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Casrine Kelly

MICROS and Hospitality Solutions International to Provide POS Solutions for Hilton Fami... - 0 views

  • MICROS and its division Hospitality Solutions International (HSI) are preferred point-of-sale (POS) providers for more than 800 Hilton Family Hotels, including Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, and Hilton Garden Inn hotels.
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    The article was talking about how Micros System International is a leading provider in information technology as it relates to Point Of Sale for many hotels. The Hilton hotel have always used this operating system from the early 80's. Micros still continues to provide services for the Hilton group of hotels as they did for many years. They provide Point Of Sale services to over 800 Hilton hotels.
TIANJIAN ZHANG

'Green Hotels' a Growing Trend in China - 1 views

  • As "pollution-free" has become an officially important standard to grade a hotel, the Chinese hotel industry has become increasingly aware of environmental protection.
  • they plan to set up 1,000 green hotels this year and will strive to popularize the new standards in the country's hotel sector
    • TIANJIAN ZHANG
       
      "Green" is an inevasible trend in hospitality industry. The fact is that many green hotels were established worldwide. China, as a rising hospitality market, needs to match the international developing trend. Therefore, I believe more and more, nut just 1000 green hotels, will be set up. Moreover, as what the president of the China Hotels Association said, popularizing the new standards in the country's hotel sector is also crucial. It is essential for all the hoteliers realize and understand the concept and meaning of "Green".
  • To spread the knowledge of environmental protection to customers, the hotel also declared its green state in its Guide Book to seek cooperation and support from guests.
    • TIANJIAN ZHANG
       
      With no doubt, "Green" is an inevasible trend in hospitality industry today. However, not only the hoteliers but also the guests need to be involved into developing "Green" concept. Initially, guests need to realize and understand the concept and meaning of "Green". Then, guests are supposed to cooperate and support the hotels.
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    The director of the Trade Service Division of China's Ministry of Commerce, named Di Jiankai, stated by media of China that nation is going to create 10,000 green hotels by the year of 2012. When I was working on my ecological part of remote environment analysis for another courses, I realized that "Go green" is so much important today even every nations are thinking about it, not only China. As we all know, pollution has been becoming one of the most significant issues in the world, such as CO2 emission, overuse of water, energy using by fuel fossil and so on. By different kinds of pollutions, hospitality industry, especially hotels, have to take more into consideration about the pollution trends and have to think more about the impacts from those pollutions. In my opinion, hotels have to pay more for new eco-technology. However, since "go green" will attract more guests, which means lots consumers come to the hotel just because its "eco-label" or "eco-brand". In this article, Gong Ping also said that not only decorations outside, even the materials using inside should change to be green. For instance, the bath tubs, which is more popular if it is organic.
natashacastro

Disney is expanding its billion-dollar mobile technology to more parks - Business Insider - 0 views

  • will expand in some form to other Disney resorts
  • The $1 billion MyMagic+ program features wristbands and a mobile app that let Walt Disney World visitors unlock hotel room doors, pay for food and merchandise, and book dinner reservations or ride times.
  • The parks unit's earnings have climbed over the past few years as Disney invested billions to add Cars Land at the Anaheim resort, expanded Fantasyland at Walt Disney World, built a new cruise ship and made other improvements. For the six months that ended March 28, operating income rose 22 percent to $1.4 billion. It is Disney's second-largest division.
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  • Adding new technology is one way Disney aims to keep the business growing. "We will bring variations on MyMagic+ to our parks and other businesses around the world," Staggs said.
  • that adds projections inside the park
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    The article briefly talks about the MyMagic+ wrist bands that Disney introduced a while back! I decided to use this since I had used this example in our discussion board. The articles explains that with Disneys BILLION dollar technology investments income rose 22% to 1.4 billion. The article identifies that Disney's risks in technology is a huge reason why their business continues to grow (and probably wont decline anytime soon- but thats just my opinion). Another huge investment, which might not seem like a lot is the projections newly introduced in the new fireworks show. By introducing projections inside the park, it allows the nightly entertainment to keep up with new characters and keep the show extremely relevant, for example, Anna and Elsa were just added from the Disney movie, "Frozen". By investing in technology like this Disney will always stay relevant and ahead of the game.
Qianqian Kang

Somi Data Reveals Their SuiteServer Application - An Integration App for Point of Sale ... - 0 views

  • To alleviate the issues that come with this process, Somi Data has developed software that allows restaurant employees to easily enter a customer’s order directly from the table to the POS system with just a push of a button; SuiteServertm (from their SuiteOrderstm division).
  • Full POS synchronization with automatic updates for menu item availability and pricing, eliminating a time-consuming and tedious uploading/transferring process. A list of modifiers that can be added to a specific food item, to accommodate to a customer’s exact preferences. A table-side payment option; employees can swipe a customer’s payment method using the tablet/mobile device, saving time from having to return the POS terminal. A ‘Quick Order’ option, giving employees the ability to search the name of a food item, which then brings up a list of food items that match what is typed. The employee can then select it from the list of suggested items, eliminating the process of sifting through different sections of the menu to find the correct item. Instead of typing the order, an employee can also ‘write’ the order on the device with a stylus, and the SuiteServer software will interpret the writing and bring up a list of menu options that match what was written.
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    Somi Data has released the newest method related to POS for restaurants. Only by downloading the APP to the current POS, it can solve the existed problems, which happen sometime such as the traditional, error prone and tedious restaurant ordering process. Some of the important features are: automatically updates for menu item availability and pricing; adding modifiers which can be applied to a specific food; a table-side payment option; a 'quick order' option. With this advancement, customers could no longer worry about whether their order has been sent in, and at the meantime, it could lead to higher satisfaction and faster table turns.
csendra004

Caveau Provides GDPR and PCI Compliance Solutions for Leading South African Corporate T... - 0 views

  •  
    Module 4: This article is about Grindrod Travel acquiring the services of Caveau for GDPR and PCI Compliance solutions. Grindrod Travel is one of the oldest travel management companies within South Africa that caters to both corporate and international travelers and conferencing services. With the ever-present looming threat of cyber security and protecting personal information and payment methods, Cavaeu can assist Grindrod is providing efficient solutions to their issues. With Grindrod being such a large company with its own IT department; when it came down to initiating a vulnerability scan of the Travel Division of the company, it proved to be more complicated with much difficulty to accomplish without having to apply the scan to the entire company. With the assistance of Caveau, they were able to develop a secure storage for Grindrod's clients credit cards and personal information. PCI compliance is such an important factor to abide by when managing a travel company. You have various clients that have different forms of payment and they are trusting that same company to protect and store their credit card information. While cyber-security continues to be an ongoing issue in today's industry, companies should continue in their efforts to monitor that their software is always updated and secured.
mitchlaferriere

Cayman Islands Newest Addition, the Kimpton Seafire Resort & Spa, Manages Uniform Inven... - 0 views

  • InvoTech Systems Inc. announces the recent implementation of its Uniform System at the Kimpton Seafire Resort & Spa, located on the Cayman Islands, west of the Caribbean Sea. InvoTech Systems is the leading provider of advanced Linen Management, Laundry and Uniform Systems that increase profitability for hotels, resorts, casino operators, sports arenas, convention centers and theme parks.
  • The InvoTech Uniform System provides accurate and real-time inventory information of all staff uniforms to monitor and maintain uniform assignments to employees and ongoing purchases efficiently. The InvoTech System is used to assign each uniform item to specific employees and track the daily uniform requirements for all divisions and departments
  • The InvoTech Uniform System is a paperless "green" system.
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    This article focuses on the implementation of the Uniform Systems software, developed by InvoTech Systems Inc., the Kimpton Seafire Resort and Spa in the Cayman Islands. The Uniform Systems software is designed to streamline the management of employee uniforms, which are an extremely necessary commodity at any property, especially luxury products which strive for exceptional appearances. The system both monitors and maintains employee uniform assignments while simultaneously easing uniform purchasing. All of this is achievable by the grand opening of the property, which requires mass assignment and disbursement of employee uniforms. InvoTech prides itself on the expertise, professionalism, and courtesy with which its Installation and Training Team operates. Uniform Systems also follows the trend of environmental consciousness in hospitality by being paperless. Aside from the Kimpton Seafire Resort and Spa, InvoTech's clients include some of the largest names in hospitality, including but not limited to MGM, Ritz-Carlton, Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott.
jspie001

Every Hotelier in Every Role Must Now Understand Technology | - 0 views

  • Gone are the days when a GM or rooms division manager could pawn tech problems or new integrations off to IT personnel. Yes, those technical wizards are still instrumental to the smooth functioning of all parts of the tech stack. Two such areas where these managers will forever be vital are cybersecurity and building two-way software connections or using APIs to bring data from one system into a central hub.
  • Traditionally, only IT directors, GMs, asset managers and owners have had the privilege of attending tradeshows focusing on tech, but perhaps there’s room here to motivate team members from other departments by letting them attend once in a while
  • Embracing tech must start at the top for acceptance at the lower rungs to occur, and thus both owners and GMs should encourage new tech discussions within executive committee meetings
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  • As has often been remarked about the pandemic, many of the resultant trends affecting hospitality are ones that would have transpired regardless, but that the evolution occurred over a matter of months and not years
  • While you likely have little power over what schools teach their students, all younger or new hires should be screened for their aptitude and attitude towards enterprise platforms
  • Senior executives must know tech – no exceptions – with some form of testing, oral or written, that assesses a broad understanding of core software and common physical devices, required prior to signing on any new director or team leader
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    This article highlights the need for technology innovation to be more inclusive within the sector. It focuses on senior level roles but also emphasizes the importance of including all levels within the evolution of the industry. It also highlights that these changes would have occurred with or without the pandemic but was expedited because of it. It speaks about including lower levels of management with invitations to trade shows and other technology exposition in order to include a larger net of point of views and perspectives. It also highlights the need for further automation in order to help with large scale global issues like climate change and continuing touchless actions like check ins to maximize efficiency and the guest experience.
hankunli

What's Behind Alibaba's $486 Million Investment in Hotel Tech Giant Shiji - Skift - 0 views

  • Shiji, a Beijing-based maker of software for hotels, retailers, and food service providers, is much better at raising funding than it is at explaining to Western vendors and media its global strategy.
  • E-commerce giant Alibaba is investing $486 million in Shiji, a Beijing-based maker of software for hotels, retailers, and food service providers.
  • Within China, Shiji has the largest share of the market for property management software, which helps hotels run their operations, and central reservation system tools, which enable hotels to distribute their rates.
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  • InterContinental Hotels Group, Kempinski, and Shangri-La hotels in China use its software tools, to give a few example. So do Starbucks and Swarovski as retailers
  • Within China, the big online travel players Ctrip and Qunar provide competition with their own self-developed or acquired solutions for the hotel supply base.
  • Looking beyond China, Shiji has lately been expanding into Western Europe and North America, particularly on the hotel technology front.
  • When Goldman Sachs analysts researched Shiji a few years ago, they said it was dominant in providing IT systems to high-end hotels in China, and had a greater than 30 percent market share. That share has likely grown.
  • A key growth area then and now is helping hotels and restaurant integrate their payment systems with Shiji’s back-end IT infrastructure through Shiji’s own or through third-party payment hardware and software.
  • Another gap is its ability to copy the Oracle Hospitality playbook and attempt to cross-sell more of its services to hotel food-and-beverage divisions.
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    Alibaba is a well-known e-commerce company and the largest stockholder of Shiji. It added investment in this dominating PMS software company in China. Shiji is not only expanding its PMS software business in China, but also seeking chances to expand their business to Europe and America. It has the goal of being a well-known company worldwide and has a long way to go according to some business analysts.
mtedd003

Bringing on content and the network effect for GDS hotel platforms | PhocusWire - 1 views

  • It’s an understatement to say that the global distribution companies have evolved away from their traditional airline focus to bring accommodation into the mix.
  • reveals that the GDS “had lost share in lodging distribution” 
  • Sabre had developed the platform in response to demand for more content and functionality from both the supply and demand side.
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  • deal boosted its accommodation offering by 30%.
  • interesting theory of whether GDSs can create their own network effect.
  • “We have increased our beach, resort and leisure content which allows us to be a much more attractive content sourcing partner to retail agencies and other online channels so it has expanded our customer base enormously.”
  • GDSs are investing in their lodging content but with travel distribution it’s rarely a case of just integrating content.
  • Waters says Amadeus has five million representations of hotels on its system but over a million unique hotels.
  • normalizes the data so it is only displayed once and travel sellers can see the same room, hotel and date and then compare prices and see what margin or commission they might make from a booking.
  • the standardization is driven by artificial intelligence
  • Sabre, which cites a similar figure for properties available via its new lodging distribution technology, has also worked on normalizing the data
  • The GDSs continue to see opportunity and growth in their hospitality divisions
  • Waters says the ambition is to continue growth and “become the default hotel platform for B2B channels.”
  • biggest, professional metasearch with bookability platform in the industry.” AmadeusBooking.comSabre
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    GDSs continue to lose market share so they need to step up their game to pick it back up again. With airlines and hotels constantly trying to get bookings direct they are losing out. They need to try and get their networks in sync. Companies like Sabre are trying to improve their platform to make it more user friendly and better content. The GDSs are trying to get on board as many accommodations as possible to increase the customers choosing their networks to use to book. The more bookings they get the more attractive they look to providers.
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    Sabre Travel Network, a large GDS company is responding to loss in lodging distribution. Sabre is accomplishing this by competing with rival GDS platforms who have made deals with booking.com. The deals have afforded rival companies such as Amadeus 30% more in accommodation traffic. Amadeus increased their market visibility by expanding their customer base for those looking for beach, resort, and leisure content. Sabre is looking to stretch their lodging distribution by normalizing data with usability studies which is help agents make faster booking decisions. The belief is that the decision will eventually expand Sabre as the default GDS platform.
anaslip

Meeting the Threat in 2019: Cybersecurity for the Hospitality Sector | Hospitality Tech... - 0 views

  • Meeting the Threat in 2019: Cybersecurity for the Hospitality Sector
  • Marriott International revealed that a massive cyberattack compromised personal information for up to half a billion individual guests of its properties.[1] The data breach ranks as the second largest known theft of sensitive personal records to date.
  • This marks the second major cybersecurity failure for Starwood, the Marriott division affected. Before being acquired by Marriott in 2016, the company’s cash register system was penetrated by malware looking to steal credit card information. [3] Other major organizations in the hospitality industry, including Hilton and Hyatt, have reported similar attacks. In 2017, for example, Holiday Inn parent company InterContinental Hotels discovered a breach lasting three months and affecting 1,200 properties. With a reputation as less well guarded than similar institutions, hospitality companies are a popular target for cyberattacks.
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  • Experts warn other hackers, like those working for a nation-state, could exploit hospitality breaches like Marriott’s to acquire details on the travel and spending habits of espionage targets, like CEOs and diplomats.
  • However, industry specific challenges like high employee turnover continue to expose the sector.[6] Additionally, even by adopting cutting-edge cybersecurity technologies, the important question of strategic implementation remains.
  • Traditional cybersecurity approaches are focused on reporting about intrusions after the fact, in what is known as an “incident response.” What this means is that an adversary—commonly referred to as a “hacker”—finds some way to gain access to a target and compromises it. The target can be accessed through vulnerabilities in web frameworks, internet browsers, or internet infrastructure such as routers and modems. Regardless of how they gain access, once an attacker is discovered, the forensics about the attack, including basic information known as Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) like IP addresses, domain names, or malware hashes, are shared across the cybersecurity community. These IOCs are then used broadly to thwart future attacks.
  • Rather than rely solely on the incident response and recovery methods that have been used for many years, a more proactive, sophisticated approach is needed. It will need to be designed to successfully recognize adversary methodology (and all the manners in which an adversary attempts to obfuscate their methodology) before attacks occur and at a meaningful scale. This kind of approach, when paired with incident response tactics, could provide true security to vulnerable, critical networks.
  • A TTP-based cybersecurity tool would work in concert with existing incident response, internally-focused cybersecurity efforts, adding a layer of prevention over the top of this vital but flawed process.
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    In today's world no business entity is impervious to cyber-attacks. Marriot, Hilton and InterContential Hotel Groups were all recently affected by such acts. The traditional cyber-attack method which the hospitality industry employs is oftentimes simply a reaction to the attack- "incident responses". Instead, the industry needs to shift its focus and allocate resources to aid prevention of future of attacks. This new focus was be surrounding tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) - the ability to identify adversary and implement the necessary processes to hinder attacks.
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    This article tells us about the importance of having a good cybersecurity. There are some big hospitality companies like Marriott and Hilton which have revealed that many cyberattackes compromised personal information for many guests and that cybersecurity has to be improved.
tcale003

Oracle OPERA: What You Need to Know When Evaluating Hotel Software - 1 views

    • tcale003
       
      The Oracle Opera (formerly Micros) is the biggest Property Management System utilized in the hospitality industry. Oracle OPERA is a cloud-based Property Management System that integrates a variety of functions into one place. While OPERA is used for a single property, it is built with multi-property in mind and, therefore, it is not usually used in very small properties.
  • which types of hotels OPERA is a great fit for and discuss how independent hotels, boutiques and chains all benefit in different ways.  We'll also cover the impact of Oracle Cloud on its hospitality solutions division and whether Oracle's PMS is actually in the cloud.
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
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  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • Apr 16,2020
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • This article provides a comprehensive resource for hoteliers immersed in the process of vendor evaluation.  Oracle Hospitality's OPERA (formerly Micros) is the largest PMS player in the hospitality industry and in this article we'll review how their hotel management software can improve operational efficiency for your business then point out some areas that every buyer should be aware of as they consider the solution.
  • OPERA has comprehensive guest profiling capability, which allows your staff to keep track of guest preferences. These rich guest profiles can be quickly accessed to better personalize stays. Staff can see useful details, such as stay history, past communications, and previous service requests, to inform their approach to each guest.
  • vendors?
  • Oracle OPERA is a cloud-based property management system that integrates several functionalities into a single platform.
  • In addition to the core property management functionality, such as room assignments, check-in/check-out, and rate management, OPERA includes integrated channel and rate management with group travel functionality to handle more complex requests. 
  • While OPERA can be used for a single property, it’s built with multi-property in mind.
  • Since OPERA is an integrated platform, hotels with more complex operations stand to benefit the most. For example, a hotel that uses Oracle POS (point of sale) and kitchen management can integrate full F&B operational functionality into the OPERA property management system. Such deep integration improves outcomes on the customer service front and gives hotel management stronger reports to monitor KPIs and profitability. 
  • The ideal customer segment is a hotel group with many larger properties that offer full service.
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • Personalized guest profiles
  • Advanced rate management
  • OPERA has advanced rate and room availability restrictions, as well as enhanced rate-management capability offering a vast number of room pricing options, including best available rate, dynamic rates, daily rates, base rate, and negotiated rates. These rates can then be distributed via OPERA’s integrated channel manager.
  • Intelligent accommodation management
  • Proper allocation of room inventory avoids overbookings of specific room types and ensures that rooms are cleaned and maintained in a timely manner.
  • Mobil
  • OPERA now offers a completely mobile version of its flagship software, called OPERA Mobile Cloud Service. Staff can access the following information via any smartphone or tablet device: Check-in/check-out, reservation management, room status, task sheet, room maintenance, as well as Track It and Post It mobile that can provide real-time status updates on rooms and maintenance requests. 
  • Loyalty support
  • To drive loyalty-based marketing, guest behaviors accrue automatically to profiles, so hotels can build relevant packages and services based on guest history, including the length of stay, expenditure in restaurants and bars, and other preferences. T
marble_bird

The Concept of Comprehensive Tracking Software to Support Sustainable Tourism in Protec... - 0 views

shared by marble_bird on 25 May 20 - No Cached
  • Visitor management of protected areas [1–3] is supposed to keep the tourism intensity below the area limits while respecting the needs of the local economy and community as a multi-faceted goal of participative management [4]. It requires reliable, comprehensive, and detailed data about tourism intensity, including its impacts and practical methods and tools to exploit the data for the purpose of visitor management
  • Visitor management of protected areas [1–3] is supposed to keep the tourism intensity below the area limits while respecting the needs of the local economy and community as a multi-faceted goal of participative management [4]. It requires reliable, comprehensive, and detailed data about tourism intensity, including its impacts and practical methods and tools to exploit the data for the purpose of visitor management
  • At first, a literature review (Section 2) is conducted in the areas of tourism impacts, tourism sustainability , visitor management, tourism modelling and simulations, visitor monitoring and tracking, and the utilization of data about visitors. Specific attention is paid to the promising method of individual tracking, its variants, and the challenges related to its deployment.
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  • The LAC method [12,13], the carrying capacity [2,4,8,10,14–18], tourism sustainability indicators [8,10,19], or visitor management models [2,4,11] are some of the theoretical concepts and methods which the protected area visitor management may use to assess the effects of tourism and tourism infrastructure construction and maintenance.
  • isitor counts can be used to form a model reflecting the dynamics of the destination system, allowing visitor flow simulations
  • However, the quality of such models is critically dependent on the extent, quality, and readiness of the entry data [21]. The use of real-time data in models of destination systems is not common
  • Individual tracking methods are based on satellite positioning (e.g., The Global Positioning System known as GPS, or Galileo), active mobile positioning, Bluetooth positioning, Wi-Fi positioning, or indirect monitoring based on geocoded social media, or photo databases
  • Visitor management of a protected area requires tourism impact estimates depending on its intensity (step 1). Estimates of proportions of various visitor categories depending on days of the week, holidays, weather, or season, or other factors together with expert estimates of specific impacts of these categories of visitors are available
  • The use of visitor monitoring methods is a common part of visitor management practice, however, monitoring is often not implemented
  • systematically enough and data is often available with a significant delay (for example, from oine people counters installed in the terrain or when using data from mobile operators), making the assessment of the destination system state in real-time impossible
  • Correct and ecient data integration requires a systematic and consistent approach. However, a relevant methodology for the utilization of heterogeneous data is not available, which may be one of the reasons why comprehensive visitor monitoring is so rare.
  • the universally applicable concept of an intelligent tour guide for visitor tracking and for visitor characteristics acquisition are introduced in the results section of the manuscript. The ongoing experimental implementation of the proposed concept is mentioned, and relevant challenges are discussed at the end.
  • Gradually, five representatives and experts from protected area management, six destination organization experts, and four geopark experts were involved. None of the protected area experts involved in the research had any previous experience with systematic visitor data integration or with using the concept of the intelligent software tour guide.
  • The brainstorming and focus group were used to raise new ideas, and the Delphi method was used to reach a consensus when needed.
  • The knowledge gathered from experts served as an input for systems analysis, leading to the design of a computer program—an intelligent tour guide for each involved protected area. Namely, use cases, functional requirements, and other characteristics of the software were identified and discussed.
  • Because meaningful visitor flow and visitor impact modelling require suciently comprehensive and accurate data [21], systematic exploitation of all available relevant heterogeneous data about visitors (collected by a variety of methods, each with its specific limitations, e.g., visitor profiles, numbers of sold tickets, counts from sensors, space-time curves of individual visitors) is a recommended [36] and cost-e ective approach.
  • Thus, attention should be paid to the categorization of visitors, including their needs, motivations, limitations, and the resulting patterns of behavior. Such analysis may help to reveal which categories of visitors are desired, e.g., because of their positive impact on the local economy, and which should rather be discouraged from coming
  • The concept is meant to be generic enough to fit a variety of geographic areas (size, protected features of the local nature, local community , tourism intensity , division of roles in participative management between organizations, etc.)
  • The intelligent tour guide has to be:
  • Reliable, accessible, compatible.
  • Personalized.
  • Location-sensitive.
  • Destination-system-aware.
  • Interactive and collaborative.
  • Dialogue-wise.
  • Decently gamified.
  • Regarding human factors, the potential of individual visitor tracking to provide rich and valuable data may be hindered by the low motivation to participate [21,50,51]. Low participation may limit the usability of the resulting data and negatively a ect the e ects of possible attempts to influence the flow of visitors.
  • From the technical side, active mobile positioning provides spatially accurate data collected with a sucient sampling rate, for example, compared to passive localization data automatically recorded by mobile operators. However, still, the low satellite signal in rocks or under the canopy of a dense forest in combination with less-sensitive mobile devices may a ect the quality of the data and even the function of the tour guide.
  • Regarding the interpretation of the resulting data, the bias caused by the selection of participants and the willingness and fitness of members of di erent visitor groups has to be considered. Also, individual tracking may have an unintended influence on visitors’ movement and behavior [49], though the impact and resulting bias is usually acceptably low
  • Ethically and legally acceptable data collection may require the acquisition of informed consent from each participant.
  • An inadequate budget can lead to compromises, e.g., in the project management, analysis, or implementation, a ecting the compatibility, reliability, or usability of the program, or the quality and extent of the underlying model and the set of descriptive data.
  • Experimental verification of the individual tracking method, supplemented by visitors’ feelings and experiences by means of an intelligent tour guide operated in the context of a complex destination application, currently takes place in all involved areas. The application is being carefully designed in harmony with all recommended principles. Namely, a clear distinction is being made between the universal part of the application and area-specific models, configurations, deployment choices, or custom pieces of code.
  • The research team is looking for other possibilities of verifying the concept presented elsewhere in the Czech Republic and the world. Further research will reveal if the concept is truly generally applicable, as hypothesized, or not.
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    This article covers the research behind and design of software implemented in the Czech Republic to monitor visitor activity in protected areas. The software is designed to act as a "tour guide" and keeps track of visitors through satellite positioning. The article discusses the process by which this software would be developed, rationale for its implementation, and consumer data that may be collected through this process that would benefit National Parks and other protected areas. Theoretical questions in regard to human interaction, privacy concerns, and effectiveness of the application in low-service areas are discussed. Though the application requires more research and strict attention to variables, its implementation worldwide could change how sustainable tourism is managed and would provide important information on consumer habits in protected areas.
kmill139

Why the U.S. is Terrible at Recycling Electronics | Digital Trends - 0 views

  • E-waste in the United States is out of control.
  • You may assume America has to at least be on par with the rest of the first world when finding a forever home for computers, phones, and printers, but you’d be wrong.
  • Those millions of old motherboards and TVs consoles rotting in landfills and warehouses aren’t just eyesores. They amount to a massive health hazard. While electronics waste comprises only 2-3 percent of America’s solid waste stream, the lead, cadmium, chromium, and other materials in aging circuitry account for 70 percent of the hazardous material in landfills, according to an EPA report.
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  • Others go belly up, leaving behind millions of pounds of old gadgets piled in mountainous heaps atop land which has lead levels many times normal.
  • You’re probably not screaming into a paper bag about the $20 billion or so of gold that’s trashed in electronics every year worldwide. Precious metals come and go. But if you care about the soil that comprises the land of the brave, you should start thinking about what happened to last year’s smartphone (even if it’s just sitting in the garage).
  • This list of reasons isn’t exhaustive, but serves as a solid starting point for understanding the United States’ e-waste dilemma and what can be done.
  • U.S. e-waste recycling laws are often outdated or nonexistent
  • Only 25 states (plus Washington, D.C.) have legislation that addresses e-waste recycling. The other 25 don’t have comprehensive programs, and don’t report what happens to the electronics beyond occasional voluntary numbers, says Jason Linnell, head of the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER). Federal laws don’t explicitly address e-waste recycling.
  • The U.S. isn’t good at recycling
  • The current level and effectiveness of e-waste recycling depends on which state you live in and whether or not you trust locals to “do the right thing.” The hope for improvement sits with congressional reps, state lawmakers, manufacturers, and gadget freaks (yes, you).
  • Single-stream recycling hasn’t helped
  • Between 2005 and 2014, single stream recycling programs increased from 29 to 80 percent in American towns and cities. During that same time period, material contamination rates increased from 7 to 25 percent.
  • E-waste legislation regularly disappears in Congress
  • This is not the first Congressional session in which similar bills have been introduced and allowed to die like a first grade classroom goldfish on summer break. SEERA currently sits with the house’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Why is it so tough to pass e-waste legislation?
  • The U.S. is an environmental rogue
  • As of late 2018, 186 states and the European Union have ratified it and follow its legal framework. The United States has signed the Basel Convention, indicating an intent to ratify, but is the only developed nation that hasn’t actually done so, which
  • After the initial Basel Convention was adopted in 1989, many organizations said the treaty didn’t do enough to address the disposal of waste from first world countries into the developing world, and pressed for an update, which eventually became 1995’s Basel Ban Amendment. The tweak — which was attacked by many industrial powers, including the U.S., Canada, and Japan — needed three decades before it was accepted by enough countries to go into effect. In August 2019, Croatia became the 97th country to ratify it, which transformed the updated stipulations into international law in December 2019.
  • EPA regulations are incomplete
  • Federal attempts at regulation have stalled, been killed
  • U.S. pushes back against international efforts
  • As a part of the 2003 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), the public was guaranteed free recycling services, and conveniently located collection centers. Around the same time, the EU also passed the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), aka the “lead-free directive,” which restricts the use of several toxic materials in the manufacture of circuitry and electronic products.
  • In Japan, the Association for Electric Home Appliances requires consumers to help pay for the processing of their goods and manufacturers to set up recycling programs. Electronics recycling has been promoted as such a point of national pride — because Japan is both a huge consumer of gadgets and the country has few indigenous precious metals — that there’s serious talk of making the 2020 Tokyo Olympic metals out of recycled materials. An estimated 80,000 cell phones need to be pulled apart and picked over to complete the plan.
  • State-level e-cycling programs are uneven
  • Certified e-cycling programs are important, but also confusing
  • If you’re the compliance officer who has to make sure the company’s used servers don’t wind up getting tossed in an Indonesian landfill, and you won’t have to nervously answer questions in a “60 Minutes” exposé, you probably want to get that e-waste removed by a disposal team with one of these
  • That all sounds great until you listen to Puckett, who helped create the e-Stewards protocols. He’s one of several people who took part in the development of R2 for over two years and then refused to continue when the proposed guidelines seemed to be too tainted by lobbyists, including ones at the Institute of Scrap Recycling (ISRI), an organization that favors a free market approach over regulation. Puckett and 13 recyclers created e-Stewards, which describes itself as the “the cleanest, most globally responsible standard for e-waste recycling.” He points out that the R2 certification still allows recyclers to export to developing countries. E-Stewards’ doesn’t. R2 recyclers can drop toxic e-waste in landfills or incinerators in the event of “circumstances beyond their
  • Scrap recycling lobby doesn’t like regulations
  • The announcer proudly explains e-cycling is a vibrant industry that adds 20.6 billion to the U.S. economy and supports 45,000 jobs domestically, “safeguarding our environment,” along the way.
  • Can anything be done? Possibly
  • Recycling isn’t the only answer for fewer landfills filled with decaying circuits. Chris Wellise, Chief Sustainability Officer for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which installs and recovers tech, emphasizes the importance of designing products for longevity, disassembly, and reuse.
  • “On average, 85 percent of the environmental impacts can be addressed in the design phase,” estimates Wellise.
  • Similar challenges exist for smartphones. Review IFixit’s guide for repairability and you can expect the phones that are easy to disassemble are also easier to refurbish or scrap. In an unusual display of transparency, eco-minded electronics company Fairphone sells spare parts on its site and has visual cues printed on the pieces to help novices figure out where everything goes. In case you’re wondering, it’s possible to make a Fairphone work in America, but most of the company’s sales are in Europe.
  • In 2018, Apple gave birth to Daisy, a robot that can disassemble 200 of the company’s phones in an hour — 1.2 million a year. The company has an installation of the machine in Austin, Texas, and another in the Netherlands. Daisy’s supply chain of used products comes from the company’s in-store trade-in program and a partnership with Best Buy.
  • Pretty awe-inspiring, right? Keep in mind that Apple sold over 217 million phones just in 2018 and has moved 2.2 billion iPhone units since the product line launched in 2007. The two Daisy divisions aren’t even working at capacity. Apple is willing to license the robot technology so any company can use it to disassemble phones, but none have approached them yet.
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    "Maybe it's easy to ignore the huge percentage of vintage gadgets that wind up torched in dicey scrap heaps in developing countries". This article was written on Feb-27-2020. The problem we saw on the old video is still very much a problem now, only bigger.
  •  
    This article was super informative in the realm of E-waste. It covered every aspect of the issue and most definitely is relevant in today's world.
smend120

Green Computing, a contribution to save the environment | Lancaster University - 1 views

  • Going Green" is a rising trend establishing itself as the preferred way of doing things while saving the environment.
  • Green computing is the environmentally responsible and eco-friendly use of computers and their resources. In broader terms, it is also defined as the study of designing, engineering, manufacturing, using and disposing of computing devices in a way that reduces their environmental impact.
  • Green Computing involves reducing the environmental impact of technology. That means using less energy, reducing waste and promoting sustainability. Green computing aims to reduce the carbon footprint generated by the Information Technology and Systems business and related industries
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • Energy-efficiency and e-waste are two major techniques involved in green computing. Energy efficiency involves implementation of energy-efficient central processing units (CPUs), servers and peripherals as well as reduced resource consumption. And e-waste is the proper disposal of electronic waste.
  • It is estimated that out of $250 billion per year spent on powering computers worldwide only about 15% of that power is spent computing, the rest is wasted idling (i.e. consumed by computers which are not in use but still turned ON).
  • A recent example is seen in Intel's 2030 strategy. Intel has been committed to continued progress on achieving net positive water use, 100% green power and zero waste to landfills across Intel's global manufacturing operations.
  • Because "one company can't solve climate change" according to Intel CEO Bob Swan, Intel is marking a new era of shared corporate responsibility and collaboration.
  • Green design: Designing energy-efficient computers, servers, printers, projectors and other digital devices.
  •  Green manufacturing: Minimising waste during the manufacturing of computers and other subsystems to reduce the environmental impact of these activities.
  •  Green use: Minimising the electricity consumption of computers and their peripheral devices and using them in an eco-friendly manner.
  • Green disposal: Repurposing existing equipment or appropriately disposing of, or recycling, unwanted electronic equipment.
  • Going Green" is a rising trend establishing itself as the preferred way of doing things while saving the environment
  • Green Computing, a contribution to save the environment
  • hat means
  • The world is facing challenges that we understand better each day as we collect and analyse more data, but they go unchecked without a collective response - from climate change to deep digital divides around the world to the current pandemic that has fundamentally changed all our lives. We can solve them, but only by working together.
  • G
  • T
  • using less energy, reducing waste and promoting sustainability. Green computing aims to reduce the carbon footprint generated by the Information Technology and Systems business and related industries. Energy-efficiency and e-waste are two major techniques involved in green computing. Energy efficiency involves implementation of energy-efficient central processing units (CPUs), servers and peripherals as well as reduced resource consumption. And e-waste is the proper disposal of electronic waste.
  • If we think computers are non-polluting and consume very little energy, in fact the use of computer plays a big role in environment pollution. It is estimated that out of $250 billion per year spent on powering computers worldwide only about 15% of that power is spent computing, the rest is wasted idling
  • the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the Energy Star program, a controlled labelling program to promote and recognise energy-efficiency. The Energy Star label has now certified more than 75 different product categories, homes, commercial buildings and industrial plants. The program has also resulted in the widespread adoption of sleep mode among electronics' consumers.
  • in 1992,
  • The IT industry is putting efforts in all its sectors to achieve Green Computing.
  • Equipment recycling, reduction of paper usage, virtualisation, cloud computing, power management, green manufacturing are the key initiatives towards Green Computing
  • one company can't solve climate change
  • reen Computing involves reducing the environmental impact of technology.
  • Designing energy-efficient computers, servers, printers, projectors and other digital devices.
  • Minimising waste during the manufacturing of computers and other subsystems to reduce the environmental impact of these activities.
  • Green Computing has an optimistic future for saving the environment with ample avenues for making it possible. Hope we move forward with the goal of efficient computing while making the earth greener.
  •  
    Green computing, commonly referred to as "green technology," is the study of creating, utilizing, and disposing of computing systems in a way that minimizes their impact on the environment. The ecologically friendly and ethical use of computers and their resources is known as "green computing." A growing trend that has established itself as the preferred method of doing things while preserving the environment is "Going Green." Green computing aims to lessen technology's negative effects on the environment. This entails conserving energy, cutting waste, and fostering sustainability. The goal of "green computing" is to lessen the carbon footprint left by the information technology and systems sector and allied businesses. Green computing mainly uses two methods: e-waste and energy efficiency. Reduced resource use as well as the use of energy-efficient servers, peripherals, and CPUs are all part of energy efficiency. And e-waste is how electronic garbage should be disposed of properly. Even while we may believe that computers are non-polluting and require relatively little energy, their use really contributes significantly to environmental pollution. Only 15% of the estimated $250 billion annually spent on powering computers globally is thought to be used for computation; the remaining energy is lost idling on inactive machines. Since energy consumption is the primary cause of CO2 emissions, any energy saved on computer hardware and computing will result in tons of CO2 emissions being avoided every year. The Energy Star program was established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1992 as a controlled labeling initiative to promote and reward energy efficiency. More than 75 different product categories, as well as residences, office buildings, and industrial facilities, have already received the Energy Star badge. Consumers of devices have widely embraced sleep mode because of the campaign. The IT industry is working to implement Green Computing across a
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