Archive for May, 2009

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Time Warner Ctrl-X’s AOL

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Nine years ago, it seemed like a great idea to merge a popular internet site with mainstream media. Certainly today you can see that it was, with sites like you Tube and Hulu, and most TV networks offering their own video downloads.  Unfortunately, the merger of Time Warner and AOL never quite took, even as internet speeds increased. 

An article announcing the end of the ill-fated deal in the Washington Post explained that AOL has said in recent months that it will focus on content, advertising and social networking.

In terms of content, the company owns a hodgepodge of popular offerings, such as Mapquest and the gossip site TMZ.com.

Advertising will see them competing with Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Not easy competition.

And social networking hasn’t been their forte since they introduced the world to concepts and features like buddy lists and community sites. Last year they made an attempt to get back in the game, acquiring social-networking site Bebo for $850 million, but the site has largely missed the buzz and user momentum that its competitors have had.

Tech pundit Rob Enderle said, “AOL is largely irrelevant on the Web, but they have a powerful brand. They need to figure out how to be hip and relevant again. They’re not going to get there by trying to out-Google Google, or out-Facebook Facebook or out-Twitter Twitter. They have to figure out a space they can own.”

Their powerful brand is now part of film history, with a film whose title echoes AOL’s famous and oft-heard phrase “You’ve Got Mail”. This 1998 Warner Bros. film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan may have been the beginning of the not-so-beautiful partnership. According to the Internet Movie Database, both lead characters used AOL’s version 4.0 software, which was in beta testing mode when the film was being made.  AOL now offers version 9.1.

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Shop Online with Faster Internet Speed

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

The conventional style of shopping at brick and mortar stores is now passé. Shopping online is the smartest way to shop, as it can save you both time and money. Presently, online shopping is a multi-million dollar industry, and it is continuously growing. It offers you fantastic bargains, not to mention the extensive range of goods and services that are available for every product category. To enjoy the benefits of online shopping, all you need is a computer with fast internet speed.

E-shops such as Amazon and e-Bay offer you virtually any product you can imagine. From rare Chinese silk products to ubiquitous stuff like shoes and watches, online shopping has countless items to offer. Additionally, it provides a most convenient shopping experience for those who live in remote areas.

For a more efficient online shopping experience, you will definitely need a fast internet speed. Most online shopping sites have web pages that are media rich. If you have a slow internet connection, you will have to wait for a longer time for the web pages to appear on your screen. This can be quite frustrating when you are eager to see your favourite products. Even processing your payment will be a hassle if you have a slow internet connection speed. A fast internet connection speed, on the other hand, will relieve you from such annoyances and make shopping online a great pleasure.

Before you start shopping online, it is advisable that you test your present internet connection speed through a web-based service. This is important because some ISPs don’t provide the kind of bandwidth speed that they promised.

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US in the Middle for Broadband Around the World

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released its latest data on worldwide broadband access last week.  For broadband penetration, the United States is in the middle of the pack, slightly above average for O.E.C.D. member countries. For a cool graph, check out the New York Times BITS Tech Blog, where they explain “perhaps this makes sense, given that the United States is in and of itself an unevenly developed country.” 

As for affordability, the United States has monthly broadband subscription fees that are slightly more expensive than the average for the O.E.C.D.. Other findings include:

* The economic crisis has not significantly slowed worldwide broadband adoption. In fact, broadband growth during the last six months of the year was slightly stronger at 6.23% than in the first six months at 6.16%.

*  Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, Korea and Finland maintain their lead the OECD with broadband penetration well above the OECD average, each surpassing the 30 subscribers per 100 inhabitants threshold. There was no change in rankings in the past 6 months among these leading countries.

* The United States is the largest broadband market in the OECD with 80 million subscribers, representing 30% of all broadband connections in the OECD.

• Connection speeds of 20 Mbit/s were available in all but two OECD countries in September 2008 – Turkey and Mexico.

• The average advertised speed  for DSL is 9.6 Mbit/s,  for cable is 14.9 Mbit/s and for fibre is 65.3 Mbit/s. The U.S. is above average here at 50 Mbit/s. But Japanese providers now offer cable broadband services at 160 megabits per second.

Check all the broadband speed graphs the OECD has available and then clock your speed to see where you stand.

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History of Internet Connection Speed

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Cable internet speed has revolutionized the way people connect with each other. Initially, high speed internet was restricted to the US and a few countries in Europe. In the US alone, the number of subscribers of cable internet speed had shot up 24% between 2000 and 2003. It was during this time too that faster internet speed reached the rural parts of the US. After 2000, however, access to high speed internet became available in most places around the world.

Internet is about the transmission of data. And a faster internet speed will provide faster transmission. It all started off more than a century ago with the experiments of Alexander Graham Bell and Samuel Morse. They were the ones who pioneered the concept of data transmission through copper wires. They probably wouldn’t have imagined how the medium called the internet would utilize similar principles of data transfer to change the way the world communicates.

After telephones and television, it was time for the internet to become the primary medium for data transfer and information sharing. It was in 1989 that Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. Soon, the first technology for high speed internet was developed. The Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) allowed simultaneous transmission of data to meet the need of internet surfers for faster internet speed. It was followed by advances in broadband technologies, which eventually led to the propagation of high speed broadband.

Technological changes in the quest for faster internet speed are taking place every so often. Today, video conferencing and streaming movies are the new baselines for determining one’s connection speed. Tomorrow, they too may be a thing of history.

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Map the Fallen on Memorial Day

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Memorial Day in the U.S. is a time remember those who have fought for the highest ideals of liberty, and who have lost their lives in doing so. In this Internet age, a new application in a way that the mainstream news media is unable to offer.  “Map the Fallen” allows us to honor soldiers from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom in way that Jolie O’Dell of Read Write Web describes as “perhaps the most comprehensive and deeply detailed picture of the human cost to date.”

Combining information gathered from several sources, it puts a human face to each loss, as well as names and ages, their hometowns and information about their deaths including the location and cause. It offers a timeline feature and an interactive digital map as well, using data from sites including:

• Google Earth 5.0
• Department of Defense’s Statistical Information Analysis Division
• icasualties.org
• MilitaryTimes.com’s Honor the Fallen
• the Washington Post’s Faces of the Fallen
• Legacy.com
• GeoNames.org

Users can also follow links to sign guestbooks, or read obituaries or other press coverage, or even get info from the Department of Defense, and internet connectivity makes it all possible.

It was developed as a personal project by a guy who now develops geospatial content for the Google Earth Outreach team. He has since become something of a specialist in the humanity of technology, training indigenous communities in Brazil, helping Google’s disaster response mapping efforts for the San Diego fires and Cyclone Nargis, and working with NASA to get a copy of Google Earth on the International Space Station. Work such as this can only help to bring the world together, and hopefully, with internet speed.

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Skyping from the Sky

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

In an earlier post we discussed how some airlines are offering Wi-Fi in the Sky, but this week Virgin America announced that they’re the first to offer in-flight Internet on every flight – their entire fleet—so now you can fly with internet speed.

For charges ranging from $5.95 - $12.95, you’ll be able to make use of your time in the air by being in cyberspace at the same time, checking e-mail, surfing the web, and generally being connected while at 37,000 feet. They even have power outlets at every seat.

Until now, this was only available on selected flights, with each step being used to show the power and speed of internet connections. Virgin America launched Gogo® in November 2008 with the first ever “air-to-ground” video stream to YouTube Live – YouTube’s first official real-world user event. In February 2009, the airline became the first to host a live national television broadcast via WiFi stream while in-flight with CBS News’ THE EARLY SHOW.

To show it off their new fleetwide rollout, they used Skype to connect to the Oprah Winfrey Show and then hosted the first ever Skype-enabled in-flight wine tasting. It’s all part of Virgin America’s goal to reinvent air travel, which has earned them “Best Domestic Airline” awards from Condé Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure in 2008. Not bad for an airline launched in 2007.

Of course, Virgin America doesn’t typically allow Voice-Over-IP (VoIP) products like Skype video call in-flight due to concerns about annoying other passengers. But there’s always instant messaging, e-mailing, tweeting, updating Facebook pages, blogging or any of the myriad other ways the web keeps people connected in near real-time.

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Video Conferencing with Fast Bandwidth Speed

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

These days, video conferencing is increasingly being used by business organizations to conduct meetings. It cuts cost and saves time, and that’s the reason why it is so popular. Besides the specific hardware requirements, you will also need a fast internet connection speed to conduct meetings via video conferencing.

Video conferencing allows people who are located in different parts of the world to participate in online meetings. A good video conferencing setup eliminates the need for a conventional meeting. Hence, face-to-face communications or sharing presentations and files can be rendered without the need for the meeting participants to be present at a physical location.

Some of the hardware that may be required for video conferencing are drop down screens, DVD recorders, projectors, cameras, wireless remote control panels, headphones, and microphones. For all these devices, you will have to install the corresponding software. Once the hardware is connected, the software is installed, and your computer is connected with fast internet speed, the video conferencing setup will be all ready for the meeting.

The internet connection speed that is required will obviously depend on the type of video conferencing solution you have selected for your business. For a small business, a broadband connection speed will suffice; however, for high speed video conferencing, you should opt for an ISDN supported line. For high-end video conferencing sessions, such as the setting up of a telepresence room, a fast Ethernet connection will be ideal. 

The cost of an effective video conferencing solution may range from a couple for hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, but it is the long term benefits of video conferencing that count. When powered by a fast computer speed, video conferencing will truly fast track your business.

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Yahoo Search Monkey Improves Searches

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

The New York Times’ Miguel Helft offered the Bits Blog his live running commentary during Yahoo’s presentation of its new innovations. Entitled “The End of the 10 Blue Links,” Yahoo offered an update on the progress of their Search Monkey, a service that allows Web publishers to show up more prominently in search results.

Prabhakar Raghavan, head of Yahoo Labs and Yahoo Search Strategy, explained that most users don’t want to search; they want to complete a task. And we know they want to do so as quickly as possible, with internet speed. That’s why Yahoo is getting away from offering just 10 blue links on the search results page and, instead, fulfilling the user’’s intent. Search Monkey does that by extracting “objects,” or things that people care about, like people, cities, restaurants, teams, etc. from the Web. Yahoo, he said, is relying on partners and Yahoo’s “open” philosophy to help gather rich data about the objects.

Yahoo has also been working to understand the content of pages through Search Monkey. It helps Yahoo to extract things like a restaurant’s location, ratings and other characteristics from a Web page about that restaurant, and present that to searchers.

Changes will be seen as the steps are rolled out over time, but Yahoo searches will increasingly deliver boxes of rich results. It will be able to do this, in part, because of its learning algorithms, but also in part because of the acceptance of Search Monkey, which allows publishers to flag certain kinds of information from their Web pages to Yahoo, making it easier for the search engine to process.

Though Google is the clear dominating force in searches with 64% of the market versus Yahoo’s 20%, even Google recently made some improvements.

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Broadband Speed for Internet Pay per View

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

The proliferation of the internet has changed the entertainment landscape forever. A few decades ago, pay-per-view events such as boxing championship matches were exclusively available for television. Now, fast cable speed allows you to watch not only pay-per-view sports events like boxing and wrestling, but other events such as music concerts and even weddings of famous personalities.

Internet technology has paved the way for live video streaming services, which allow you to watch a particular event by paying a certain fee. Premium media content is streamed via fast connection speed to subscribers who have paid a nominal fee for access to live content.

It was in the 1990s that the pay-per-view concept became the rage, courtesy of cable television. However, by the year 2000, the World Wide Web had become the medium of   choice for the broadcasting of live media, owing to its advancement in cable speed technology. Ever since, several companies have utilized high speed internet to broadcast exclusive content like television shows, sports events, and movies.

Other than live events, pay-per-view is also a popular alternative for watching your favorite movies. Movielink and CinemaNow are two of the major pay-per-view providers. All you need to watch pay-per-view programs is a standard computer and a fast connection speed to download and play the movie. You will also get to download television shows and documentaries in pay-per-view websites.

Presently, subscribers with fast connection speed can experience streaming movies, e-radios, internet talk radios, webcasts, and live events. With fast cable speed, you can sit back and experience the bliss of pay-per-view entertainment.

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How NOT to Market Computers To Women

Monday, May 18th, 2009

The computer maker, Dell, recently launched a new Web site geared toward women called “Della”, which advertises Dell’s line of Inspiron Mini 10 netbooks, also aimed at a female audience.

Originally, the site had a heavy emphasis on colors and featured tech “tips” that recommended user their new laptop for calorie counting, finding recipes and watching cooking videos, while details like the product’s specs and price were buried deep in the site. Predictably, the approach did nothing but insult and anger customers, and with internet speed, it received a backlash that echoed across cyberspace.

On Twitter, one man asked “Dell products for women strikes me as incredibly patronizing / bordering on sexist… am I wrong?”.

The company chose to amend the Web site, but it’s not much better. Now the main page includes a few specs and a comment from a user about editing video, but now the “tips” are about organizing your home office, traveling or working out, to which one reader commented:

“Please don’t assume we’re all at home, finally got our first computers, and will now set to organizing our ‘home offices’ and yoga schedules with it.”

Another tip about reading downloaded books elicited this comment on Dell’s Facebook page: 

“My god - I didn’t know women could read! At this point you should’ve just created the whole site with images and a big button that says “husband pays” for when you want to buy something. The best part - the head of marketing at Dell is a woman. Does she use a computer for more than calorie counting and shoe shopping?  After this marketing campaign, I truly doubt it.”

But maybe the response that will make the most impact on Dell’s marketing department is this one:

“I found this extremely helpful…I’ve decided to buy a Mac.”

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