There's power in a laptop. A study by Limra International Inc. of 1,204 life insurance agents in the UK shows that those who use laptop computers on the road made on average more sales than their less technology-savvy colleagues.

"Technology allowed agents to assess clients more efficiently and thoroughly, freeing the agents to generate new business,'' A.M. Best concluded in an article about the 1996 study.

Of the agents surveyed 804 didn't have access to a laptop, 217 did, and 183 used a laptop sometimes.

Those who used a laptop had fewer average appointments per month. They averaged 26 appointments a month, while those without a laptop had an average of 37 appointments. Those who used a laptop only converted 21 percent of their telephone calls to an appointment while those without a laptop converted 37 percent of their calls.

Yet those who had a laptop converted 31 percent of their appointments to sales and made an average of eight sales a month. Those who didn't have a laptop converted only 16 percent of their appointments into sales and had six sales per month.

"Selling policies, updating policies, reporting payments, settling claims and keeping up with the industry news are all accomplished more quickly and efficiently with computers in the field,'' A.M. Best concludes.

Those who plan on attending the e-Commerce Conference Bermuda on October 12 and 13 at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute can sign up electronically at www.isaca.bm. The conference is being held by the Bermuda chapter of the Information Systems Audit & Control Association, the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce and Logic Communications Ltd.

The keynote speaker on October 12 will be Tim Hoech, the vice-president of technology at Oracle Corp., who will speak about the rise of the Internet. Ed Ehrgott, director of internal audit at the Bank of N.T. Butterfield and Son Ltd., will speak in the afternoon on creating secure online services.

On October 13 David Siegel, author of "Creating Killer Web Sites'' and the "Secrets of Successful Web Sites'' will talk about e-commerce strategies.

The Bermuda Telephone Co. Ltd. (BTC) has successfully completed Y2K testing of its equipment.

"To our knowledge, Bermuda is the only country that has carried out tests this extensive in scope,'' BTC said in a letter. "This significant accomplishment goes a long way to ensuring that Bermuda will enter the next millennium without any telecommunications problems.'' The live testing was done on the morning of July 16. The next day BTC did the testing in concert with long distance providers Cable & Wireless and TeleBermuda International Ltd.

"Results from these tests were uniformly excellent,'' BTC concluded.

"Switches progressed from one date to another without problem. All traffic was handled without any interruption. Billing data collected from all of these tests was analysed and proven to be accurate in format and content.'' When bankers start praying you know there's a problem.

The American Bankers Association has published a five-page "Y2K Sermon'' for distribution to the clergy which is intended to reassure worshippers that banks will be ready when computer clocks change to 2000. The sermon deals with the Year 2000 computer problem, which refers to a glitch expected to affect older computers and programs that can't deal with the date change to 2000.

"Whatever you do, don't bury your money in the backyard,'' the clergy are supposed to tell their congregation. "We want to go into the new Millennium with hope, eagerness and faith in this new century of promise. We don't want to be crouched in our basements with candles, matches and guns.'' I guess a clergyman or woman can reach for the sermon if he or she is feeling particularly lazy on a Sunday morning. We'll just have to take it as a matter of faith that the bankers will be ready. Are you a believer? Radiation blocker: Theodore Litovitz had invented a new chip which he claims neutralises the effects of cell-phone radiation emissions. Mr. Litovitz is professor emeritus bio-electromagnetics research group at the Catholic University of America. The chip is designed by Onchip Systems and is manufactured by EMX Group.

Mr. Litovitz's research concluded that the long-term effects of radiation could be lessened by introducing noise to a cell phone's electromagnetic signal. Since the brain was no longer exposed to a steady signal, Mr. Litovitz believes hat the long-term biologic impact of the radiation will be reduced.

Some experts say that there's still no conclusive evidence that electromagnetic radiation, known as EMF, causes damage in humans, ten years of research shows patterns of neurological disturbance.

Research has found EMF radiation damage in DNA cells, as well as evidence that radiation causes memory loss and changes the chemical makeup of the brain. But biological changes don't necessarily equate to a health risk. Due to litigation anxiety by phone manufacturers the chip will be incorporated into cell-phone batteries. The chip will add about $37 to the price of cell-phone batteries which will be available later this year.

Pump and surf: London-based BP Amoco PLC is installing new Internet-connected kiosks at the pumps of some of its gas stations. Drivers will be able to get traffic and weather information at the kiosks using a Web browser. The pumps will allow them to reserve hotel rooms and print booking confirmations.

Sign of the times: The US Federal Reserve has approved a rule allowing banks, thrifts and credit unions to provide account statements electronically to customers who want to get the information that way.

Tech Tattle deals with topics relating to technology. Contact Ahmed at techtattle ygazette.newsmedia.bm or 295-5881 ext. 248 or 238-3854.

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