Implementación "Balanced Scorecard"

Documento de www.ifor.com. Marzo 30 del 2007 Titulo: Acerca de Gerenciar el Plan Estratégico Empresarial mediante la implementación de resultados de un análisis "Balanced Scorecard". (Addressing Strategy Management and the Balanced Scorecard) por Infor/Deutschland. Abstracto: Muchas Organizaciones, a menudo, encuentran grandes dificultades en la implementación de sus Planes Estratégicos, y recurren a las técnica de "Balanced Scorecard" para resolver el problema. Desgraciadamente, la mayoría de las empresas se fijan unicamente en las deficiencias dadas por indicadores puntuales ( por ej. las desviaciones a los presupuestos de ventas y flujo de caja ) en lugar de concentrarse en el cumplimiento de los objetivos del negocio y en el seguimiento de los procesos para lograr que se cumplan los objetivos. Bajar el documento © Copyright 2007. Infor Global Solutions GmbH and/or its affiliates and subsidiaries. All rights reserved. DePapaya.com - Gerencia fácil del Conocimiento aprovechando Internet-

Aulas Mexicanas con tecnología de punta.

Mexican classrooms go hi-tech By Duncan Kennedy BBC News, Mexico City March, 22, 2007 Ping ping, beep beep, tap tap. What would you think those noises are? A new video game? A children's toy, perhaps? Or even some exotic musical instrument? Well, in some ways, you would be right about all three. In fact, it is the sound of the new digital education system being used in Mexico. The noises are the kinds of sounds you hear when you put your finger on the giant electronic screens attached to the walls of about 165,000 Mexican classrooms. Some five million 10- and 11-year-olds now receive ALL their education through the screens. It is believed to be the most ambitious project of its kind in the world. From maths to music, from geography to geometry, black and white boards have given way to electronic screens. The system is used in a variety of subjects "I really like it," says one six-year-old at the John F Kennedy Primary school in Mexico City. "It's fun and therefore you learn more." 'Active' Five years in development, the entire school curriculum for 5th and 6th graders has now been digitised and is accessible on the screens. Soon, other grades will follow. The system is called Enciclomedia. Take an English lesson: the teacher taps the screen and a video starts, instantly. "The children concentrate more, they interact more and so they get more out of each class " Arturo Vazquez. Teacher "Good morning, how are you," says the voice of one English-speaking girl on the video. " I'm fine," comes her friend's reply. Soon, the pupils in the classroom watching the screen are saying the words out loud. During a biology lesson we watch as pupil after pupil comes to the screen to piece together the human body... electronically. One boy taps his finger on the screen and brings up the human heart. He then slides his finger across the screen, taking the heart with him and places it where he thinks it belongs on the body located on the other side of the screen. "Ping!" goes the sound of the screen when he places the organ correctly in the middle of the chest. "Beep, beep," goes the screen when another child fails to put the lungs in the right place. This brings howls of laughter from his classmates. This is putting the "active" well and truly into interactive education. 'Improvement' "It is fabulous," says the teacher Arturo Vazquez. "The children concentrate more, they interact more and so they get more out of each class". Pupils concentrate more, according to teachers Enciclomedia was brought in to raise standards in Mexico. The current system can give teachers access to about 20,000 items of information, ranging from three-dimensional images of the body to clips of movies like Gladiator, so children can learn the history of ancient Rome. In text alone, it is believed there is the equivalent of about 14 full-sized books inside Enciclomedia. "It is a revolution," says Professor Ana Maria Prieto, an independent educationalist who is monitoring the project. "Research is continuing, but I believe it is really improving education standards," she says. Already the United States, China and India have shown an interest in buying Enciclomedia. Delegations from these countries have seen its screen bring up video of harps for music, rotating panoramic views of archaeological ruins for history and the insides of a plant's cellular structure for nature lessons. Roulette wheel In a nearby office are 400 people, the team behind the project. Here, graphic designers are working on the next phase of the system. Coming soon, real satellite pictures of the globe to show rivers, population densities and climate change, a tool useful right across the curriculum. There have been some mumblings about excessive teacher workload, but those we spoke to say it is possible to adapt to a different way of teaching. The question of whether it is working and improving standards is still being assessed. And there are issues of cost, too. It takes about US$5,000 (£2,500) to equip each classroom with a big screen and associated computer. In Mexico, central government pays, after decreeing that education is a top priority. "Me, me, me," comes the chorus of enthusiasm in another classroom we visit, as children urge the teacher to pick them to answer a question. Why the keenness? Well, yet again, the one chosen gets to go to the screen and interact in another subject. Here, you don't just put your hand up, you get up. This is learning with all your senses. And when children do not answer? Well, the system even has an tool for that. Having already entered the names of all the pupils into the computer, the teacher can tap the screen to bring up an electronic roulette wheel that randomly picks a child's name. No more hiding at the back of class. In a world where video game consoles, computers and television are already integral parts of young peoples lives, it was only a matter of time before someone harnessed them all in the classroom. This, is the world's first digitally-educated generation. Nota Bene: Para los "administradores" de dineros del estado y amantes del estribillo, "aqui no hay plata .....". El robo al Sistema Educativo de Cali fue de 16 mil millones de pesos; la instalación, llave en mano, de cada pantalla vale 11 millones de pesos. Con la cantidad robada se pueden instalar 1,454 pantallas en 1,454 aulas de Cali. saludos. depapaya.com

Apple T.V.

Technology State of the Art

Apple TV Has Landed By DAVID POGUE Published: March 22, 2007

Stuart Goldenberg

In the technology world, conventional wisdom says that we'll soon be saying R.I.P. for the DVD. Internet downloads are the future, baby. No driving, no postpaid envelopes. Any movie, any TV show, any time. Only one problem: once you've downloaded the shows to your computer, how do you play them on the TV? Now, there are people — at least 12, for sure — who actually watch movies right on their computers, or who wire their PCs directly to their TV sets. The rest of us, however, are overwhelmed by cultural inertia. Computers are for work, TVs are for vegging out, and that's final.

PHOTO2 Apple Apple TV comes with an iPod-like remote.

No wonder, then, that when Apple announced Apple TV, a box that can connect computers and TVs without wires, the hype meter redlined with millions of search-engine citations, a run-up in the Apple stock price and drooling analysts. After many delays, Apple TV finally went on sale yesterday for $300, but there are plenty of companies trying to solve what you might call the "last 50 feet" problem. A couple of prominent examples: In addition to its game-playing features, Microsoft's Xbox 360 ($400) performs a similar PC-to-TV bridging function; in fact, it even has its own online movie store. Netgear's week-old EVA8000 ($350) also joins PC and TV, but adds an Internet connection for viewing YouTube videos and listening to Internet radio. And so Apple TV has landed. How does it stack up? In looks, it sits at the top of the heap. Apple TV is a gorgeous, one-inch-tall, round-cornered square slab, 7.7 inches on a side. It slips silently and almost invisibly into your entertainment setup. (You can't say that for the Xbox, which in comparison is huge and too noisy for a bedroom.) The heartbreaker for millions, however, is that Apple TV requires a widescreen TV — preferably an HDTV. It doesn't work with the squarish, traditional TVs that many people still have. Apple defends its audience-limiting decision by saying that the future is HDTV; Apple is just "skating to where the puck is going to be," as a product manager put it. Apple TV doesn't come with any cables. You're supposed to supply the one your TV requires (HDMI, component video or HDMI-to-DVI adapter). They cost $20 at Apple's online store.

Apple It plays videos, music and photos on a television through on-screen menu options

So what is Apple TV? Basically, it's an iPod for your TV. That is, it copies the iTunes library (music, podcasts, TV shows, movies) from one Mac or Windows PC on your wired or wireless home network to its 40-gigabyte hard drive and keeps the copy updated. The drive holds about 50 hours' worth of video or 9,000 songs; if your iTunes library is bigger than that, you can specify what subset you want copied — only unwatched TV episodes, for example. At this point, you can play back videos, music and photos even if the original computer is turned off or (if it's a laptop) carried away. (Photo playback requires iPhoto on the Mac, or Photoshop Album or Photoshop Elements on Windows.) A tiny white remote control operates Apple TV's stunning high-definition white-on-black menus, which are enlivened by high-resolution album covers and photos. You can see the effect at apple.com/appletv. Multimedia Video Apple TV The integration of iPod, iTunes and Apple TV offers frequent payoffs. For example, if you paused your iPod partway through a movie, TV show or song, Apple TV remembers your place when you resume playing it on your TV. Cool. Although only one computer's files are actually copied to Apple TV, you can still play back the iTunes libraries of five other computers by streaming — playing them through Apple TV without copying them. Starting playback, rewinding and fast-forwarding isn't as smooth this way, and photo playback isn't available. But it's a handy option when, say, you want to watch a movie on your TV from a visitor's laptop. All of this works elegantly and effortlessly. But there are lots of unanswered questions that make onlookers wonder if Apple has bigger plans for the humble Apple TV. For example, it has an Internet connection and a hard drive; why can't it record TV shows like a TiVo? Furthermore, it's a little weird that menus and photos appear in spectacular high-definition, but not TV shows and movies. All iTunes videos are in standard definition, and don't look so hot on an HDTV. And then there's the mysterious unused U.S.B. port. Still, if you stay within the Apple ecosystem — use its online store, its jukebox software and so on — you get a seamless, trouble-free experience, with a greater selection of TV shows and movies than you can find from any other online store.

Netgear The Netgear EVA8000 plays back many video formats but had problems connecting to a network.

But in Netgear's opinion, that approach is dictatorial and limiting. Its new EVA8000 box plays back many more video formats, including high-def video; can play the contents of any folders on your Mac or PC, not just what's in iTunes; offers Internet radio and YouTube videos; and works with any kind of TV. It can even play copy-protected music — remarkably, even songs from the iTunes store (Windows only). Unfortunately, this machine (2 by 17 by 10 inches) is as ugly as Apple's is pretty. Its menus look as if they were typed in 12-point Helvetica. The software is geeky and unpolished; for example, during the setup process, it says "Failed to detect network" if no Ethernet cable is plugged in, rather than automatically looking for a wireless network. The Netgear model is also filled with Version 1.0 bugs, including overprinted, blotchy menu screens and incompatibility with Windows Vista. Netgear promises to fix the glitches, but concedes that it timed the EVA8000's release to ride the wave of Apple TV hype.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Users can download movies and shows straight to the Xbox 360 only from Microsoft's online music store

The two-year-old Xbox 360 is far more polished. Like Apple TV, it can either stream photos, music and videos (Windows PCs or, with a $20 shareware program, even Macs) or play them off its hard drive. What's different, though, is that you can't copy files to this hard drive over the network; you can download shows and movies only straight to the Xbox from Microsoft's own fledgling online store. You can buy TV shows for $2 each ($3 in high definition), or rent movies for $4 ($6 for high def). Microsoft movies self-destruct 24 hours after you start watching them. (Apple movies cost full DVD price, but at least you can keep them forever.) Note, too, that the Xbox's primary mission — playing games — doesn't always suit music and movie playback. It can't get onto a wireless network without an add-on transmitter ($100 — yikes). You can't control the speed of a slide show or fast-forward through a song. And in general, the included game controller makes a lousy remote control. There are no dedicated buttons for controlling playback; instead, you have to walk through the buttons on an on-screen control bar to reach, say, the pause function. And alas, these products can require a journey through the hell of home networking. The Xbox couldn't get online at first, thanks to an "MTU failure." A Microsoft techie in India named "Mike" claimed that my cable-modem company would have to make a change in my service. (He was wrong; a router setting had to be changed instead.) When the Netgear EVA8000 couldn't get on the network, I waited 30 minutes to speak to a technician, who announced that I'd shortly get a call back from a senior tech. Five days later, I'm still waiting. (The solution was to uninstall — not just turn off — Microsoft's OneCare security suite.) In the end, these early attempts to bridge the gulf between computer and TV perfectly reinforce the conventional wisdom about Apple: Apple TV offers a gracious, delightful experience — but requires fidelity to Apple's walled garden. Its rivals, meanwhile, offer many more features, but they're piled into bulkier boxes with much less concern for refinement, logic or simplicity. Put another way, these machines aren't direct competitors at all; they're aimed at different kinds of people. Microsoft's young male gamers probably couldn't care less that they can't change the slide-show speed, and Netgear's box "is for people who are more experienced," according to a representative. "This is not for the random person." Apple, on the other hand, is going for everybody else, random people included (at least those with HDTV sets). And that, perhaps, is Apple TV's real significance. To paraphrase the old Macintosh advertisement, it's a computer-to-TV bridge for the rest of us. E-mail: Pogue@nytimes.com

Copyright by the New York Times 2007 :::