The Penguin (named Tux) is finally making inroads as an operating system (OS) on desktops too. While it has an over 20 per cent market share when we speak of servers in India, the free OS called Linux has just around 5 per cent market share in the country when it comes to desktops – the lion’s share going to Microsoft Windows.
The scenario is gradually changing, it appears. Novell along with the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) is installing Suse Linux in around 40,000 desktops in the entire state. Over 50 per cent of the estimated Rs 200 crore project – which has been put up on YouTube too – has already been completed, according to C Umashankar, managing director, ELCOT.
This is the second largest implementation of Linux on the desktop – the biggest one being that of around 60,000 desktops in LIC of India by Red Hat, which is estimated to have implemented over 200,000 desktop OS installations. Canara Bank too has around 10,000 Linux OS desktops.
LINUX SPREADING WINGS
Project area
No of PCs
LIC of India 60,000
Higher secondary schools (TN)* 30,000
Common service centres (WB)# 15,000
Canara Bank 10,000
Panchayats (TN)* 6,000
University of Delhi 5,000
Government offices (TN)* 4,000
* Tamil Nadu,
# West Bengal
ELCOT migrated its entire IT infrastructure from Windows to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise desktop. ELCOT is the implementing agency for the prestigious Tamil Nadu State Wide Area Network Project (TN-SWAN) and is in the process of commissioning the state’s data centre and disaster recovery centre too.
The growth of Linux on the desktop, according to analysts, has been stymied by piracy. Many people prefer to use pirated Windows OS on their desktops. However, since Microsoft is hardening its coming down hard on piracy, more users may opt for Linux since it reduces the cost of the PC.
Source: BusinessWorld
Saturday, August 4
Want to make fast money? Be a online tutor.
Indu Ananth is a professional mathematics tutor. But her teaching starts at 8:30 in the evening over the e-mail. And that’s when her student from Forment in the US returns from school.
She earns Rs 8, 000 for five hours a day for her trouble. Most often she works for five days a week. She is attached to tutor vista, which has 250 teachers all over India who work from home.
But for tutors worldwide, another online tutorial, functions like a BPO. A US-based Socratic systems, an online tutorial firm, outsources work to it.
“This is definitely an emerging offshore service from India and it can become yet another BPO or its service. In the five years time I’ve seen tremendous growth here,” says a professional tutor, Mahalingam V.
Tutors worldwide are part of a $132 billion programme the US government has for online tuitions. It charges each student $100 for unlimited tutoring every month and pays its Indian teachers in rupees.
Tutor vista has 2,500 customers, most of them in the US and it hopes to expand that to 10,000 by the end of the year.
So if you think you are good at teaching subjects like math, physics, chemistry or biology and don't want to handle a pack of seven-to-14 year olds, this might be your chance to make a few bucks.
Source: IBNLive
She earns Rs 8, 000 for five hours a day for her trouble. Most often she works for five days a week. She is attached to tutor vista, which has 250 teachers all over India who work from home.
But for tutors worldwide, another online tutorial, functions like a BPO. A US-based Socratic systems, an online tutorial firm, outsources work to it.
“This is definitely an emerging offshore service from India and it can become yet another BPO or its service. In the five years time I’ve seen tremendous growth here,” says a professional tutor, Mahalingam V.
Tutors worldwide are part of a $132 billion programme the US government has for online tuitions. It charges each student $100 for unlimited tutoring every month and pays its Indian teachers in rupees.
Tutor vista has 2,500 customers, most of them in the US and it hopes to expand that to 10,000 by the end of the year.
So if you think you are good at teaching subjects like math, physics, chemistry or biology and don't want to handle a pack of seven-to-14 year olds, this might be your chance to make a few bucks.
Source: IBNLive
Friday, August 3
UTV lines up Movies for Online Distribution
UTV Motion Pictures is all set to redefine the landscape of film distribution. The company has inked tie-ups with three portals that will premiere UTV Motion Pictures’ two forthcoming film releases online, along with other films from the company's library.
Vikram Bhatt directed Fear premieres on 10 August across three portals, www.rajshri.com, www.bigflicks.com, www.indyaondemand.com. This film will be released online without a theatrical release, a first for an Indian film.
Further, Vishal Bhardwaj's The Blue Umbrella also releases online on 10 August, the same day as its theatrical release in India. Each online movie download is priced at $ 9.99 for a standard download and $ 19.99 for a higher resolution download. This is targeted at audiences in markets like the US, UK, South East Asia and the Middle East. Both movies will be available on a 'download to own' instead of the usual 'download to rent' with 72 hours DRM.
Some of the other UTV films that one can see online include: Swades, Rang De Basanti, Taxi No 9211, Bluffmaster, Chup Chup Ke, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, Hattrick and Life in a Metro.
As of now, this paid for content is being consumed primarily by the overseas audience and the revenue stream thus generated has a limited impact on the overall revenue of films. However, the next generation of film distribution will see online and IPTV contributing much larger ratios to overall film revenues.
Source: BusinessOfCinema
Vikram Bhatt directed Fear premieres on 10 August across three portals, www.rajshri.com, www.bigflicks.com, www.indyaondemand.com. This film will be released online without a theatrical release, a first for an Indian film.
Further, Vishal Bhardwaj's The Blue Umbrella also releases online on 10 August, the same day as its theatrical release in India. Each online movie download is priced at $ 9.99 for a standard download and $ 19.99 for a higher resolution download. This is targeted at audiences in markets like the US, UK, South East Asia and the Middle East. Both movies will be available on a 'download to own' instead of the usual 'download to rent' with 72 hours DRM.
Some of the other UTV films that one can see online include: Swades, Rang De Basanti, Taxi No 9211, Bluffmaster, Chup Chup Ke, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, Hattrick and Life in a Metro.
As of now, this paid for content is being consumed primarily by the overseas audience and the revenue stream thus generated has a limited impact on the overall revenue of films. However, the next generation of film distribution will see online and IPTV contributing much larger ratios to overall film revenues.
Source: BusinessOfCinema
Social Networking = Recruiter's Paradise
Orkut, LinkedIn, Facebook and other similar popular social networking sites are fast doubling up as the modern day employment exchanges with job seekers as well as companies and recruiters head hunting for talent. The social networking sites, immensely popular with the netizens, especially the young, are having increasing number of 'communities' helping both job seekers and employers.
With 100 million Internet users in the country, E-recruitment is gaining ground as a preferred medium of hiring in India, according to Assocham. Especially for job seekers, the Internet has opened up the world of job searching, turning it into a 24-hour-a day market place. Internet is arguably the most immediate, convenient and comprehensive medium for employment seekers to research and prospect for jobs.
Upon a search for 'jobs', communities such as Orkut throw up about a 1,000 odd related communities such as 'IT jobs India walk-ins','Freshers','Retail Jobs in India', 'Walk in for Jobs', Job Sampark' etc.
Staffing services providers like Cloud 9 India, Pathway Recruitment Agency use such sites as a platform to hire and have links to their own websites. Populated with thousands of members each of these communities have a huge database of job seekers and can reach them within seconds.
"Of all new services on the internet, social networking sites hold the most promise. The reason for this is that these community-driven sites have the ability to leverage their user base across other verticals," says R Sunder, President, Times Business Solutions.
He further adds," Most of the growth in the social networking space has happened in the last one year. It will continue to grow at an accelerated pace as more people gain high-speed Internet access. It has come down to mobile phones and with web 2.0 coming to market, the future seems to be limited only by the imagination."
Young people are making most of it. Says Neha Kapoor a fresh graduate from Kanpur, "I got a job in one of the best BPOs in Delhi thanks to a 'scrap'", a term used by Orkut to describe the messages that are posted on the Net.
B Sudhir, software engineer, 25, moderator of a community 'Walk in for Jobs' in Orkut says, "I started this community as an hobby, as I am Internet savvy and had gone through the grind of trying to find a job. I wanted to create a platform for freshers."
His community claims to have membership of over 30,000 members. Sudhir says, "Other than the recruitment agencies many corporate houses directly post their requirements on the site."
He also has a blog whose members receive job opening postings into their mail boxes. Although most of these services are free yet there are ways to monetise these communities by dividing the jobs into free and paid categories, in which the recruiter pays for some specific advertisements.
There are many networking sites other than Orkut such as Facebook, Myspace, Yaari and also very popular professional networking site like LinkedIn, Ecademy, Doostang, Xing, Plaxo, etc.
Source: IndiaTimes
With 100 million Internet users in the country, E-recruitment is gaining ground as a preferred medium of hiring in India, according to Assocham. Especially for job seekers, the Internet has opened up the world of job searching, turning it into a 24-hour-a day market place. Internet is arguably the most immediate, convenient and comprehensive medium for employment seekers to research and prospect for jobs.
Upon a search for 'jobs', communities such as Orkut throw up about a 1,000 odd related communities such as 'IT jobs India walk-ins','Freshers','Retail Jobs in India', 'Walk in for Jobs', Job Sampark' etc.
Staffing services providers like Cloud 9 India, Pathway Recruitment Agency use such sites as a platform to hire and have links to their own websites. Populated with thousands of members each of these communities have a huge database of job seekers and can reach them within seconds.
"Of all new services on the internet, social networking sites hold the most promise. The reason for this is that these community-driven sites have the ability to leverage their user base across other verticals," says R Sunder, President, Times Business Solutions.
He further adds," Most of the growth in the social networking space has happened in the last one year. It will continue to grow at an accelerated pace as more people gain high-speed Internet access. It has come down to mobile phones and with web 2.0 coming to market, the future seems to be limited only by the imagination."
Young people are making most of it. Says Neha Kapoor a fresh graduate from Kanpur, "I got a job in one of the best BPOs in Delhi thanks to a 'scrap'", a term used by Orkut to describe the messages that are posted on the Net.
B Sudhir, software engineer, 25, moderator of a community 'Walk in for Jobs' in Orkut says, "I started this community as an hobby, as I am Internet savvy and had gone through the grind of trying to find a job. I wanted to create a platform for freshers."
His community claims to have membership of over 30,000 members. Sudhir says, "Other than the recruitment agencies many corporate houses directly post their requirements on the site."
He also has a blog whose members receive job opening postings into their mail boxes. Although most of these services are free yet there are ways to monetise these communities by dividing the jobs into free and paid categories, in which the recruiter pays for some specific advertisements.
There are many networking sites other than Orkut such as Facebook, Myspace, Yaari and also very popular professional networking site like LinkedIn, Ecademy, Doostang, Xing, Plaxo, etc.
Source: IndiaTimes
Amazon To Launch Payments Services; Will Compete With PayPal and Google Checkout
Look for a launch announcement by Amazon this week or next of a new web service around payments, adding to their S3 (storage), EC2 (virtual server) and other services. They’ve been quietly testing the service, which will compete with PayPal and Google Checkout, for a few weeks. It is an extension of the existing Amazon Payments, which allows third parties selling items on Amazon’s extended network to receive payments from buyers.
We hear that for now at least this is a redirect service only, like Google Checkout. Users will be redirected to Amazon’s servers to complete the payment and then returned to the original site. PayPal also offers an integrated solution that allows users to remain on the original ecommerce site, an attractive feature for larger partners. The service will also allow sites to use Amazon to manage payments between users, and receive confirmation of transactions. This will be particularly useful for the new crop of online money management services.
PayPal, owned by eBay, still dominates this space, and the spats between them and Google are becoming legendary.
Source: TechCrunch
We hear that for now at least this is a redirect service only, like Google Checkout. Users will be redirected to Amazon’s servers to complete the payment and then returned to the original site. PayPal also offers an integrated solution that allows users to remain on the original ecommerce site, an attractive feature for larger partners. The service will also allow sites to use Amazon to manage payments between users, and receive confirmation of transactions. This will be particularly useful for the new crop of online money management services.
PayPal, owned by eBay, still dominates this space, and the spats between them and Google are becoming legendary.
Source: TechCrunch
Answers.com Sees 28% Traffic Drop As Google Algortihm Changes
Reference service Answers.com has seen its traffic drop about 28% in the last week after Google changed its search algorithm. The site is heavily dependent on Google for search-related traffic, and this would also mean serious impacts on its revenues and stock price.
In turn, this may mean some complications in its proposed $100 million buyout of Dictionary.com, which is based on its ability to raise that amount of money on the open market ($140 million, to be exact).
However Answers' CEO Bob Rosenschein assures the investors in an issued release: “This change only demonstrates the sound business rationale behind our agreement to purchase Dictionary.com, because it underscores a primary motivation for the deal: to secure a steady source of direct traffic and mitigate our current dependence on search engine algorithms."
Source: Forbes
In turn, this may mean some complications in its proposed $100 million buyout of Dictionary.com, which is based on its ability to raise that amount of money on the open market ($140 million, to be exact).
However Answers' CEO Bob Rosenschein assures the investors in an issued release: “This change only demonstrates the sound business rationale behind our agreement to purchase Dictionary.com, because it underscores a primary motivation for the deal: to secure a steady source of direct traffic and mitigate our current dependence on search engine algorithms."
Source: Forbes
Google spending hundreds of millions on mobile
Google Inc. has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its cell phone project and is courting U.S. and European mobile operators, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Anian, a Reuters company that tracks industry trends for institutional investors, reported last month that Google had engaged Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp to design a Linux software-based phone for launch in the first quarter of 2008.
The Anian report cited industry sources as saying that T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom, would likely be Google's U.S. partner with France Telecom's Orange selling the phones in other markets.
The Journal said on Thursday that Google had also approached the two biggest U.S. wireless services, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, in recent months to ask them to sell phones with Google service.
Google has also developed prototype phones and talked over technical specifications with manufacturers including LG Electronics, the Journal said.
Mobile advertising is still a relatively small market but advertisers and wireless experts expect this to change.
Yankee Group has forecast the mobile ad market more than quadrupling to $275 million in 2007 and eventually increasing to $2.2 billion in 2010, up from an estimated $60 million in 2006. Some experts are forecasting an even bigger market.
Source: Reuters
Anian, a Reuters company that tracks industry trends for institutional investors, reported last month that Google had engaged Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp to design a Linux software-based phone for launch in the first quarter of 2008.
The Anian report cited industry sources as saying that T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom, would likely be Google's U.S. partner with France Telecom's Orange selling the phones in other markets.
The Journal said on Thursday that Google had also approached the two biggest U.S. wireless services, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, in recent months to ask them to sell phones with Google service.
Google has also developed prototype phones and talked over technical specifications with manufacturers including LG Electronics, the Journal said.
Mobile advertising is still a relatively small market but advertisers and wireless experts expect this to change.
Yankee Group has forecast the mobile ad market more than quadrupling to $275 million in 2007 and eventually increasing to $2.2 billion in 2010, up from an estimated $60 million in 2006. Some experts are forecasting an even bigger market.
Source: Reuters
Indian Bloggers Top Charts
A Recent surveys and market intelligence reports shows that India is a major contributor in Web 2.0 growth worldwide along with its good old neighbour China.
A report by IDC, a premier global market intelligence firm estimated that a third of all Internet users in 2007 are Web 2.0 users in India, 83% for the same in Korea, and 70% in People's Republic of China.
With the new facet of dotcom companies quickly revamping into Web 2.0 style along with premiere companies already estabilished like Zoho Sheets of chennai, these local economies like that of India will attract new VCs, venture capital, angel investors likewise to other frequent web startups in any other part of globe.
A new Synovate Asiabus study reveal that most active bloggers are from India with figure of 83% of total India internet users. These bloggers are either write their own blog or contribute to other's blogs. With bloggers like Amit Agarwal, Om Malik and person who coined term SMO (Social Media Optimization) Rohit Bhargava , it indeed a true statement for global blogosphere that Indian Bloggers are has perpetually contributed, participated in incubating Web 2.0 right from the very start.
For complete report click here
A report by IDC, a premier global market intelligence firm estimated that a third of all Internet users in 2007 are Web 2.0 users in India, 83% for the same in Korea, and 70% in People's Republic of China.
With the new facet of dotcom companies quickly revamping into Web 2.0 style along with premiere companies already estabilished like Zoho Sheets of chennai, these local economies like that of India will attract new VCs, venture capital, angel investors likewise to other frequent web startups in any other part of globe.
A new Synovate Asiabus study reveal that most active bloggers are from India with figure of 83% of total India internet users. These bloggers are either write their own blog or contribute to other's blogs. With bloggers like Amit Agarwal, Om Malik and person who coined term SMO (Social Media Optimization) Rohit Bhargava , it indeed a true statement for global blogosphere that Indian Bloggers are has perpetually contributed, participated in incubating Web 2.0 right from the very start.
For complete report click here
Monster Asks: What's Your Job Sign?
MONSTER.COM HAS LAUNCHED "JOB Sign," an online viral campaign designed to bring the Monster brand front-of-mind with job seekers. Portland, ME-based VIA is the marketing and communications agency behind the effort.
The campaign provides a tongue-in-cheek way for users to determine their workplace personality--or "Job Sign"--and how it impacts their interactions with others in the office hierarchy.
The rich media site features ambient workplace noise, such as keyboard clicks and slivers of phone conversations, and Flash-based sequences posing questions such as "Which t-shirt would you wear under your work clothes?"--all leading up to a classification as one of nine archetypes that include Glory Hound, Rebel of the Roundtable, and even the dreaded Corporate Cockroach.
Users can upload their own photos for display on a tarot-like card in the site's gallery, and check out the Job Signs of others in their industry or even their company. VIA partnered with Brooklyn, NY-based Domani Studios for the Web site development and functionality.
The nine Job Signs are loosely based on the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator, an often-cited questionnaire stemming from Carl Jung's psychological theories. VIA's creative team developed the idea after initially brainstorming with Monster about a work-based horoscope email campaign and then deciding that the effort needed to involve more user participation.
Monster competitor Careerbuilder.com propelled itself into the category-leading position last year with the wildly popular and hugely viral Monkeymail campaign in which consumers could choose different email personalities to send text and voice messages.
Source: MediaPostThursday, August 2
AOL Loses Subscribers, And Ad Growth Drops
AOL continued to lose subscribers and advertising growth slowed, signaling trouble for the online media company's recent shift in strategy.
Dulles-based AOL posted its weakest quarter of advertising growth since announcing a year ago that it would try to drive traffic to its ad-supported Web sites by giving away AOL.com e-mail accounts, software and other features once reserved for paying customers.
AOL, Time Warner's online division, had $522 million in ad revenues in the quarter ended June 30, a 16 percent increase from $449 million in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. By contrast, ad revenues grew 40 percent or more in each of the previous four quarters.
Ad growth remained too meager to fully offset declines in subscription revenue, which continued to plummet, as expected, after last August's strategy shift. AOL had 10.9 million U.S. subscribers paying for Internet access as of June 30, a 59 percent drop from its peak of 26.7 million in September 2002.
Overall revenue at AOL dropped 38 percent, to $1.3 billion. AOL accounts for 11 percent of Time Warner's revenue, about half of the 20 percent it had contributed until last June.
Source: WashingtonPost
Dulles-based AOL posted its weakest quarter of advertising growth since announcing a year ago that it would try to drive traffic to its ad-supported Web sites by giving away AOL.com e-mail accounts, software and other features once reserved for paying customers.
AOL, Time Warner's online division, had $522 million in ad revenues in the quarter ended June 30, a 16 percent increase from $449 million in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. By contrast, ad revenues grew 40 percent or more in each of the previous four quarters.
Ad growth remained too meager to fully offset declines in subscription revenue, which continued to plummet, as expected, after last August's strategy shift. AOL had 10.9 million U.S. subscribers paying for Internet access as of June 30, a 59 percent drop from its peak of 26.7 million in September 2002.
Overall revenue at AOL dropped 38 percent, to $1.3 billion. AOL accounts for 11 percent of Time Warner's revenue, about half of the 20 percent it had contributed until last June.
Source: WashingtonPost
Disney Acquires Web Site for Children
Racing to solidify its dominant position in children’s entertainment on the Internet, the Walt Disney Company said Wednesday that it had acquired a subscription Web site aimed at preteenagers, Club Penguin, in a deal that could total $700 million.
Disney said it would pay $350 million for Club Penguin, a virtual community that has soared in popularity since its founding in late 2005. More than 700,000 users now pay $5.95 a month to customize penguin characters and then chat and play games with other “penguins.”
And Disney has agreed to pay the founders, three fathers based in Kelowna, British Columbia, up to $350 million more by the end of 2009 if the site meets growth targets. “They could earn all of it or none of it,” said Thomas O. Staggs, Disney’s chief financial officer. “The growth they have to achieve is attractive enough that we would be pleased to pay.”
Source: NYTimes
Disney said it would pay $350 million for Club Penguin, a virtual community that has soared in popularity since its founding in late 2005. More than 700,000 users now pay $5.95 a month to customize penguin characters and then chat and play games with other “penguins.”
And Disney has agreed to pay the founders, three fathers based in Kelowna, British Columbia, up to $350 million more by the end of 2009 if the site meets growth targets. “They could earn all of it or none of it,” said Thomas O. Staggs, Disney’s chief financial officer. “The growth they have to achieve is attractive enough that we would be pleased to pay.”
Source: NYTimes
CareerBuilder.com Launches CareerPath.com
CareerBuilder.com is launching a new Web site, http://www.careerpath.com to Connect the More than One-Third of Workers Considering a Career Change with Available Jobs.
A comprehensive resource for workers who are interested in trying out a different career. CareerPath.com centers around a free assessment test made up of 36 questions about skills, abilities, personal values and interests that are then correlated to competencies that are necessary for certain fields of work. The test is based on the well known Holland Theory that suggests that people who work in an environment that closely mirrors their personality will be more successful and feel more fulfilled. Visitors to the site can take the test, obtain career advice and find new career opportunities.
"It used to be that you began a career after high school or college and 40 years later you retired still working in the same field, but today it's common for workers to not only change jobs, but careers numerous times in their lives," said Liz Harvey, director of Consumer Products for CareerBuilder.com. "The workplace dynamic has changed - smart phones, laptops and the internet have blurred the line between work and home and today's job seekers are increasingly interested in careers that mirror their own personal interests. CareerPath.com was designed to help job seekers understand how their interests and skills can be translated into new career opportunities."
Source: CNNMoney
A comprehensive resource for workers who are interested in trying out a different career. CareerPath.com centers around a free assessment test made up of 36 questions about skills, abilities, personal values and interests that are then correlated to competencies that are necessary for certain fields of work. The test is based on the well known Holland Theory that suggests that people who work in an environment that closely mirrors their personality will be more successful and feel more fulfilled. Visitors to the site can take the test, obtain career advice and find new career opportunities.
"It used to be that you began a career after high school or college and 40 years later you retired still working in the same field, but today it's common for workers to not only change jobs, but careers numerous times in their lives," said Liz Harvey, director of Consumer Products for CareerBuilder.com. "The workplace dynamic has changed - smart phones, laptops and the internet have blurred the line between work and home and today's job seekers are increasingly interested in careers that mirror their own personal interests. CareerPath.com was designed to help job seekers understand how their interests and skills can be translated into new career opportunities."
Source: CNNMoney
Discovery buys TreeHugger.com
Discovery Communications Inc. has bought the Web site TreeHugger.com for an undisclosed price.
TreeHugger.com will be a part of Discovery's planet green initiative the media company is launching in early 2008. The initiative is to develop programming related to the environment, sustainable development, conservation and organic living.
Discovery, which owns cable television networks TLC, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery Health and The Science Channel, is launching the planet green television channel in 50 million homes.
"Bringing TreeHugger.com into the Discovery family gives it the resources to continue doing what it does best: bringing green living to the masses," said Discovery president of digital media and business development Bruce Campbell.
TreeHugger.com was founded in 2004 and has 1.4 million unique visitors every month. The Web site has an archive of 13,500 posts, including blog posts.
Source: BusinessJournal
TreeHugger.com will be a part of Discovery's planet green initiative the media company is launching in early 2008. The initiative is to develop programming related to the environment, sustainable development, conservation and organic living.
Discovery, which owns cable television networks TLC, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery Health and The Science Channel, is launching the planet green television channel in 50 million homes.
"Bringing TreeHugger.com into the Discovery family gives it the resources to continue doing what it does best: bringing green living to the masses," said Discovery president of digital media and business development Bruce Campbell.
TreeHugger.com was founded in 2004 and has 1.4 million unique visitors every month. The Web site has an archive of 13,500 posts, including blog posts.
Source: BusinessJournal
Msnbc.com Launches Online Advertising Network
Msnbc.com has launched an online vertical advertising networks for TODAYshow.com, "TODAY's" home on the Internet, and its Politics section, politics.msnbc.com, via a partnership with Pulse 360 for its Publisher's Vertical Network(tm) (PVN).
Msnbc.com's vertical advertising networks will offer smaller publishers increased revenue opportunities and access to msnbc.com's award-winning content, including video, original stories and the latest headlines. By leveraging the Pulse 360 PVN solution, msnbc.com will be able to aggregate thousands of member sites in its own vertical networks and represent this inventory for sale to advertisers.
Member sites joining msnbc.com's Politics and TODAYshow.com networks enhance their sites through increased advertising revenue via display advertising and sponsored links; access to msnbc.com content, including the latest video feeds and story headlines; added search engine visibility; and the opportunity to align with the msnbc.com brand, a leading news site, delivering more than one billion page views and registering visits from more than 85 million computers in an average month.
Source: CNNMoney
Msnbc.com's vertical advertising networks will offer smaller publishers increased revenue opportunities and access to msnbc.com's award-winning content, including video, original stories and the latest headlines. By leveraging the Pulse 360 PVN solution, msnbc.com will be able to aggregate thousands of member sites in its own vertical networks and represent this inventory for sale to advertisers.
Member sites joining msnbc.com's Politics and TODAYshow.com networks enhance their sites through increased advertising revenue via display advertising and sponsored links; access to msnbc.com content, including the latest video feeds and story headlines; added search engine visibility; and the opportunity to align with the msnbc.com brand, a leading news site, delivering more than one billion page views and registering visits from more than 85 million computers in an average month.
Source: CNNMoney
Adware Company Accused of Violating FTC Pact
FTC says adware maker Zango has not clearly labeling its software and informed consumers what it does on their PCs, in violation of last year's settlement. Zango Inc. was ordered by the FTC last November to give up US$3 million after it found the company's software was difficult to remove and deceived consumers as to its function.
As part of a settlement, the company was ordered to ensure that users saw a second warning screen informing them of what they were downloading. The FTC found that people rarely read the entire End User License Agreement (EULA).
Zango's software displays targeted pop-up ads to Web surfers based on the sites they search for. In exchange for viewing the ads, users gain access to freebies such as video clips and the ubiquitous graphical "smileys" for e-mail. Web sites operators that offer downloads of Zango's software are paid every time a visitor downloads it. This offer prompted hackers at one point to figure out ways to get the software installed on computers through security exploits.
Source: PCWorld
As part of a settlement, the company was ordered to ensure that users saw a second warning screen informing them of what they were downloading. The FTC found that people rarely read the entire End User License Agreement (EULA).
Zango's software displays targeted pop-up ads to Web surfers based on the sites they search for. In exchange for viewing the ads, users gain access to freebies such as video clips and the ubiquitous graphical "smileys" for e-mail. Web sites operators that offer downloads of Zango's software are paid every time a visitor downloads it. This offer prompted hackers at one point to figure out ways to get the software installed on computers through security exploits.
Source: PCWorld
Wednesday, August 1
New Indiatimes Mail invites users to ‘live out of inbox’
Times Internet Ltd has launched the new Indiatimes Mail with Web 2.0-powered technology and functionalities. The new Indiatimes Mail is futuristic, simple, fast and intuitive. It introduces a new word into e-mail terminology -- ‘collaborative’. The mail service intends to provide users with a one-stop destination to satisfy all their communication and collaboration needs on the Internet. Further, it also offers unlimited space and enables them to interact without ever having to log out.
The futuristic Web 2.0 Ajax-based collaborative suite ensures a reliable platform for speedy mail experience, along with an advanced bouquet of features that include shared calendar, shopping and travel, translator, contact collector, create and share documents online, mash ups, drag and drop, conversational view and tagging, among others. Software company Zimbra is providing Indiatimes with the Ajax Web 2.0 facility.
In order to expand the category across the town classes, Indiatimes has introduced the new mail in Ajax and HTML versions, for high-speed and low-speed connectivity respectively, to enable users to experience the vibrant product, irrespective of bandwidth issues. In its new evolved format, Indiatimes Mail endeavours to usher a new era of convergence and strengthen its position as the original thought leader in providing the best email services in the country.
Source: Exchange4Media
The futuristic Web 2.0 Ajax-based collaborative suite ensures a reliable platform for speedy mail experience, along with an advanced bouquet of features that include shared calendar, shopping and travel, translator, contact collector, create and share documents online, mash ups, drag and drop, conversational view and tagging, among others. Software company Zimbra is providing Indiatimes with the Ajax Web 2.0 facility.
In order to expand the category across the town classes, Indiatimes has introduced the new mail in Ajax and HTML versions, for high-speed and low-speed connectivity respectively, to enable users to experience the vibrant product, irrespective of bandwidth issues. In its new evolved format, Indiatimes Mail endeavours to usher a new era of convergence and strengthen its position as the original thought leader in providing the best email services in the country.
Source: Exchange4Media
e-PhotoBook Launched by FoBaz in India
FoBaz Foto Bazaar (India) Pvt. Ltd., India’s leading digital photos e-portal offers online image solutions like photo sharing, photo gifts and photo cards creation. Moving in line with the e-revolution, FoBaz today launched the electronic format of the FoBaz PhotoBook. Now the online users can create, view and even share the e-PhotoBook on e-mail.
Mr. Virender Ahluwalia, CEO of FoBaz Foto Bazaar (India) Pvt Ltd. quoted, "we want to give our customers a unique product that has never existed in the Indian Market before." The electronic form of Fobaz PhotoBook enables the customer to create a Fobaz PhotoBook online themselves and share it online with near and dear ones on e-mail. “Now we can share our precious moments on e-mail with unlimited friends and family members via the sharing facility & feature of e-PhotoBook without even visiting them.
FoBaz e-PhotoBook signifies the engineering edge of FoBaz, a leading online portal for digital imaging solutions in India. Though online photo sharing services have been available in India for past few years, the e-PhotoBook takes photo sharing to the next level. A user has the choice of a wide range of layouts and templates available online, which can be selected and the pictures added to the selected layout to create a personalised FoBaz e-PhotoBook. The customer can add captions (text) to each picture in the album and then share the entire PhotoBook.
Source: BusinessWire
Mr. Virender Ahluwalia, CEO of FoBaz Foto Bazaar (India) Pvt Ltd. quoted, "we want to give our customers a unique product that has never existed in the Indian Market before." The electronic form of Fobaz PhotoBook enables the customer to create a Fobaz PhotoBook online themselves and share it online with near and dear ones on e-mail. “Now we can share our precious moments on e-mail with unlimited friends and family members via the sharing facility & feature of e-PhotoBook without even visiting them.
FoBaz e-PhotoBook signifies the engineering edge of FoBaz, a leading online portal for digital imaging solutions in India. Though online photo sharing services have been available in India for past few years, the e-PhotoBook takes photo sharing to the next level. A user has the choice of a wide range of layouts and templates available online, which can be selected and the pictures added to the selected layout to create a personalised FoBaz e-PhotoBook. The customer can add captions (text) to each picture in the album and then share the entire PhotoBook.
Source: BusinessWire
The Globe Is Going Online: India & China lead the charge
The worldwide online population will grow to 1.5 billion in 2011, from 1.1 billion in 2006, according to JupiterResearch's "Worldwide Online Population Forecast, 2006 to 2011: Emerging Economies Catalyze Future Growth" report. The growth will put 22% of the world's population online in 2011.
Brazil, Russia, India and China are expected to account for most of the growth. This is mainly because the online populations of the US, Canada, Japan and Western Europe are already mature.
North America's share of the worldwide online population is actually expected to shrink to 17% in 2001, down from 21% in 2006.
Vikram Sehgal, research director at JupiterResearch, said, "In [China and India], increased infrastructure development and relatively higher purchasing power from rapid growth of gross domestic product will coincide with increased consumer adoption of the Internet through 2011."
eMarketer's Internet population estimates put the industrialized countries of the Asia-Pacific region on top of the world in penetration rates. Over 70% of South Korea's population uses the Internet, and rates are not much lower in Japan and Australia. Both Canada and the US have Internet penetration rates of around 63%, while the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain have all yet to hit the 60% mark.
Morgan Stanley estimated in November 2006 that there will be over 1.34 billion Internet users worldwide in 2007. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a long-standing benchmark for such data, put the total for 2005 at 964 million, only slightly less than Morgan Stanley's 1.04 billion estimate for the same year.
Morgan Stanley undoubtedly has the global reach to put together reasonably accurate numbers, and the ITU gets its data directly from service providers and governments. Reflecting this broad consensus from key sources, eMarketer puts the total number of Internet users worldwide at 1.1 billion in 2006 and 1.3 billion in 2007.
Source: EMarketer
Brazil, Russia, India and China are expected to account for most of the growth. This is mainly because the online populations of the US, Canada, Japan and Western Europe are already mature.
North America's share of the worldwide online population is actually expected to shrink to 17% in 2001, down from 21% in 2006.
Vikram Sehgal, research director at JupiterResearch, said, "In [China and India], increased infrastructure development and relatively higher purchasing power from rapid growth of gross domestic product will coincide with increased consumer adoption of the Internet through 2011."
eMarketer's Internet population estimates put the industrialized countries of the Asia-Pacific region on top of the world in penetration rates. Over 70% of South Korea's population uses the Internet, and rates are not much lower in Japan and Australia. Both Canada and the US have Internet penetration rates of around 63%, while the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain have all yet to hit the 60% mark.
Morgan Stanley estimated in November 2006 that there will be over 1.34 billion Internet users worldwide in 2007. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a long-standing benchmark for such data, put the total for 2005 at 964 million, only slightly less than Morgan Stanley's 1.04 billion estimate for the same year.
Morgan Stanley undoubtedly has the global reach to put together reasonably accurate numbers, and the ITU gets its data directly from service providers and governments. Reflecting this broad consensus from key sources, eMarketer puts the total number of Internet users worldwide at 1.1 billion in 2006 and 1.3 billion in 2007.
Source: EMarketer
PayPerPost Integrates Paid Blogging Service With Facebook
PayPerPost, an online service that connects marketers with bloggers, videographers, photographers, podcasters and social networks, has launched an application that allows bloggers to view sponsored content opportunities they qualify for in PayPerPost, from within their Faceboook social network accounts.
PayPerPost advertisers can use the application to display and promote their sponsored content opportunities inside the Facebook community, the company said.
Source: DMWMedia
PayPerPost advertisers can use the application to display and promote their sponsored content opportunities inside the Facebook community, the company said.
Source: DMWMedia
Interview with the CEO of Approver.com
Q) Where did your idea come from?
A) Approver.com was a classic example of a software developer "scratching his own itch" -- working for big internet companies like eBay and Yahoo!, I would regularly receive documents to review sent to me as email attachments. But it wasn't always clear why the sender was sending me the document or what they wanted me to look at specifically. After receiving a document to review, I'd inevitably receive a deluge of "me too" comments from all the people on the CC list, and six months later I'd find it impossible to find the document because it had drifted to the dark recesses of my inbox.
Sharing Powerpoint slides and Word documents as email attachments is not a terrific user experience for sure, but it also occurred to me that if the document represents the end results of weeks of work, it seems crazy to store the majority of a company's knowledge in such a haphazard and ad-hoc way.
So, Approver.com is our attempt to fix everything that's wrong with using email as a document collaboration tool. Instead of sending the document in email, you upload it to Approver.com, then invite people to review it. You receive alerts when someone views, approves or comments on your document. And the document, reviewer list and comments are all on one page so you can easily return to it whenever you like.
Q) What is your elevator pitch?
A) Have you ever sent someone a document in email only to wonder if it ever got there? If the recipient ignored it? If it got spam-filtered? If you forgot to attach the document to the email? If you accidentally CCed your competitor on a confidential document? Approver.com addresses all those problems. It's a document-management and workflow system for the majority of knowledge workers who would never use such a system because they are too complicated, too expensive and too internet-clueless.
Q) How is your proposition different from competitors?
A) We are not on a crusade to get people to use the web browser as their word processor (although we have an in-browser word processor), and we're not on a crusade to get people to publish promiscuously (although we enable users to publish to the web or to their blogs from within Approver.com). Instead, we want to work with the applications that people use today to provide them a secure and simple way to share with trusted collagues. You can upload Microsoft Office or OpenOffice documents to Approver.com and share them that way, if you want.
Q) Who do you see as your main competition?
A) Email attachments and commodity file-sharing sites. We are doing to email attachments what Plaxo did to email contacts.
Q) Why will you succeed?
A) Partly because we're betting against email. Email isn't going away tomorrow, but in a world in which people declare "email bankruptcy" I'd say its usefulness may have peaked. So as email becomes an increasingly painful way to collaborate, people will look for alternatives.
Q) What are your biggest successes so far?
A) In less than a year we've generated a critical mass of users (including paid users) with a small team and a marketing budget of $0.
Q) How will/do you make money?
A) The site is free to try, and we never charge document reviewers/approvers just to look at documents that others have sent them. We charge document creators to create or upload documents, and we'll be rolling out additional value-added features to our users over time.
Q) What is your target in terms of annual revenue?
A) In a world in which only 80% of corporate documents never touch a corporate document management system, we believe we're easily looking at a billion-dollar opportunity.
Q) Have you received funding? If so, how much and from whom?
A) We're bootstrapping the business at the moment.
Source: FrostFireBuzz
A) Approver.com was a classic example of a software developer "scratching his own itch" -- working for big internet companies like eBay and Yahoo!, I would regularly receive documents to review sent to me as email attachments. But it wasn't always clear why the sender was sending me the document or what they wanted me to look at specifically. After receiving a document to review, I'd inevitably receive a deluge of "me too" comments from all the people on the CC list, and six months later I'd find it impossible to find the document because it had drifted to the dark recesses of my inbox.
Sharing Powerpoint slides and Word documents as email attachments is not a terrific user experience for sure, but it also occurred to me that if the document represents the end results of weeks of work, it seems crazy to store the majority of a company's knowledge in such a haphazard and ad-hoc way.
So, Approver.com is our attempt to fix everything that's wrong with using email as a document collaboration tool. Instead of sending the document in email, you upload it to Approver.com, then invite people to review it. You receive alerts when someone views, approves or comments on your document. And the document, reviewer list and comments are all on one page so you can easily return to it whenever you like.
Q) What is your elevator pitch?
A) Have you ever sent someone a document in email only to wonder if it ever got there? If the recipient ignored it? If it got spam-filtered? If you forgot to attach the document to the email? If you accidentally CCed your competitor on a confidential document? Approver.com addresses all those problems. It's a document-management and workflow system for the majority of knowledge workers who would never use such a system because they are too complicated, too expensive and too internet-clueless.
Q) How is your proposition different from competitors?
A) We are not on a crusade to get people to use the web browser as their word processor (although we have an in-browser word processor), and we're not on a crusade to get people to publish promiscuously (although we enable users to publish to the web or to their blogs from within Approver.com). Instead, we want to work with the applications that people use today to provide them a secure and simple way to share with trusted collagues. You can upload Microsoft Office or OpenOffice documents to Approver.com and share them that way, if you want.
Q) Who do you see as your main competition?
A) Email attachments and commodity file-sharing sites. We are doing to email attachments what Plaxo did to email contacts.
Q) Why will you succeed?
A) Partly because we're betting against email. Email isn't going away tomorrow, but in a world in which people declare "email bankruptcy" I'd say its usefulness may have peaked. So as email becomes an increasingly painful way to collaborate, people will look for alternatives.
Q) What are your biggest successes so far?
A) In less than a year we've generated a critical mass of users (including paid users) with a small team and a marketing budget of $0.
Q) How will/do you make money?
A) The site is free to try, and we never charge document reviewers/approvers just to look at documents that others have sent them. We charge document creators to create or upload documents, and we'll be rolling out additional value-added features to our users over time.
Q) What is your target in terms of annual revenue?
A) In a world in which only 80% of corporate documents never touch a corporate document management system, we believe we're easily looking at a billion-dollar opportunity.
Q) Have you received funding? If so, how much and from whom?
A) We're bootstrapping the business at the moment.
Source: FrostFireBuzz
India’s Online Travel Business expected to Quadruple every year
Online travel sales in Asia Pacific are estimated to reach $25.6 billion this year, which is about one-third of the U.S. market forecast, according to New York Internet research firm eMarketer.
India is expected to see a much higher annual growth rate than Vietnam, China or Indonesia. From 2006 to 2010, India is expected to grow at 271.6% annually, while Vietnam’s online travel sector is forecast to expand 202% and China’s and Indonesia’s in the 70% to 83% range. (The biggest markets in revenue terms outside of Japan are India at $300 million and China at $200 million.) The U.S. online travel biz, by contrast, will grow 17% on an annual basis during the same time.
Source: ContentSutra
India is expected to see a much higher annual growth rate than Vietnam, China or Indonesia. From 2006 to 2010, India is expected to grow at 271.6% annually, while Vietnam’s online travel sector is forecast to expand 202% and China’s and Indonesia’s in the 70% to 83% range. (The biggest markets in revenue terms outside of Japan are India at $300 million and China at $200 million.) The U.S. online travel biz, by contrast, will grow 17% on an annual basis during the same time.
Source: ContentSutra
Tuesday, July 31
World's Best Internet Banks 2007
Global Finance has announced the First Round winners in the “World’s Best Internet Banks” competition in Asia. Winners were chosen among entries evaluated by a world-class judging panel consisting of representatives from Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. Global Finance editors were responsible for the final selection of winners in the First Round.
Winning banks were selected based on the following criteria: strength of strategy for attracting and servicing online customers, success in getting clients to use web offerings, growth of online customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from Internet initiatives, and web site design and functionality. Category winners, such as “best online cash management” were selected based on the relative strength and success of those web products and services.
See following for full listings of the World’s Best Internet Banks First Round winners for 2007 in Asia:
Country Winners:
Best Consumer Internet Banks:
Australia: ANZ Bank
Brunei: HSBC
China: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
Guam: Citigroup
Hong Kong: HSBC
India: ICICI Bank Ltd
Indonesia: Citigroup
Korea: HSBC
Kyrgyz Republic: AsiaUniversalBank (AUB)
Malaysia: Citigroup
Pakistan: Citigroup
Philippines: Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
Singapore: DBS Bank
Sri Lanka: HSBC
Taiwan: Chinatrust Commercial Bank
Thailand: Citigroup
Regional Sub-Category Winners:
Best Consumer Internet Banks:
Best Web Site Design: Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Best Integrated Consumer Bank Site: HSBC
Best Investment Management Services: HSBC
Best Online Consumer Credit Site: Citigroup
Best Onlilne Deposits Acquisition:
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
Best Bill Payment & Presentment: ICICI Bank Ltd
Best Information Security Initiatives: Citigroup
Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Banks:
Australia: Citigroup
Bangladesh: Standard Chartered
China: HSBC
Hong Kong: Standard Chartered
India: ICICI Bank Ltd
Indonesia: Citigroup
Japan: Citigroup
Kazakhstan: Citigroup
Korea: Standard Chartered
Kyrgyz Republic: AsiaUniversalBank (AUB)
Malaysia: HSBC
Nepal: Standard Chartered
New Zealand: Citigroup
Pakistan: Standard Chartered
Philippines: Citigroup
Singapore: Citigroup
Sri Lanka: Citigroup
Taiwan: Chinatrust Commercial Bank
Thailand: Citigroup
Vietnam: Citigroup
Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Banks:
Best Web Site Design: Standard Chartered
Best Integrated Corporate Bank Site: HSBC
Best Investment Management Services: Citigroup
Best Online Cash Management Site: HSBC
Best Trade Finance Services: Standard Chartered
Best Information Security Initiatives: JPMorgan Chase
Source: IndiaPRWire
Winning banks were selected based on the following criteria: strength of strategy for attracting and servicing online customers, success in getting clients to use web offerings, growth of online customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from Internet initiatives, and web site design and functionality. Category winners, such as “best online cash management” were selected based on the relative strength and success of those web products and services.
See following for full listings of the World’s Best Internet Banks First Round winners for 2007 in Asia:
Country Winners:
Best Consumer Internet Banks:
Australia: ANZ Bank
Brunei: HSBC
China: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
Guam: Citigroup
Hong Kong: HSBC
India: ICICI Bank Ltd
Indonesia: Citigroup
Korea: HSBC
Kyrgyz Republic: AsiaUniversalBank (AUB)
Malaysia: Citigroup
Pakistan: Citigroup
Philippines: Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
Singapore: DBS Bank
Sri Lanka: HSBC
Taiwan: Chinatrust Commercial Bank
Thailand: Citigroup
Regional Sub-Category Winners:
Best Consumer Internet Banks:
Best Web Site Design: Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Best Integrated Consumer Bank Site: HSBC
Best Investment Management Services: HSBC
Best Online Consumer Credit Site: Citigroup
Best Onlilne Deposits Acquisition:
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
Best Bill Payment & Presentment: ICICI Bank Ltd
Best Information Security Initiatives: Citigroup
Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Banks:
Australia: Citigroup
Bangladesh: Standard Chartered
China: HSBC
Hong Kong: Standard Chartered
India: ICICI Bank Ltd
Indonesia: Citigroup
Japan: Citigroup
Kazakhstan: Citigroup
Korea: Standard Chartered
Kyrgyz Republic: AsiaUniversalBank (AUB)
Malaysia: HSBC
Nepal: Standard Chartered
New Zealand: Citigroup
Pakistan: Standard Chartered
Philippines: Citigroup
Singapore: Citigroup
Sri Lanka: Citigroup
Taiwan: Chinatrust Commercial Bank
Thailand: Citigroup
Vietnam: Citigroup
Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Banks:
Best Web Site Design: Standard Chartered
Best Integrated Corporate Bank Site: HSBC
Best Investment Management Services: Citigroup
Best Online Cash Management Site: HSBC
Best Trade Finance Services: Standard Chartered
Best Information Security Initiatives: JPMorgan Chase
Source: IndiaPRWire
BBC Launches Free Internet TV Service
Billed as the biggest change in the way viewers watch television in 40 years, British state broadcaster the BBC launched an online service on Friday that allows people to download programs from the last week.
Viewers can choose from 400 hours of programs, between 60 and 70 percent of the total TV output, including hit shows such as "EastEnders, "Doctor Who" and "Planet Earth".
It faces competition from similar services provided by Channel 4 and ITV in Britain and from increasingly popular video-sharing sites such as YouTube.
The growth of the Internet, mobiles and hard-drive recorders that save hours of programs, has destroyed the notion of fixed TV schedules delivered through a TV in the corner of the room.
Programs will be automatically deleted after viewing or after 30 days. Copyright protection software will prevent the copying of shows.
It is only available to people living in Britain with computers that run the Microsoft XP operating system.
Source: Tech2
Viewers can choose from 400 hours of programs, between 60 and 70 percent of the total TV output, including hit shows such as "EastEnders, "Doctor Who" and "Planet Earth".
It faces competition from similar services provided by Channel 4 and ITV in Britain and from increasingly popular video-sharing sites such as YouTube.
The growth of the Internet, mobiles and hard-drive recorders that save hours of programs, has destroyed the notion of fixed TV schedules delivered through a TV in the corner of the room.
Programs will be automatically deleted after viewing or after 30 days. Copyright protection software will prevent the copying of shows.
It is only available to people living in Britain with computers that run the Microsoft XP operating system.
Source: Tech2
Bangalore all set to become 'unwired'
Close on the heels of Pune and Baramati, India's infotech capital, Bangalore, too will provide seamless wireless connectivity as a part of its Rs 800 crore "Unwire Bangalore" project.
Even as Delhi has been planning to make the city "wireless", the Karnataka government has reportedly given the go-ahead to all the five bidding consortia to roll out the services in a phased manner. Three of the bidders have started deploying the required infrastructure and services will be rolled out in 2007.
Conceptualised on a build, operate and own model, the Unwire Bangalore project aims at creating an infrastructure network that will provide wireless Internet connection to the entire city using world interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) and Wi-Fi technologies. The project is expected to cover 679 square km of the city in a phased manner.
Its wireless connectivity is based on pay per usage of bandwidth, using SRIT's product DynaRate, which enables users to demand bandwidth on a real-time and dynamic basis.
The consortium will offer up to 34 kbps of bandwidth free to the subscribers and any additional consumption of bandwidth for higher use will be charged on a pay-per-use basis.
Source: Rediff
Even as Delhi has been planning to make the city "wireless", the Karnataka government has reportedly given the go-ahead to all the five bidding consortia to roll out the services in a phased manner. Three of the bidders have started deploying the required infrastructure and services will be rolled out in 2007.
Conceptualised on a build, operate and own model, the Unwire Bangalore project aims at creating an infrastructure network that will provide wireless Internet connection to the entire city using world interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) and Wi-Fi technologies. The project is expected to cover 679 square km of the city in a phased manner.
Its wireless connectivity is based on pay per usage of bandwidth, using SRIT's product DynaRate, which enables users to demand bandwidth on a real-time and dynamic basis.
The consortium will offer up to 34 kbps of bandwidth free to the subscribers and any additional consumption of bandwidth for higher use will be charged on a pay-per-use basis.
Source: Rediff
Monday, July 30
Monster to Cut 800 Jobs; 2nd-Quarter Profit Drops
Monster Worldwide Inc., the world's largest network of online job-hunting sites, said it will cut 800 jobs, or 15 percent of its staff, after reporting that second-quarter profit fell. The shares rose 6 percent.
Net income slid 28 percent to $28.6 million, or 21 cents a share, from $39.6 million, or 30 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Sales rose 20 percent to $331.1 million, missing the $337 million average estimate of 15 analysts.
Monster expects the job cuts to save as much as $170 million a year. The company will spend up to $80 million to upgrade technology, such as software that lets employers place more ads without help, to rekindle growth in North American job listings, its largest business, Chief Executive Officer Sal Iannuzzi said. The company predicted a 25 percent operating margin by the end of next year, up from 19 percent in the quarter just ended.
Sales of North American job listings rose 7 percent to $174.5 million, missing the 11 percent forecast of Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney.
Monster's quarter included 10 cents a share in severance expenses for executives who left in April and legal costs from a probe of backdated stock options that led the company to restate results last year. Excluding that, profit of 32 cents missed the 34-cent average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Thomson Financial projected 32 cents.
2007 Forecast
Monster cut its 2007 revenue forecast to $1.34 billion to $1.37 billion, from $1.36 billion to $1.4 billion previously. Analysts projected $1.37 billion, according to the average of 19 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
Shares of Monster rose $2.56 to $40.16 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. They have fallen 14 percent this year.
Job Cuts
Job cuts in human resources and finance will eliminate duplication in the U.S. and Europe, Iannuzzi said in an interview. The U.S. sales team will also shrink as Iannuzzi tries to boost the percentage of job ads Monster clients place on the Internet themselves. Monster processes only about 15 percent of ads electronically, he said.
The job cuts come as analysts question whether Monster has saturated the market for online job ads. The company's North American job-listing sales grew 26 percent last year.
The company also faces competition from CareerBuilder.com, a venture of McClatchy Co., Tribune Co., Gannett Co. and Microsoft Corp. that has said it boosted first-half sales 16 percent, most of which was in the U.S., Boyd said.
Source: Bloomberg
Net income slid 28 percent to $28.6 million, or 21 cents a share, from $39.6 million, or 30 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Sales rose 20 percent to $331.1 million, missing the $337 million average estimate of 15 analysts.
Monster expects the job cuts to save as much as $170 million a year. The company will spend up to $80 million to upgrade technology, such as software that lets employers place more ads without help, to rekindle growth in North American job listings, its largest business, Chief Executive Officer Sal Iannuzzi said. The company predicted a 25 percent operating margin by the end of next year, up from 19 percent in the quarter just ended.
Sales of North American job listings rose 7 percent to $174.5 million, missing the 11 percent forecast of Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney.
Monster's quarter included 10 cents a share in severance expenses for executives who left in April and legal costs from a probe of backdated stock options that led the company to restate results last year. Excluding that, profit of 32 cents missed the 34-cent average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Thomson Financial projected 32 cents.
2007 Forecast
Monster cut its 2007 revenue forecast to $1.34 billion to $1.37 billion, from $1.36 billion to $1.4 billion previously. Analysts projected $1.37 billion, according to the average of 19 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
Shares of Monster rose $2.56 to $40.16 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. They have fallen 14 percent this year.
Job Cuts
Job cuts in human resources and finance will eliminate duplication in the U.S. and Europe, Iannuzzi said in an interview. The U.S. sales team will also shrink as Iannuzzi tries to boost the percentage of job ads Monster clients place on the Internet themselves. Monster processes only about 15 percent of ads electronically, he said.
The job cuts come as analysts question whether Monster has saturated the market for online job ads. The company's North American job-listing sales grew 26 percent last year.
The company also faces competition from CareerBuilder.com, a venture of McClatchy Co., Tribune Co., Gannett Co. and Microsoft Corp. that has said it boosted first-half sales 16 percent, most of which was in the U.S., Boyd said.
Source: Bloomberg
Microsoft Acquires AdECN
Microsoft continues to invest in online advertising to be able to compete with major rivals Yahoo and Google. In the last few months, the firm has made three digital acquisitions; first it was European mobile advertising firm ScreenTonic, then big aQuantive for $6 billion (Microsoft’s biggest acquisition in history) and now online advertising exchange firm AdECN.
According to Microsoft, AdECN would add the final element to its online advertising portfolio.AdECN is a real-time, auction-based, marketplace for buying and selling display advertising. It is similar to that offered by Right Media, the firm Yahoo acquired last April for more than $680 million.
Founded in 2003, and with nearly 30 employees, AdECN brings new capabilities and expertise to Microsoft’s online advertising network AdCenter.
Source: enbite
According to Microsoft, AdECN would add the final element to its online advertising portfolio.AdECN is a real-time, auction-based, marketplace for buying and selling display advertising. It is similar to that offered by Right Media, the firm Yahoo acquired last April for more than $680 million.
Founded in 2003, and with nearly 30 employees, AdECN brings new capabilities and expertise to Microsoft’s online advertising network AdCenter.
Source: enbite
India generates just 2.8 per cent of global spam
India is pretty low down on the totem pole for cyber crimes: way behind the malicious, crooked and cross-wired geeks in the US, China and Europe.
A research by US-based IT security and control firm SophosLabs shows that only 2.8 per cent of all spam or malware — software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system — comes out of India.
The US tops the chart with 19.8 per cent followed by China at 7.5 per cent. But the study also shows that China has overtaken the US in hosting Web pages that secretly install malicious programs on computers to steal private information or send spam e-mails.
Another report reveals that Europe produces more spam than any other continent. What all this shows is a loose confederacy of cyber criminals: a single cyber crime operation can now be distributed among different groups in several countries.
One may create a ‘botnet’; another rents those computers to send credit scam e-mails; a third party transfers funds using the fraudulently obtained banking information. Sometimes each operation is on a different continent.
There is no evidence yet of an emerging cyber mafia – an organised syndicate of cyber criminals but we could get there eventually.
Source: Telegraph
A research by US-based IT security and control firm SophosLabs shows that only 2.8 per cent of all spam or malware — software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system — comes out of India.
The US tops the chart with 19.8 per cent followed by China at 7.5 per cent. But the study also shows that China has overtaken the US in hosting Web pages that secretly install malicious programs on computers to steal private information or send spam e-mails.
Another report reveals that Europe produces more spam than any other continent. What all this shows is a loose confederacy of cyber criminals: a single cyber crime operation can now be distributed among different groups in several countries.
One may create a ‘botnet’; another rents those computers to send credit scam e-mails; a third party transfers funds using the fraudulently obtained banking information. Sometimes each operation is on a different continent.
There is no evidence yet of an emerging cyber mafia – an organised syndicate of cyber criminals but we could get there eventually.
Source: Telegraph
Harish Bahl, On Yahoo buying stake in Tyroo
Q) What Initiated the deal? What benefits will Tyroo and Yahoo gain out of this deal.?
A) There was a need and value at both ends. Tyroo is one of the biggest ad networks in India. Yahoo was looking at being a part of India. They have made their presence felt globally but do not have a foothold in India in the Online AD Network Business. This is the prime reason for yahoo.
While for Tyroo there are 3 reasons.
1) We saw value in the deal. Yahoo brings with it, its international exposure, their experience and technical knowledge hence helping us make our learning curve smaller.
2) Being associated with a global company helps Tyroo go Global.
3) Access to global advertiser base that yahoo leverages.
Q) How does Tyroo plan to reinvent itself, now that it has joined hands with yahoo?
A) Tyroo and Yahoo will work independently. We will leverage our synergies but will not be detrimental to each other. This is an understanding that the deal brought with it.
We are also looking to explore the SME segment. Bring more feet to the streets and gain advances in the technological front.
Q) Is Tyroo looking at the international market yet?
A) No, atleast not in the immediate future. We are currently focusing on India and looking to build a strong network here.
Source: WATblog
A) There was a need and value at both ends. Tyroo is one of the biggest ad networks in India. Yahoo was looking at being a part of India. They have made their presence felt globally but do not have a foothold in India in the Online AD Network Business. This is the prime reason for yahoo.
While for Tyroo there are 3 reasons.
1) We saw value in the deal. Yahoo brings with it, its international exposure, their experience and technical knowledge hence helping us make our learning curve smaller.
2) Being associated with a global company helps Tyroo go Global.
3) Access to global advertiser base that yahoo leverages.
Q) How does Tyroo plan to reinvent itself, now that it has joined hands with yahoo?
A) Tyroo and Yahoo will work independently. We will leverage our synergies but will not be detrimental to each other. This is an understanding that the deal brought with it.
We are also looking to explore the SME segment. Bring more feet to the streets and gain advances in the technological front.
Q) Is Tyroo looking at the international market yet?
A) No, atleast not in the immediate future. We are currently focusing on India and looking to build a strong network here.
Source: WATblog
YouTube Preps Video Fingerprinting
Google Inc.'s YouTube hopes recognition technology will be in place in September to stop the posting of copyrighted videos on the popular Web site, a lawyer Friday told a judge presiding over copyright lawsuits.
The lawyer, Philip S. Beck, told U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton in Manhattan that YouTube was working ''very intensely and cooperating'' with major content providers on a video recognition technology as sophisticated as fingerprint technology the FBI uses.
Source: Tech2
The lawyer, Philip S. Beck, told U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton in Manhattan that YouTube was working ''very intensely and cooperating'' with major content providers on a video recognition technology as sophisticated as fingerprint technology the FBI uses.
Source: Tech2
Alibaba.com decides to go public
Ma Yun, the CEO of Alibaba acknowledged on the annual meeting that the B2B eCommerce service of Alibaba launched the process of going public and the place would be Hong Kong. The company has submitted the first application to the Commission of Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
At the end of last year, Alibaba Group made the biggest change on the organizational structure of its history. The group transformed into holding company with Alibaba, Taobao, Yahoo, Alipay and Alisoft as subsidiary companies.
Insider analyses that if Alibaba goes to public successfully in Hong Kong, there will be a new record of initial public offering (IPO) of Chinese internet company in oversea market. Meanwhile, Alibaba will be the biggest technology stock in Hong Kong. The company hasn’t released its schedule of going public, but it could be expected on the third quarter of this year.
Source: ZhejiangOnline
At the end of last year, Alibaba Group made the biggest change on the organizational structure of its history. The group transformed into holding company with Alibaba, Taobao, Yahoo, Alipay and Alisoft as subsidiary companies.
Insider analyses that if Alibaba goes to public successfully in Hong Kong, there will be a new record of initial public offering (IPO) of Chinese internet company in oversea market. Meanwhile, Alibaba will be the biggest technology stock in Hong Kong. The company hasn’t released its schedule of going public, but it could be expected on the third quarter of this year.
Source: ZhejiangOnline
Yahoo Taps Novarra
Another win for Novarra. The mobile Internet content optimization company that has struck deals with Vodafone, 3 in Italy and Hong Kong and US Cellular, has sealed a deal with Yahoo to repurpose Internet sites that appear in its oneSearch results.
The Yahoo service will likely avoid the hiccups that marked Vodafone’s launch last month.
Made-for mobile sites may be good when it comes to presenting and selling commodity content. But users – as they come to embrace browsing with their mobiles – will naturally expect to see and access the Internet sites they know and love. Any approach that attempts to limit their freedom to surf the Internet, or lock them into a mobile Web-only experience, is doomed to failure.
Source: MSearchGroove
The Yahoo service will likely avoid the hiccups that marked Vodafone’s launch last month.
Made-for mobile sites may be good when it comes to presenting and selling commodity content. But users – as they come to embrace browsing with their mobiles – will naturally expect to see and access the Internet sites they know and love. Any approach that attempts to limit their freedom to surf the Internet, or lock them into a mobile Web-only experience, is doomed to failure.
Source: MSearchGroove
Rediff F1Q07 earnings report
Rediff released their first quarter 2007 (quarter ending june 30, 2007) earnings report yesterday. Highlights of the earnings:
* Revenues totaled $6.8 million, 18% increase over quarter ending June 30 2006
* India Online revenues, which includes online advertising, totaled $4.62 million, a 14% increase as compared to same quarter last year
* Net income was $2.12 million as compared to a new income of $1.98 million for same quarter last year
When it comes to their online advertising revenues, below are some specific highlights:
* Number of advertisers totaled 172
* Employment, matrimonial, finance, travel and IT products contributed 53% of the advertising revenue
* Top 10 advertisers contributed 42% of the total advertising revenue.
However, when you do a quarter over quarter comparison, things are even more interesting:
First, the online advertising revenues QoQ:
* Number of advertisers last quarter (quarter ending March 31, 2007) were 177. So, on QoQ basis, number of advertisers has dipped by 5
* The top 5 categories accounted for 61% of total ad revenues last quarter. They accounted for 53% of the total ad revenues this quarter
* The top 10 advertisers contributed 55% of the ad revenue, while they contributed 42% of the total advertising revenue this quarter
When it comes to the total revenues on a QoQ basis:
* Revenues for last quarter totaled $8.48 million as compared to $6.8 million this quarter - 19.8% decrease QoQ
* India online revenues were $6.3 million last quarter as compared to $4.62 million this quarter - a 24.7% decrease QoQ
* On a QoQ basis, US publishing revenues were the same - $2.8 million
* And inspite of the 19.8% decrease in revenues, Rediff still posted a QoQ increase in net income ($2.12 million this quarter, $2 million last quarter)
Source: Rediff
* Revenues totaled $6.8 million, 18% increase over quarter ending June 30 2006
* India Online revenues, which includes online advertising, totaled $4.62 million, a 14% increase as compared to same quarter last year
* Net income was $2.12 million as compared to a new income of $1.98 million for same quarter last year
When it comes to their online advertising revenues, below are some specific highlights:
* Number of advertisers totaled 172
* Employment, matrimonial, finance, travel and IT products contributed 53% of the advertising revenue
* Top 10 advertisers contributed 42% of the total advertising revenue.
However, when you do a quarter over quarter comparison, things are even more interesting:
First, the online advertising revenues QoQ:
* Number of advertisers last quarter (quarter ending March 31, 2007) were 177. So, on QoQ basis, number of advertisers has dipped by 5
* The top 5 categories accounted for 61% of total ad revenues last quarter. They accounted for 53% of the total ad revenues this quarter
* The top 10 advertisers contributed 55% of the ad revenue, while they contributed 42% of the total advertising revenue this quarter
When it comes to the total revenues on a QoQ basis:
* Revenues for last quarter totaled $8.48 million as compared to $6.8 million this quarter - 19.8% decrease QoQ
* India online revenues were $6.3 million last quarter as compared to $4.62 million this quarter - a 24.7% decrease QoQ
* On a QoQ basis, US publishing revenues were the same - $2.8 million
* And inspite of the 19.8% decrease in revenues, Rediff still posted a QoQ increase in net income ($2.12 million this quarter, $2 million last quarter)
Source: Rediff
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