04.21.06
Posted in General at 9:46 pm by Administrator
An article from Cnet that should be shared:
By Tom Krazit
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
FAQ Computer-related waste remains a local and global problem, despite the progress made over the last few years.
More and more PCs are recycled, but some estimates say that 80 percent of the electronic waste slated for recycling in the U.S. is shipped overseas to be taken apart by low-wage workers, according to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.
Some vendors and recycling organizations do a very good job of recovering PCs and monitors for proper disposal, but there’s no nationally accepted method for dealing with electronic waste, and the U.S. government chose not to sign the Basel Convention prohibiting the dumping of hazardous waste on developing nations.
The PC industry has come to realize that recycling isn’t just good for the environment. Manufacturing costs can be reduced by using recycled materials, and refurbished units can pull a little extra revenue out of a PC that was destined for the scrap heap.
But plenty of people still don’t realize how to properly dispose of their electronics. On the eve of Earth Day 2006, here’s what you can do to avoid contributing to the problem.
What happens to my PC once I put it on the curb?
In most cases, it ends up in a landfill. Only about 10 percent of all discarded computers are recycled in the U.S., meaning millions of computers could be leaking harmful chemicals into groundwater. (Some states, like Massachusetts, ban TV sets and computer monitors from landfills outright.)
And even in the case of that 10 percent, not all the recycling is done in an environmentally friendly way. It’s far cheaper to send electronic waste to federal prisons or overseas to be broken down into raw materials, often by poor workers who don’t take the proper precautions to protect themselves or the environment, said Ted Smith, a senior strategist at the SVTC and chairman of the Computer TakeBack Campaign. There are always going to be a few recycling outfits that choose this option in order to maximize their profits, so long as the U.S. government allows this to happen, Smith said.
How has electronic waste affected the environment?
There’s a lot of stuff in a circuit board that you really don’t want to ingest. Lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium all have been shown to have harmful effects on humans. (If they enter the body, that is. You needn’t worry about their presence in the computer while you’re filling out an Excel spreadsheet.) The cases of PCs and monitors are also made of plastics that give off toxic fumes if they’re burned.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 1 percent to 4 percent of all solid waste generated in this country comes from consumer electronics. That percentage is likely to grow as more and more people add PCs, cell phones, DVD players and other gadgets to their collections.
So what products do I need to recycle?
Basically, anything with a circuit board. Older monitors and televisions are especially bad because of all the lead used in the CRT (cathode ray tube) to shield the viewer from radiation. But PCs, cell phones, VCRs, DVD players, printers and even digital alarm clocks should not be tossed out with the regular trash.
How do I do it?
Consumers and local governments are getting much better at recognizing the need to treat electronic waste differently from last night’s leftovers. Many communities hold special hazardous-waste collection days or designate centers where electronic waste like old monitors, televisions or PCs can be dropped off for free.
Local computer recycling outfits are another place where you can make sure your PC is properly discarded. The SVTC advises that you make sure you’re working with a recycler that’s signed its pledge to avoid using prison labor or shipping e-waste to poor countries.
PC vendors are also getting into the act, offering programs in which they take back old PCs when one of their customers purchases a new one. Hewlett-Packard and Dell, the two PC market share leaders, were recently commended by the SVTC for their efforts in trying to recover as much electronic waste as possible. Panasonic, Gateway and Acer were the lowest-ranked respondents to an SVTC survey on recycling programs.
Dell will pick up your old PC and monitor for free if you buy a new Dell PC, said Jake Player, senior manager of asset recovery services at Dell. If you go with the competition, Dell charges you $10 to pick up 50 pounds worth of electronic waste. The company hopes to triple, by 2009, the amount of waste it recovers. It gets back only about 10 percent of what it ships out each year, Player said.
In June, Apple will start taking back old computers for free with the purchase of a new Mac, it announced Friday. The offer applies to customers who buy a Mac through an Apple retail store or the company’s Web site, and includes free shipping.
Other PC vendors charge a fee for their waste recovery programs. HP operates its own recycling plants with Noranda Recycling–two in the U.S. and one in Germany–that break down hazardous materials into their base elements, said David Lear, vice president of corporate, social and environmental responsibility. HP charges between $13 and $34 depending on the item. For example, an inkjet printer costs $17, while a PC costs $21. The company is currently giving coupons for its recycling program upon the purchase of new HP hardware.
CNET Networks (publisher of News.com) also runs a program that accepts used electronic equipment. CNET will pay you for your old tech goods, and donate a portion of the trade-in value to the school of your choice. The products are refurbished for resale if possible, otherwise they are recycled.
What else can be done?
PC companies and local recyclers also refurbish older equipment in order to extend its lifetime. People often throw out PCs or printers that can be salvaged and resold on secondary markets or donated to charitable organizations.
HP uses plastic it recovers in its recycling plants to build some of its scanners, Lear said. The company is currently evaluating whether it can use the same process to build PCs or printers, he said.
What about my data?
Given how easy it can be to recover sensitive information from a hard drive, many recyclers and vendors take data deletion very seriously. In fact, recycling your electronic equipment with a reputable service provider can help make sure your data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, said Rocco D’Amico, a spokesman for Brass Recovery, a Connecticut recycling company. Still, it’s probably a good idea to use a utility that will wipe your hard drive clean of all data.
Why don’t PC makers just use friendlier materials?
Some progress is being made in convincing the industry to use less harmful ingredients, but a lot more work needs to be done, Smith said. The European Union has taken the lead in this regard, passing the Reduction on Hazardous Substances Act (click here for PDF) that requires PC companies to eliminate certain hazardous chemicals from their products destined for the EU by July 1. Many PC manufacturers plan to have all their products comply with the directive, since it doesn’t make much sense to have separate production lines for the EU and for the rest of the world.
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Posted in Internet Business, Marketing at 12:00 am by Administrator
Niche Web networking sites chase MySpace ad dollars
From Reuters / Found via Yahoo
By Yinka Adegoke
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Social networking online isn’t just for hip twenty-year-olds any longer, as a new wave of targeted Internet community sites build business models to attract larger audiences and more advertisers.
The Internet will see a lot more targeted community launches in the coming months, both from start-up companies and established media businesses, rather than the general youth community sites that defined the sector such as MySpace.com, Facebook.com or Friendster.com, industry watchers say.
At least two new sites were unveiled this week. Sisterwoman.com caters to women over 21 while JokeBox.com invites users to share jokes and other funny material.
Like most social networking sites, both allow users to create and share blogs, pictures and videos with friends and the wider public.
“You’re going to see a lot of these kinds of sites in the next six to nine months, both start-ups and major companies,” said Andrew Frank, an analyst at Gartner Research.
Frank said that sites such as Sisterwoman would offer advertisers added value in reaching an audience that will be prepared to engage with marketers.
The sector drew investor attention after News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million last July. In March, General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal said it planned to buy women’s online network iVillage for $600 million.
Sisterwoman launched on Wednesday after signing on ahead of time four major advertisers, including beauty-care line Neutrogena and cable network The Learning Channel.
Sisterwoman is offering them the opportunity to sponsor services around which users can share their own photos, videos or other links.
Founder Allie Savarino said advertisers were traditionally resistant to two-way conversations with consumers, which opens the gates on both positive feedback as well as criticism.
“Now they realize they have no way of increasing their market share without it,” Savarino told Reuters. “It is tied to the ownership that consumers have of your brand.”
GROWNUPS WANTED
Sisterwoman and Jokebox are the latest in a new line of community sites hoping to build on the success of younger-skewing Internet networks but attract mainstream advertisers looking for other audiences.
Jib-Jab Media, a company behind popular comic Internet films, also unveiled this week a site allowing users to share jokes and funny material. The company described JokeBox.com, which featured a prominent plug for Bud Light beer on its home page on Wednesday, as a hybrid of MySpace and cable channel Comedy Central.
Sites aimed at adult consumers would appeal more to advertisers than MySpace, despite the youth network’s huge popularity, said Eric Wheeler, chief executive of Internet media buyer Neo@Ogilvy North America, a unit of WPP Group.
Advertisers are generally concerned over the commentary they may receive online, and even more wary of the freewheeling discussions of younger users.
“Anytime you move away from buying a placement (in the media) to buying something that is live, it can get a little dicey for advertisers,” said Wheeler.
Adults are also more likely to recommend brands to each other on a regular basis and may be more receptive to advertiser messages, Savarino said.
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04.20.06
Posted in Marketing, Podcasting / Podcasts at 11:54 pm by Administrator
Podcasts Surpass Radio Stations Worldwide; Podcast Demand Growing Faster Than Supply - From Podcasting News
The number of podcasts managed by FeedBurner, a news feed service provider, now exceeds the total number of radio stations in the entire world, according to Rick Klau, FeedBurner’s VP of Business Development.
Podcasting is also one of the fastest growing technologies of all time. The number of podcasts feeds managed by FeedBurner is growing 15% per month. The number of subscribers, though, is growing even faster, at a rate of 20% per month.
According to Klau, “Podcasting is outpacing the speed of adoption of the last ‘most successful consumer product launch in history’.”
More Podcasts Than Radio Stations in the World
FeedBurner has been seeing 15% growth per month in the number of podcasts that are published:
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“FeedBurner recently surpassed a major milestone of 44,000 podcast feeds under management, which, according to the CIA World Factbook, exceeds the total number of radio stations worldwide,” notes Klau.
The Podcast Audience is Growing Faster Than the Podosphere
Recent reports of podcasting’s death appear to have been premature.
FeedBurner’s numbers show podcast circulation growing at bubble-blowing 20% per month. “Today, there are more than 1.6 million aggregate subscribers to FeedBurner-managed podcasts,” adds Klau, “and this number has more than doubled in the past six months.”
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Podcast Adoption Rate Makes it a Successful Technology
Podcasting’s adoption rate makes it a success, according to Klau. “Back in 2000, the DVD format, just 3 years old at the time, was declared the most successful product launch in consumer electronics history, outselling the VCR five to one. Using these statistics as a benchmark, in less than two years, the number of podcasts available online is tenfold that of DVD titles in nearly half the time.”
It’s Not All About iTunes
Some podcasters have started to focus their promotion efforts on iTunes, because of the popularity of Apple’s iPods. FeedBurner’s numbers, though, suggest that podcasters that focus exclusively on iTunes may be missing out on as much as half of their potential audience.
“Since we recently started tracking podcast downloads within feeds, we’ve also seen the ratio of downloads to subscribers average 2:1, suggesting a significant secondary market for podcast listenership beyond just the feed’s subscribers,” according to Klau. This confirms what many podcasters have noted, that they often have many more downloads than they do subscribers.
FeedBurner’s numbers reveal “a number of podcast directories generating a sizable amount of traffic” for podcasts,” notes Klau. This suggests that getting listed in top podcast directory sites can be a major source of listeners for podcasters.
And, while iTunes is the most popular podcast client, 43% of the subscribers to FeedBurner-managed podcasts use other podcast clients.
Klau’s comment’s on the expanding podcast universe are posted at Burning Questions, FeedBurner’s official weblog.
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04.17.06
Posted in Internet Business at 3:24 pm by Administrator
An exerpt from an article via newsvine / AP
Internet merchants once viewed such chargebacks and other payment fraud as a cost of doing business, mainly because they are difficult and time-consuming to fight. But with fraud sapping hundreds of millions of dollars from online revenues, companies that do all or most of their business over the Internet are increasingly pushing back.
“Merchants are not willing to accept this any more. They are fighting tooth and nail,” said Kathleen Attinello, an executive vice president at Receivable Management Services, which fights chargebacks on behalf of online travel agencies, video game sites and other merchants.
Internet companies are trying to chip away at the fraud problem by hiring companies like RMS, employing technology that spots potential fraud before it happens and using payer-verification services such as those offered by Visa and MasterCard.
and another excerpt:
Fraud-weary merchants have adopted elaborate procedures for completing a sale, matching a customer’s shipping address to the billing address, verifying that the card hasn’t been reported lost or stolen and checking for any unusual activity on the card.
Card companies are also helping Web merchants fight back, offering payer-authentication services and other fraud-fighting tools and streamlining the process by which chargeback disputes are mediated.
“The rules have changed,” said Tom Sullivan, director of e-commerce risk at travel site Expedia.com and chairman of the Merchant Risk Council. “Internet merchants now have the ability to say, `Hey, this person accepted the terms and conditions explicitly, and as a result, shouldn’t be able to charge this back.”
The payer-authentication services, which Visa calls “Verified by Visa” and MasterCard calls “SecureCode,” run on the same platform and work much the same way.
For cardholders registered with the programs, Internet retailers can ask for a password registered with the cardholder’s bank, giving the retailer evidence of the purchase and leverage should a dispute arise.
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Posted in Internet Business, Software and Web Apps at 3:19 pm by Administrator
From an article at ZDnet,
by Richard MacManus
I came across an interesting report of web technology penetration rates, dated 1 April 2006, by SecuritySpace. It’s based on a sample of 1,358,991 web sites in 2006, so it’s a pretty significant study. The following table shows the penetration rates of a variety of client side web technologies, for the years 2002, 2005 and 2006:
Technology 2002 % 2005 % 2006 % 2006 Sites
JavaScript 45.46% 59.37% 58.08% 789,309
Frames 26.71% 18.17% 15.91% 216,280
StyleSheets 21.16% 39.93% 49.51% 672,803
Java 4.24% 1.67% 1.64% 22,314
IFrames 3.99% 12.12% 9.88% 134,319
GIF Images 62.98% 58.54% 63.26% 859,760
JPG Images 47.08% 47.25% 54.11% 735,287
PNG Images 2.63% 6.42% 7.78% 105,749
Flash/Shockwave 6.08% 8.77% 12.75% 173,253
2002 was as far back as I could go with these stats, but the trends they show are very interesting. Among other things it shows that JavaScript has increased in popularity. Perhaps this is not surprising, when you consider that the ‘J’ in AJAX stands for JavaScript! The biggest gain though has been for stylesheets, which now has a nearly 50% penetration across the Web - up from just 21% in 2002.
I was a little surprised that Flash is only 12-13% penetration - although it has increased from 8-9% a year ago. On the other hand, Java seems to be dying a slow death, down to just 1.64% penetration.
Of the image formats, GIF is still going strong, but expect to see the PNG figure rise over the next few years. I use PNG for most of my web images these days, because I find the quality to be better.
Interesting also to see that nearly 16% of all websites still use frames! I guess Web 2.0 hasn’t quite made it onto those sites yet 
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04.15.06
Posted in Marketing, Podcasting / Podcasts at 8:37 pm by Administrator
Some think this is good for radio, however, I think it may be good for artists and consumers, I doubt radio will be seeing anything but declining advertising revenues with more and more people choosing to go commercial free…
From Podcasting News: Arbitron: 27 Million American Podcast Listeners; Podcast Users Young and Rich
Arbitron: 27 Million American Podcast Listeners; Podcast Users Young and Rich
April 14, 2006
Arbitron, a research firm serving the radio industry, has released a report that paints a rosy picture for the future of radio. According to Arbitron, “The proliferation of digital broadcast platforms such as Internet radio, satellite radio, HD and podcasting is a testament to the popularity of radio programming. ”
The report highlights user interest in new audio delivery platforms, such as satellite radio and podcasting, but suggests that the AM/FM audience remains strong. This contrasts with other recent reports that have suggested that podcasts and MP3 players are stealing radio’s audience.
According to the report, “Seventy-seven percent of Americans say they expect to listen to AM/FM radio as much as they do now despite increasing advancements in technology.” About a quarter of all Americans expect to listen to less radio, according to the report. For people that have listened to podcasts, 27% expect to listen to less radio, and among satellite radio users, 36% expect to listen to less radio.
Report Highlights:
* The weekly Internet radio audience has increased 50% over the last year.
* Nineteen percent of persons age 18-34 have listened to Internet radio in the last week.
* Satellite radio subscribers are twice as likely to live in 100K households
* Many people are still confused about what podcasts are.
* Podcasting attracts a relatively youthful audience. More than half of listeners are under 35.
* 11% of all Americans have listened to audio podcasts. That translates into approximately 27 million Americans that have tried podcasts.
* More than half of all teens own an iPod or other portable media player.
Podcast Highlights
According to Arbitron, 22% of Americans have heard of podcasting, and 11% have tried podcasts:
arbitron_podcast_chart.png
Podcasting is attracting an upper-income audience:
Arbitron recommends that advertisers start look at the new audio options that are available. People that are using podcasts, satellite and other new audio formats tend to be relatively young and affluent, a group of listeners appealing to advertisers.
“Consumers are quickly embracing radio’s digital platforms and this new research reveals that these advertising vehicles are becoming increasingly viable,†said Bill Rose, senior vice president, marketing, Arbitron.
Source: Arbitron (Acrobat file)
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04.14.06
Posted in Internet Business at 7:23 pm by Administrator
Originally posted at Techcrunch by Michael Arrington
News Corp.’s Fox network has signed a six-year agreement with its affiliates that will allow it to show reruns of its television programs on the Internet.
ABC, CBS and NBC are all making similar experiments, and iTunes has a number of television shows available for download. The space is evolving fast. For example, experiments are being considered that will stop people from fast forwarding through commercials (bad idea) after a new study was published that say people skip ads in recorded shows (surprise!).
This is an area that we are turning our attention to. Expect upcoming reviews of the current state of the market for tv shows and movies on the Internet. And we’ll be looking at these in light of the “free†if illegal services that people are already using.
Read the article and comments at Techrunch: TechCrunch » TV Moves Aggressively to the Internet
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Posted in General, Internet Users at 4:12 pm by Administrator
MobileCrunch » Cingular Mobilizes TV Guide’s TV Guide Channel
In a deal reported by Broadcasting and Cable as well as Southcaltech.com, Cingular Wireless has struck a deal with Gemstar TV-Guide the parent company of TV-Guide Mobile to provide Cingular with content for the wireless giant’s streaming mobile video service.
According to the Broadcasting and Cable report, Gemstar’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media, Rich Cusick says:
“As part of our goal to become the leading cross-platform consumer hub for video guidance, we are excited to be partnering with Cingular to offer consumers, who are passionate about television, access to exclusive TV Guide Channel content almost whenever and wherever they want it. Enhancing the personal mobile entertainment experience of Cingular users across the country is in keeping with our strategy to integrate the TV Guide brand, content and technology across multiple platforms.â€
Personally, I’m still on the fence about streaming video to mobile devices. While I’ve certainly enjoyed being able to watch the odd partial DVD on a smartphone from time to time, I’m not sure I’d pay the extra monthly fees currently required for a subscription to any of the services currently offered. So let me ask; what about MC readers? Do YOU subscribe to Mobi-TV? How much are you willing to pay? Are you satisfied with the service? At what price point would you buy (or cancel) your Mobi-TV service?? I’d love some replies to this informal poll.
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