basis.

News by its very nature is immediate and exaggerated. The explosion in news tools-from blogs to video cameras-creates an even greater focus on the now. The vast quantities of information we are exposed to every day compels us to gather smaller and smaller snippets of information that relate to our immediate needs. It’s very easy to miss the big picture.

It is so hard today to think long term, yet it has never been more important. Your future career hinges on your ability to plan ahead. Resist becoming a news junkie. Resist churning out emails and web pages. Sit back and think hard.

In an age of information overload, what you don’t read-what you don’t write-is just as important as what you do.

For your web content management solution, contact Gerry McGovern http://www.gerrymcgovern.com

Subscribe to his New Thinking Newsletter: subscribe@gerrymcgovern.mailer1.net

McDonald’s. Coca Cola. Microsoft. e-bay. Yahoo.

What comes to mind? Hamburgers. Soft Drink. Computer Operating System. Online Auction House. Premier Search Engine.

Yet just a few years back, if someone had mentioned e- bay or Yahoo, you probably would have replied “Ya what?”

Today they are “branded”. Almost everyone knows about them.

Ask someone this: “A search engine, starts with Ya” You already know how they will answer.

Or try this one: “An online auction house, starts with e”.

It’s no longer a game. It’s a fact. Say those words and strong images come to mind. You know immediately what the other person is talking about.

Could this ever possibly happen with your product, website, or service?

Well, let’s see . . .

Neither e-bay or Yahoo started at the top. For that matter, neither did Microsoft.

It all started with a dream.

Everybody has to start somewhere. It’s rarely, if ever, just handed to them on a silver platter.

Then comes a tireless obsession to make the dream a reality.

At some point the dream suddenly takes off and gains momentum.

It’s like going up a steep hill. The initial climb is the most strenuous.

Some quit right at the start. They see the hill and think it’s impossible to get to the top. It’s too steep to climb, they’ll tell you.

Others quit halfway up. They’ve put in so much time and exhausted so much effort . . . and yet they’re still only halfway up the hill!

They give up thinking it can’t be done.

And yet others get almost to the top of the hill and then stop–thinking that maybe there’s another hill beyond the first one to climb–one that may be even more difficult to climb.

They never realize how close they came.

And then there are those few who seem to be stuck in fast forward.

They climb and climb and climb no matter what anybody says. People think they’re crazy, that they’re obsessed, and yet they still climb.

Nothing seems to be able to stop them. Obstacles are mere dips in the road.

They eat, drink, sleep, and dream about making it over the top.

And then they do!

Is anyone surprised?

Why yes! All the critics wonder how they did it. Luck? Good fortune? Amazing talent?

No, it’s tenacity, more than anything else.

So where are you now in your quest to reach the top?

What is slowing you down. Do you really believe you can climb up and over that hill?

Do you believe it’s possible or impossible?

If you believe the latter, then better go back and find something else. You’ve quit before you’ve even begun!

But if you think it’s possible, then you’re on your way.

Because that’s what Bill Gates thought when he founded Microsoft. That’s what Jeff Bezos thought when he founded Amazon.com.

And where are they today?

At the top of the hill.

Could this be you in a few years?

Maybe.

Just don’t give up!

Ron Knowlton is a former journalist and the founding editor at “Articles To Boost Your Success Online!” Subscribe to the Soaring Profits Success Ezine! Like a free monthly internet marketing course by email! Eight great lessons each month! Subscribe: http://www.Soaringprofits.com/spsubscribe. htm