Internet Use/New Technologies
08 September 2010
Facebook threats force French minister to postpone wedding The Independent
As far as Eric Besson is concerned, Facebook, the social website, just became antisocial. The French Immigration minister, 52, has been forced to postpone his wedding to a 24-year-old Tunisian art student after more than 1,000 people signed up to a Facebook group which pledged to disrupt the ceremony.
07 September 2010
Some Newspapers, Tracking Readers Online, Shift New York Times
In most businesses, not knowing how well a particular product is performing would be almost unthinkable. But newspapers have always been a peculiar business, one that has stubbornly, proudly clung to a sense that focusing too much on the bottom line can lead nowhere good.
Nigeria has Africa's Largest Online Audience, Tenth Largest in the World - ITU AllAfrica
The International Telecoms Union (ITU) has ranked Nigeria as the largest online audience on the African continent and the 10th largest in the world. In a recent statistic by the telecom body, 39.6 per cent of all internet traffic from Africa is from Nigeria, about 29.8 per cent of the population accesses the Internet while 43.9 million Nigerians access the Internet, making Nigerians the largest online audience in Africa and 10th largest in the world.
06 September 2010
Mining social networks: From retailing to counterterrorism, the ability to analyse social connections is proving increasingly useful The Economist
Telecoms operators naturally prize mobile-phone subscribers who spend a lot, but some thriftier customers, it turns out, are actually more valuable. Known as "influencers", these subscribers frequently persuade their friends, family and colleagues to follow them when they switch to a rival operator. The trick, then, is to identify such trendsetting subscribers and keep them on board with special discounts and promotions. People at the top of the office or social pecking order often receive quick callbacks, do not worry about calling other people late at night and tend to get more calls at times when social events are most often organised, such as Friday afternoons. Influential customers also reveal their clout by making long calls, while the calls they receive are generally short.
05 September 2010
Craigslist Blocks Access to 'Adult Services' Pages New York Times
Craigslist, the popular Web site for classified ads, has blocked access to its "adult services" section and replaced the link with a black label showing the word "censored."
Online advertising still doesn't pack a fraction of print's punch The Observer
You can have opinion (and hope, and aspiration) or you can have facts. Benedict Evans, at Enders Analysis, has just trawled through all the data of newspaper finances present and future - and he has concluded that one current print reader is worth four times as much as any prospective online website reader.
03 September 2010
YouTube Ads Turn Videos Into Revenue New York Times
Last month, a YouTube user, TomR35, uploaded a clip from the AMC series "Mad Men" in which Don Draper makes a heartfelt speech about the importance of nostalgia in advertising.
Facebook: Teens want to unfriend their cyber-stalking mothers Los Angeles Times
More than three-quarters of parents on Facebook are friends with their kids -- to many of those kids' dismay
01 September 2010
Only in Japan, Real Men Go to a Hotel With Virtual Girlfriends Wall Street Journal
This resort town, once popular with honeymooners, is turning to a new breed of romance seekers -- virtual sweethearts.
India to Have 237 Million Web Surfers in 2015 Wall Street Journal
The number of Internet users in India is expected to triple in the next five years, according to a report from the Boston Consulting Group Wednesday but making money from them isn't going to be easy.
Opinion: Google's Earth New York Times
"I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions," said the search giant's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, in a recent and controversial interview. "They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next." Do we really desire Google to tell us what we should be doing next? I believe that we do, though with some rather complicated qualifiers.
Internet access in emerging markets to double by 2015 Network World
The number of people with Internet access in Brazil, Russia, China, India and Indonesia will double by 2015, management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group said in a report released Wednesday.
To Win Over Users, Gadgets Have to Be Touchable New York Times
Whoever said technology was dehumanizing was wrong. On screens everywhere -- cellphones, e-readers, A.T.M.'s -- as Diana Ross sang, we just want to reach out and touch.
Australian state government minister quits over accessing adult websites ABC News
Premier Kristina Keneally has announced ports and waterways minister Paul McLeay has resigned after he admitted using his parliamentary computer to visit gambling and adult websites.
31 August 2010
Telstra becomes first to offer HSPA at 42Mbps Network World
Australian mobile network operator Telstra has become the first operator to launch a mobile broadband service using HSPA at 42Mbps (bits per second), it said on Monday.
30 August 2010
Retargeting Ads Follow Surfers to Other Sites New York Times
... Increasingly, however, the ads tailored to them are for specific products that they have perused online. While the technique, which the ad industry calls personalized retargeting or remarketing, is not new, it is becoming more pervasive as companies like Google and Microsoft have entered the field. And retargeting has reached a level of precision that is leaving consumers with the palpable feeling that they are being watched as they roam the virtual aisles of online stores.
Location-based social networks: Where are you? A tale of fake mayors and real deals The Economist
Marketing, its veterans like to say, is all about the "three Rs": reaching the right person in the right place at the right time. Hence the growing interest in marketing circles for mobile-phone-based social networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla that let users "check in" to shops or restaurants and instantly tell their friends where they are. Fans of such services gush that they will mint money by allowing ads to be targeted at folk who are about to make a purchase. But the networks must negotiate some important hurdles first if such lofty predictions are to come true.
Google moving into Facebook territory with eye on social networking games Washington Post
The tweet sent a quiver through the blogosphere: "Google to launch Facebook competitor very soon." That line from Kevin Rose, the tech entrepreneur who founded the content-sharing site Digg, unleashed a sense that the online world as we know it was about to fundamentally change.
29 August 2010
Oxford Dictionary faces internet-only future The Australian
It weighs in at more than 130 pounds, but the authoritative guide to the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary, may eventually slim down to nothing.
28 August 2010
Smartphones good for Australian business: ACMA study The Age
The smartphone fad will boost the digital economy, but Australians' love of technology will drive up energy use, a report has found.
Social Networking Use Doubles Among Older Internet Users: Pew Study ReadWriteWeb
While young adults are the heaviest users of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, older users over 50 are starting to catch up. According to a new report from the Per Internet and American Life Project, 47% of Internet users between the ages of 50 to 64 and 25% of online adults over 65 now use social networking sites. Compared to just a year ago, the number of Internet users over 50 in the U.S. who use social networking services has nearly doubled.
Intel warns amid global PC slowdown Financial Times
Intel added to worries about advanced economies as it warned that consumer demand for computers was slackening amid widespread fears of a double-dip recession
North Korea launches cyber charm offensive ABC News
It is known as the hermit kingdom, has a population of 23 million people cut off from the world without satellite TV, mobile phones or the internet.
26 August 2010
Ford Uses Wi-Fi to Customize Cars: Wireless Technology Adds Software to Cars on Assembly Line, Opening Way to Personalized 'Apps' Wall Street Journal
The auto industry is getting fired up about wireless technology in cars and trucks but it's not just for connecting passengers' laptops or streaming Internet radio stations.
Smoking marketed on YouTube: NZ study New Zealand Herald
Tobacco companies have turned to video-sharing website YouTube to market their products, new research from Otago University suggests.
