Word continues to come through the financial news wire that major software and Internet companies are rapidly expanding their outsource business information storage and processing systems. It's obvious to me that this is one of the focus intents of Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) expansion in data centers. More companies are opting for outside warehousing of data storage and processing. More office desks are becoming populated with networked "dumb" terminals in place of the networked PC.

I myself utilize more than one outside source for the storage of data. Photobucket hosts a selection of my digital images as backup and I have text data backups in a few key places. For me the practice is limited to the storage of duplicate copies of non-proprietary information but for many it's becoming an essential part of business as usual.

The worldwide market for data storage and processing services is predicted to reach nearly $20 billion by 2011. I think that's a conservative estimate. I'm of the belief that the proposition is to become much more than just online file cabinets. Companies such as Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) can typically assist in reducing business data storage costs by as much as 12% and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Outside data handling frees up in house resources making them available for increased productivity and improved performance capabilities. In the very near future, the nature of in house data systems will begin to be looked at from a much more streamlined perspective.

March 18 through 24, 2007, marks National Poison Prevention Week and it comes with some good news.

In the 1970s there were more than 200 child deaths a year attributed to the accidental ingestion of any manner of dangerous household chemicals, personal care products, over-the-counter medications, and cleaning agents. Due to the efforts of multiple agencies, the occurrence of these unfortunate accidents has been reduced to about 36 a year.

In 2005 about 91,000 young children visited hospital emergency rooms do to unintentional poisoning, and poison control call centers fielded more than 1 million calls. By maintaining constant availability and aggressive public awareness, organizations such as the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission seek to further reduce accidental poison fatalities.

To prevent these incidents, CPSC recommends the following safety steps:

A recent article by Melly Alazraki examines the rapid advance of voice-recognition technology and its application to search utilities. As areas of speculative investment go, this is a great one! I suggest getting on the voice-recognition train right now because it's going to take off and once it does, there will be few stops between here and the top.

Now here's what you want to look for because this is being utilized successfully in warehouses and distribution centers around the globe. You want to find the companies who are developing voice-recognition programming which is "normalized" by the user at time of inception. Simply put, the best voice-recognition applications are user specific in the recognition of voice patterns.

On the industrial side, warehouse and DC workers spend a brief time introducing themselves to the voice-recognition programs by "installing" their own voices into the programming patterns. The applications come to recognize each employee's individual voice and speech patterns. Special nuances such as a lisp, teeth clicking, slurring or a nasal tone are cataloged as specific speech characteristics upon which the programming can rely for accuracy and validation of information and the individual. The industrial world has found that this allows the systems to adapt to any amount of accents, dialects and colloquialisms. In many cases these programs will even act as interpreter between employees and allow individuals who speak entirely different languages to interact effectively.

Please do look into voice recognition as your next cutting-edge investment. Check on the industrial side of things to get the real picture about what is working. Newly developing voice-activated search is already working at our house. I used it just moments ago. I told our two year old to go get her shoes... oh, never mind, that's something altogether different.