September 28, 2006 | In Business, Technology | 1 Comment
Open registrations have now begun for the .MOBI top level domain name, a web extension designed specifically for sites that cater to a mobile audience.
Supporters of the new TLD; including Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, T-Mobile, and Vodafone; have created a number of design standards that all .MOBI developers are expected to follow. By customizing this “new internet” specifically for mobile browsers, the companies involved are hoping to make it easier for customers to access information (and buy products) on the handheld devices.
“In the past, using the internet on a mobile device presented huge obstacles for the consumer,” says dotMobi CEO, Neil Edwards. “We’re creating a link between mobile operators, internet content providers, and the millions of mobile users seeking a consistent, reliable, and enjoyable internet experience.”
Despite criticism from some analysts, the public release is .MOBI domain names is expected to trigger a “land rush” for valuable, keyword-rich domains. These largely unproven domains are still a risky investment, to be sure, but if the mobile web catches on, they could be a goldmine of untapped potential.
September 25, 2006 | In Business, Technology | No Comments
As the internet advertising industry continues to grow at record rates, new media is being embraced more than ever by cable companies, TV networks, newspapers, and magazines alike.
Traditional media companies throughout North America and the world are expanding their web presence and making an increasing volume of content available online, so as to cash in on the growing markets surrounding interactive media and online advertising.
Newcomers to the interactive online content business, namely broadcasters and cable providers, are reaping the lion’s share of new growth, according to Mediaweek, with their new media ad revenue expected to grow by 34.1% in 2006. Magazines, many of which have been available online for years, are also expected to see continued success, with web revenues reaching $1 billion by 2010.
Although we can expect a fair amount of volatility in the innovative and fast-moving new media marketplace, the principles behind these predictions do appear to be sound. All in all, it appears that nothing will prevent the internet from becoming an even more dominant force in the global media landscape over the coming years.
September 17, 2006 | In Business, Technology | No Comments
Many internet enthusiasts would have you believe that the web-based information industry is killing off traditional media outlets, such as newspapers and magazines, but statistics seem to suggest that quite the opposite is true.
In fact, web surfers now account for a significant percentage of all newspaper readers. Some newspapers now reach as much as 15% of their total audience over the internet, with millions of people using the web to access newspaper articles from all over the world.
The New York Times alone reaches 8% of its readers solely over the net, while a further 22% read the paper both in print and online.
These statistics just go to show that by blending their traditional media roots with an online component, the fourth estate can reach a larger audience than ever before.
September 7, 2006 | In Technology, Politics | 1 Comment
Internet search giant, Google Inc., has taken a dangerous step away from its all-important user privacy principles.
Earlier this week, the search engine agreed to divulge a “small and narrow” selection of personal user data to the government of Brazil, after being threatened with daily fines and a possible shut-down of its offices in the country.
Brazillian authorities claimed that Orkut, a social networking service owned by Google, was being abused for the purposes of illegal pornography, racism, and hate crimes.
Google now says that Brazil’s request isn’t comparable to that of the U.S. goverment earlier this year, since the Brazillian authorities are only asking for a small amount of personal data.
This feeble compromise on user privacy, however, could open up a lot of unpleasant issues for Google in the future. Regardless of how much user information is revealed, giving personally identifiable details to government authorities is a highly dangerous move.
There’s no clear boundry between right and wrong when it comes to divulging private details, meaning that there comes a time when internet content providers need to fight for the right to stay neutral and uninvolved.
Google was right to fight on this issue, and they at least took this opportunity to voice some very valid objections. Caving in to Brazil’s government, however, served to invalidate the point in the end, and could easily come back to haunt the search giant in future privacy battles.
August 24, 2006 | In Technology, Politics | 2 Comments
Google is facing the danger of being shut out of the Brazil market, and could be fined up to $61 million for refusing to hand over confidential user data to the Brazilian government.
Federal prosecutors in Sao Paulo claim that the Orkut social networking service, an internet property of Google, is being used to promote criminal activity in the South American country, and the search giant has an obligation to hand user data over to Brazilian officials.
But Google maintains that, since its servers are hosted in the U.S., it has no obligation to heed the words of Brazil’s prosecutors, and that the matter can only be dealt with in an American courtroom. The internet giant already triumphed in a court battle against the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year, getting out of a subpoena that would have seen private user information handed over to government busybodies.
That verdict, which seems to have set a legal precedent for increased privacy, almost guarantees that Google would win a battle against the Brazilian authorities in any U.S. courtroom.
It remains unclear exactly how events will transpire in this transcontinental battle for privacy rights, but Google seems determined not to give up on its principles without a fight. That, at the very least, is a good sign for the freedom-loving internet users of Brazil.
August 17, 2006 | In Business, Technology | 1 Comment
The convenience of up-to-the-minute news is now freely available all over the internet, but that doesn’t mean that the web will replace local TV newscasts, according to a new research study by Crawford Johnson & Northcott.
The research firm conducted a survey of 861 internet users and found that 75% of respondents watch a local TV newscast at least once a week with 52% watching one every day.
“We’ve heard a lot of talk about how the Web is replacing television as a source for news. This indicates that’s not the case at all. Web users as a group watch as much local TV news as anyone else,” said Bob Crawford, a partner with the Crawford, Johnson & Northcott market research firm.
Overall, there’s no doubt that the internet is causing immense changes in the worldwide media landscape, and is putting pressure on television in many ways. Local news programs, however, seem to be immune to many of these changes.
Although useful and convenient, web-based news sites will probably never be able to totally displace the consistent and familiar news format offered by local broadcasters.
August 4, 2006 | In Business, Technology | 2 Comments
Google has recently revealed plans to pay the Associated Press newswire service for the right to aggregate its stories and pictures on news.google.com.
Financial details of the deal were not released but it seems that Google and the AP have been negotiating this new arrangement for a number of months now.
There’s no doubt that the search giant can easily afford this extra little expense, but in the long run, it could end up being a big mistake. Google News depends solely on its ability to aggregate news from other sources, and now that one publisher is getting paid, others will likely demand the same treatment.
One of my websites (TeleClick.ca) has been indexed in Google News for nearly a year now, and I’ve gotten a lot out of it – namely free advertising, respect from other content publishers, and general publicity for my site. But Google has never paid me for my content, and the thought of them doing so has honestly never crossed my mind.
Legally speaking, Google News is covered by the principle of fair use, which allows the authorized reproduction of copyright materials in certain situations. The search giant has stressed this fact repeatedly when fending off legal challenges, but what they don’t seem to realize is that words don’t speak nearly as loudly as actions.
By agreeing to pay off the Associated Press, Google may well have opened some pretty dangerous floodgates, which could easily result in all of its 4500+ content providers demanding payment for their work.
As far as I’m concerned, Google News is a great service as it always has been, and content providers should consider it an honor to be included in this fairly exclusive collection of news websites. They have every right to monetize the traffic they get from Google, but they shouldn’t expect direct payment from the web giant itself.
As it stands now, Google News is a free service for everyone, and it should remain that way.
July 28, 2006 | In Business, Technology | 1 Comment
As clickfraud continues to eat a hole in the online advertising industry, Google Adsense executives are racking their brains to find a solution for this increasingly costly problem.
One possible solution, which has been proposed a number of times, would be a complete change in business model, and a move away from CPC (cost-per-click) marketing. In other words, Google would only charge advertisers (and pay publishers) in the event that a visitor actually made a purchase, completed a survey, or made some other action.
If this type of radical change occurred, clickfraud would no longer be a threat, and Google would save a lot of money on click tracking and pesky lawsuits. Such a move would also have other implications, however, which many supporters probably haven’t considered.
There are already countless affiliate networks operating on a CPA (cost-per-action) business model, with varying degrees of success. None, however, does as much business as Google Adsense.
The very fact that Google can operate a successful CPC program, commanding respect from publishers and advertisers alike, is what makes it unique in the internet marketing industry. If the Adsense program switched to a CPA model it would lose this unique selling point, effectively destroying the very meaning of its brand.
I sincerely hope that such a clever and innovative company as Google will have the sense to stick with a highly functional business model that’s generated billions in revenue over the past several years. After all, they didn’t get to where they are by being lazy or taking the easy way out.
July 20, 2006 | In Technology, Politics | No Comments
India has taken a great step towards increased censorship and restriction of free expression on the internet. The country’s Ministry of Communications recently ordered 17 blogs and websites blocked on the grounds that they contained “religious hatred.”
The government claimed that the sites in question accused Muslim terror groups of being behind the recent train bombings in the coastal city of Bombay. The list includes a number of conservative American blogs, including exposingtheleft.blogspot.com, which expresses somewhat controversial views about politics in the Middle East and the U.S. government’s “war on terror.”
ISPs have not only complied with the order, but blocked entire domains, including blogspot.com and others, sending shock waves through the Indian blogsphere.
It’s easy enough to get around the blocks using services like pkblogs.com, but it’s not so easy for Indians to get past the fact that their government has joined the ranks of China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, disallowing citizens from expressing their opinions in peace.
“If this isn’t censorship, I don’t know what is”, wrote on blogger by the name of Neha Viswanathan, noting that the specifically targeted websites merely express controversial and often unpopular opinions – not unlike the majority of free-thinking writers on the internet. There is no evidence whatsoever that any of the sites were promoting any actual violence against Muslims or anyone else.
This leads me to believe that the 17 sites in question were targeted at random, as an excuse to launch an assault on the blogsphere in general. Just as the United States, and to a lesser extent, Canada are doing, Indian authorities are using the problem of terrorism to their advantage in imposing their own controlling agenda on supposedly “free” citizens.
Whether freedom of speech and expression in India will be able to survive this outrageous attack depends largely on the determination of the country’s citizens and their ability to speak out against oppression.
July 11, 2006 | In Business, Technology | No Comments
Despite Google’s dominant position in the search industry, the internet giant’s decision makers insist that search is not a “solved problem,” and that there is still much room for improvement.
“Our position is that search is a very hard problem. We have still a lot of work to do,” commented internal engineer, Douglas Merrill, noting that 70% of Google’s efforts still go into improving search, as opposed to developing other services.
“It is not enough to have the information, the information should be right,” Merrill went on to say. “Sometimes the problem is figuring out what the users mean, not what the user said.”
At this point, some of Google’s main projects include improving mobile web search, personalized search, and language translation features, as well as finding new ways to combat SEO spam.
By keeping its focus on core search functionality, the internet giant is demonstrating its belief that no search algorithm can be “too good,” while recognizing the continual progress of competitors. This goes to show that even the mighty Google must work hard to maintain the upper hand against rivals like Yahoo and Microsoft.
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