BI vendor fills up with holiday spirit
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(InfoWorld) - Baffled about which wine to pick up en route to an important holiday party where you happen to know they'll be serving elk? Business intelligence (BI) software vendor QlikTech International AB may be able to help you resolve that thorny little problem with its wine selector application. Drawing on publicly available information and his own knowledge of more than 3,000 wines, a QlikTech consultant has created The Wine Press . The seasonal online application enables users to match up a wine with particular foods or choose a bottle based on a variety of characteristics including price, color, flavor, vintage and country of origin. The Wine Press is the second in an upcoming series of consumer-type applications of BI software that QlikTech plans to showcase on its Web site, according to Anthony Deighton, the company's vice president of marketing. The first application, Kick It, Qlik It, Love It, timed to coincide with the World Cup tournament appeared this summer and enabled soccer fans to analyze game scores and players' performances. The application drew 30,000 visitors to QlikTech's Web site over the course of the six-week championship and also revealed the interesting fact that the majority of professional players' birthdays occur in the January-to-June time frame. QlikTech is hoping that presenting fun and intriguing consumer applications of BI software will help drive the widespread adoption of the technology as BI moves out of the domain of experts and into the hands of general IT users, Deighton said. The vendor's approach to BI focuses on enabling users to click their way around the technology and not require in-depth training to start using the software, he added. QlikTech intends to spotlight an application each quarter in 2007, according to Deighton. At the same time, Qliktech plans applications of more regional appeal such as football championships specific to the U.K. as well as the The Ashes cricket series played between England and Australia. While he's not expecting The Wine Press to attract as many visitors as Kick It, Qlik It, Love It, the recommendation site is already proving popular and Qliktech may well leave it in place beyond the holiday season, Deighton said. As for what wine goes best with elk? The Wine Press recommends Argentina's Broquel Malbec Mendoza red wine from 2000 as a very good value offering with flavors of coconut, fruit, mineral and oak. Enjoy! Â
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Bright spots for this shopping season include gift cards and robust sales online and at luxury stores. By Anne D&#39;Innocenzio / Associated Press.
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Every holiday, various organizations try to catch the attention of consumers by finding clever ways to link the special occasion to a product or service they are offering.
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Happy Holidays! Have some drug-enhancing technology.
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The holiday season is a time of giving for love and friendship but also because end-of-year tax planners encourage their clients to make deductible gifts to charities and personal gifts to
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Many area retailers reported having a strong start to the holiday season as customers lined up early for after-Thanksgiving sales.
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Online auction house eBay goes the traditional route for the holidays.
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U.S. consumers's mood brightened in  early December, sending potential good tidings to retailers for  the holiday shopping season, a report showed on Friday.
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This smaller designer and distributor of fans and lights is aligned with an impressive mix of retailers.
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You can learn a lot from a holiday shopping bellwether.
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Santa has really been working hard this year as he delivered a number of major software presents to eager buyers. The latest sees leading storage vendor EMC Corporation making the latest in a long line of software acquisitions as it grabs SMARTS Inc.
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Holiday shopping got off to a flying start in the United States this weekend.
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By Pat Kimbrough, High Point Enterprise, N.C.  Dec. 9--HIGH POINT -- It isn't just retailers that benefit from the  consumer spending bonanza during the holiday season.
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Online retailer declares ''best ever'' holiday season, offers snapshot of season's sales activity.
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By Eric Gwinn, Chicago Tribune  Dec. 10--The holidays are about much more than gifts, of course, but if you want to spread some electronic joy, here are a few ideas.
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This holiday, toys are popping up in the most unexpected places: gas stations, auto-parts chains, home and garden stores.
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Holiday shopping got off to a flying  start in the United States this weekend.