Internet users: India, China and Russia Experience Highest Growth Rates

A study released by comScore Networks revealed the following interesting findings:

• There are 747 millions of Internet users worldwide.
• India, China and Russia experience the highest increase in 2006 with 33%, 21% and 20%.
• US has the largest Internet population - 153.4 million
• China has the 2nd largest Internet population - 86.8 million, followed by Japan at 53.7 million.
• Internet users outside of US is constituting 80%.
• Canada users spend 39.6 hours per month averagely, followed by Israel 37.4 hours and Korea 34 hours.

Related tables can be accessed here.

China: Gmail vs Gmail.cn

Seem like Google Mail (Gmail) is engaging in another battle for domain name. This time in China.
Gmail is trying to buy the domain name from Gmail.cn, owned by an ISP company in China. Beside China, Google Mail is also facing the same issue in other countries.

Sources for reading:
1. CNNMoney.com - Google fights for Gmail domain
2. CNet News.com - In China, Google grapples with Gmail domain dispute
3. Gmail.cn website (Chinese) - Google在中国受挫 购买Gmail.cn遭拒绝

Domain Names Dispute - Gmail vs G-mail

Familiar with Gmail? It's Google Mail.
How about G-mail? Is it the same as above? NO. It is Giersch mail, an electronic postal delivery business in Germany and Switzerland run by Daniel Giersch.

This Domain Names dispute is happening in Switzerland. The funny part is that both Giersch and Google received Swiss rights to the name in 2005, although Giersch applied for his trademark several months before Google did, and both remain in possession of those marks.

Last year, Giersch has won in Germany court on the German trademark for G-mail , also against Google.

Google also involved in another legal battle in Poland for Gmail.pl. Why? GMAiL.pl is currently being used by Grupa Mlodych Artystow i Literatow (GMAiL), or Group of Young Artists and Writers.

An interesting fact from Wikipedia - gmail.com was belonged to Garfield.com. It was used as a free online e-mail services offered by Garfield.com. Now it has moved to e-garfield.com.

Personal opinion:
These issues of domain names disputes happen when Google going for localisation of its services. Is it a good idea for Google to go local rather than sticking to their own famous brand - gmail.com? How about gmail in Malaysia - gmail.my? Are we foreseeing any dispute on this in the future? Who will prevail in the end of these Goliath vs Davids? Enough questions for everyone to ponder here.

UTAR most visited page - wble.utar.edu.my

Screenshot from www.alexa.com

As displayed in the www.alexa.com, a website that provide traffic ranking for online websites, the most visited page of UTAR is wble.utar.edu.my (41%) instead of the www.utar.edu.my (28%) as voted by students.

Screenshot from www.alexa.com

Screenshot from YahooGroups Poll (UTAR Students votes)

This is mainly due to the extensiveness of the wble (Web-based learning environment) application in some of the faculties in UTAR. Another popular page visited is mail.utar.edu.my (27%) which is the e-mail page for staff which also indicating high usage of email in communication among the staff and students.

You can try this Alexa.com services to search on other websites' traffic rank.

100 million websites

Since a humble beginning of 18,000 websites in August 1995, the Web now has 100 million websites. This milestone was achieved in October this year, according to Netcraft, an Internet monitoring company that has tracked Web growth since 1995.

Here are some interesting facts:

• 54.6 million websites are in US
• 15 million in Germany
• 6 million in UK
• 2.8 million in Canada
• 2.55 million in France

• 47 or 48 million of them are active websites.
• The number increase dramatically for the last 2 years thanks to blogging.
• The United States, Germany, China, South Korea and Japan show the greatest Web site growing spurts.
• When the Web was started in 1989, it was started as a mechanism for sharing high energy particle physics data.
• Web "explosion" took place when businesses realized they could use the Internet to make money.
• In both the business world and the social scene, a Web site is now an identifier almost as common as a phone number or an e-mail address.

Moer reading can be obtained here - Web reaches new milestone: 100 million sites (www.cnn.com) 1st Nov 2006

For more resources on Internet History and evolution, click this link - Online Evolution

YouTube vs Utube.com

Different spelling.......same pronunciation.

YouTube - Online Video Sharing site. Also the Time Invention of the Year 2006. Established since 2004.
Utube.com - Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, industry equipment maker - website established since 1996.

Due to the popularity of YouTube, some users mistakenly treated Utube.com as YouTube.com resulted in dramatic increase of web page request and visits, from 1500 hits per months to as high as 2 million hits per month. This caused the company server to crash a few times.

Now, Utube.com is suing YouTube.com for causing its server to crash as well as causing it losing business and the need to invest in more reliable server. It requested YouTube to change its name or to finance its new rebranding process.

From www.ecommercetimes.com - "Domain-name confusion has been around as long as the World Wide Web. Some have tried to capitalize on the element of human error and confusion, by snatching up like-sounding domains and establishing ad-filled outposts."

More reading can be obtained here - YouTube sued over domain use. (www.ecommercetimes.com)

What do you think? Share you comment:
Who is making the mistake here? Users or YouTube?

Accessing Internet from your CAR

Now, we can access Internet from our mobile phone from anywhere including while we are driving.
In the near future, we can suft Internet directly from PCs install in our cars.

Imagine doing this while on the road...of course not while you are driving!

• Checking e-mails
• Downloading songs or files
• Placing reservation for restaurant or movie
• Checking road map
• MSN or Skyping
• Doing online banking and lots more.....

PCs are connected through the mobile phone connection or signal.........and WIMAX in the near future.

More reading can be available here (www.ecommercetimes.com) - Web Access in Cars Hits the Road

Now scientists say Video Games is useful

You can call it a new way of self learning by playing video games.

Scientists reveal that addiction on the video games can actually be converted into serious learning tools in school. Wow...just imagine going to school to play video games during the lectures and tutorials.

Soft-skills such as analytical thinking (how to complete the games with appropriate srategies especially RPG or strategy games), team building (games played in groups), multitasking and problem solving (like CSI investigation game).

Of course we are not talking about the soccer or basketball, car racing type of games but games such as business related (entreprenueurship - which I did played before) can be utilised in education. In fact in some universities, subjects are being taught by using games - specific business games. I will be very happy if there is an opportunity to implement this method into the learning process.

For more reading, click here - Not playing around: Scientists say video games can reshape education (www.cnn.com, 17 October 2006)

Google's Literacy Project

Google Inc. unveiled on Wednesday a Web site dedicated to literacy, pulling together its books, video, mapping and blogging services to help teachers and educational organizations share reading resources. - http://www.google.com/literacy/index.html

Google has asked literacy groups around the world to upload video segments explaining and demonstrating their successful teaching programs. Among the first few hundred to be posted is a same-language subtitle project from India that uses Bollywood films to teach reading.

The service also uses Google's mapping technology to help literacy organisations find each other, and provides links to reading resources.

Google embarked two years ago on a massive project to digitally scan all of the world's books, a plan that has been embraced by some publishers and pilloried by others who consider it copyright violation. A group of them have filed a lawsuit against Google in the United States.

(Source: CNN Tech, Oct 4th)

Questions:

How does this website beneficial to us, as a student?

Rooney scored back his domain name

Wayne Rooney may not be scoring on the Saturday match against Wigan but definitely he scored back his domain name - www.waynerooney.com.

• a case of cybersquatting (Lecture 12)
  
• domain name consist of his name was registered by somebody in 2002
• choices available - pay a large sum to get back the domain name or go to the arbitration who will decide on the rightful onwer
• beside Rooney, others soccer stars like Ronaldinho, Totti, Joe Cole and Frank Rijkaard also managed to successfully defended the right to control the use of their names in Web site addresses.

This is report from TheStar (15th Oct 2006)

GENEVA: Manchester United star Wayne Rooney has won the right to a Web site address including his name.

Ownership of the www.waynerooney.com domain name must be handed to the England forward and his management company, a UN intellectual property panel ruled on Friday.

The domain name was registered in 2002 by an actor from Wrexham, England, when Rooney was a 16-year-old player for Everton. Rooney subsequently filed a trademark on his name.

A World Intellectual Property Organization arbitration panel said the present owner had no legitimate interests in using it.

The panel said the owner’s claim that he had registered the domain in order to create a fan site was “a difficult story to swallow.”

The WIPO panel said the current owner acted in “bad faith” when he registered the domain, and that it should be handed over to Rooney within 10 days unless the decision is challenged in a civil court.

The arbitration panel, which was set up in 1999, allows those who think they have the right to a domain to gain control of it without having to fight a costly legal battle or pay large sums of money.

In July, Brazilian football star Ronaldinho successfully defended the right to control the use of his name in Web site addresses.

Other stars who have recently won rulings against so-called “cybersquatters” include Italian international Francesco Totti, England midfielder Joe Cole and Dutch football manager and former player Frank Rijkaard. – AP

Beware - you may face the same issue if you become famous one day. Better register your own domain name now.

Online games - More goods or harms?

A report on TheStar (10 Oct 2006) highlighted the opinion from cybercafe operators on this topic.

According to them, online games are actually doing youths more good than harm, in that the games even keep them away from getting involved in drugs or crime activities.

Some excerpts from the Star:

“If parents think playing online games is bad, they should honestly ask themselves what they did as youths to entertain themselves when there were no computer games,” said Jeffery Wong, 31, a cybercafe owner.

“I bet they were involved in activities that were not that much more productive either, and probably a lot more dangerous,” he said, recalling his adventurous days of swimming in ex-mining pools when he was a teenager.

“It also provides job opportunities. I know many people who didn’t get to complete school, but because of online games, they’re able to survive and earn a decent living doing something they like,” Wong said.

“And what’s so bad about making money from playing games? It’s not like it’s illegal,” said Leon Jalleh, 27, a cybercafe operator.

“If kids are learning how to earn money by pursuing their interest, their parents should be proud of them instead!”

“It’s better than having them waste money loitering in shopping malls, or worse, get involved in drugs or criminal gangs,” he added.

Jalleh said cybercafes were also comparatively healthier than other entertainment avenues, such as nightclubs.

“You won’t find drugs or alcohol in cybercafes, and most don’t even allow smoking nowadays,” he said.

Jalleh told The Star that it was possible to earn several thousand ringgit a month by trading virtual items or helping other gamers improve their avatars.

“It is a good way to bond with friends and meet new people who share the same interest, plus it’s the cheapest form of entertainment around – definitely much cheaper than clubbing,” said Chris Chong, 26, who meets his friends for game sessions on weekends.

Discussion:
What is your opinion on this issue? Is online games bring more goods or harm?

Google buys YouTube for USD1.65 billion

Google is snapping up YouTube for US$1.65 billion in a deal that catapults the Internet search leader to a starring role in the online video revolution.

This is the most expensive purchase made by Google during its eight-year history. With this purchase, it ould dramatically alter the playing field for competing Internet giants, namely Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.

YouTube's worldwide audience was 72.1 million by August, up from 2.8 million a year earlier, according to comScore Media Metrix.

The YouTube acquisition is being hailed as a bold thrust that could turn two weaknesses in the Google empire -- video distribution and social networking -- into strengths that could keep the company growing rapidly for years to come. It could also change the way users connect with video online, as well as how content owners distribute it.


There are 3 related article from www.ecommercetimes.com on this news:
1. Google Closing In on YouTube Acquisition
2. Google Ends Speculations, Buys YouTube for $1.65 Billion
3. Google Places Heavy Bet on YouTube

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Usage of web in China is flying high

News from CNN.com

• China's population of the internet users is no 2 after US with 123 million.
• US is currently leading with 204 million Internet users.

The number of Web sites in China rose by more than 110,000 to a total of 788,400, the official China Internet Network Information Center said in an annual survey.

China encourages Internet use for business and education and has invested heavily in broadband service, though the communist government tries to bar access to material considered pornographic or subversive.

The number of Internet users in China with broadband service jumped by 45 percent over the past year to 77 million, or about two-thirds of the total online population, the Internet agency said.

The average Chinese Internet user now spends 16.5 hours per week online, a new record high, the agency said.

World Cup Stars Blog - Specially for "kaki bola"

Want to read more about your favourite players such as Ronaldinho, Michael Owen, Claude Makelele, Kevin Kuranyi, Xabi Alonso, and Edgar Davids?

Visit this link http://worldcup.malaysia.msn.com. and you will be able to read the daily dairies, news and anything related to them during the World Cup session.

The application of weblog in sports.

Clashes of the Internet titans (2) - Microsoft to buy eBay?

According to this news, Microsoft is considering making a bid to buy eBay (How about the joined forces of Yahoo and eBay in the previous entry?) after the initial plan to acquire AOL was backfired when AOL stricking a deal with Google.

The Post reported that Microsoft founder and Chairman Bill Gates favored eBay over Yahoo as a takeover target because of the technology that eBay would bring to the table, including its PayPal online payment system and its Skype VoIP subsidiary.

Read more here.

Questions:
1. How does these development will affect the e-commerce in the next few years and does these benefit the consumer?
2. In the end, which combination will emerge?

A battle among the titans of the Internet

Fancy the competition among Yahoo, Google and Microsoft?

Internet powerhouses Yahoo and eBay are joining forces in aliance to complete with Google and Microsoft in the quest to become the most powerful players in the online market.

Competition faced by Yahoo and ebay:

• Google continues to expand its lead in search while offering new services that pose new threats.
• Google has invaded eBay's turf by offering a free classified listing service as well as a payment service.
• Microsoft has vowed to invest heavily in the Internet during the next year, focusing on building a better online advertising platform.

Under the multiyear partnership announced Thursday, both Yahoo and ebay will draw upon each other's strengths in online advertising, payments and communications so they can connect with even more Web surfers than they already do.

Full article is here.

Online Video Advertising Launched by Google

Google has taken the wraps off plans to sell video advertising online, an ambitious move that could unlock significant additional growth potential for the search giant.

Google said it was adding video ads to meet the needs of its advertisers, some of whom, such as movie studios, need a fully interactive experience to deliver their messages.

For more reading, click here.

This is a new online marketing tool that companies may consider in the near future. (Lecture 8 - Consumer Behaviour and Online Advertising)

The costliest web access on Earth is in Africa

According to the news published in TheStar InTech (23 May 2006, pg 27),

• African Internet users pay on average 90 times what US surfers pay - US$20 (RM76) for 1 gigabyte of data per month for US surfers but African users have to pay US$1800 (RM6840) for the same amount of data.

Why the costs of data and voice communications in Africa is the highest in the world?

• The infrastructure-strapped continent spends millions of dollars every year to route data and voice traffic from one African country to another through Europe or North American.

Only 1.5% of the 906 million of Africa's population are connected to Internet as compared to 70% of people in Hong Kong and 40% of Malaysian are online.


This is what we called "Digital Divide" - The gap between those who have and those who do not have the ability to access eclectronic technology in general and the Internet and E-Commerce in particular. This will also be causing unbalanced growth and crippling the efforts by the world's poorest continent to become competitive in a global economy driven by communications.

Amazon.com going for digital movie download soon

Fancy downloading latest movies from Amazon.com for a small amount of fee...This service is coming soon to the web users once the negotiations with the major movie studios namely Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios & Warner Bros completed.

Amazon.com is in talks with three Hollywood studios about starting a service that would allow consumers to download movies and TV shows for a fee and burn them onto DVDs.

By then Amazon will be competing with Apple's iTunes in the world of digital downloads.

A digital deal with the studios would allow Amazon to substantially lower its inventory, shipping and labor costs and avoid returns of movies.

Competitions:

Wal-Mart and Target are also reportedly in talks with the studios about digital download services, and video-on-demand movie rental services like MovieBeam and Movielink are enjoying heavy studio investments.

Read more here (from www.ecommercetimes.com)