“Consumer spending on online content such as music, dating sites and business and investment information grew 14 percent last year to $1.8 billion, an organization of online publishers reported Thursday. “One of the trends we're tracking is how the Web is migrating from being an information medium to an entertainment medium," Michael Zimbalist, president of the Online Publishers Association, said. "The kinds of genres that are really taking off in the paid space are entertainment-related, such as music and video, interactive games and fantasy sports games."�
U.S. Consumer Spending for Online Content Reaches $1.8 Billion in 2004 on Strength of Entertainment/Lifestyles Category, According to Online Publisher
“The Online Publishers Association (OPA) today released its full year 2004 Paid Online Content U.S. Market Spending Report. The study, conducted in partnership with comScore Networks, found that consumer spending for online content in the U.S. grew to $1.8 billion in 2004, a 14% increase over 2003, driven largely by growth in the Entertainment/Lifestyles category.�
America Online takes control of AOL Canada, buys Royal Bank's 20% stake, Canadian Press, 10 Mar 2005
“America Online Inc. is taking full control of Internet portal AOL Canada, buying back Royal Bank's 20 per cent stake and saying it will take steps to propel growth in the Canadian web marketplace. "I think this is a vote of confidence," Jonathan Zeitler, vice-president of international strategic alliances at AOL in Dulles, Va., said in a conference call with reporters. "We continue to believe that Canada is a very important market for us and holds a lot of possibilities."�
Royal Bank of Canada Sells Stake in AOL Canada, Reuters, 10 Mar 2005
“Royal Bank of Canada, in an ongoing realignment effort to focus on its core businesses, sold its stake in AOL Canada to the Internet service provider's parent. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the sale provides America Online Inc. with full ownership of AOL Canada. America Online and Royal Bank formed a strategic alliance in 1999 when AOL Canada was launched as a separate service. At the time, America Online, now a unit of the world's largest media company Time Warner Inc., held an 80 percent equity stake in the Canadian unit.�
Review: Netscape Captures Eyeballs for AOL, Associated Press, 11 Mar 2005
“The once-mighty Netscape browser is attempting a comeback. How, you ask? Simple. By combining the best elements of its two leading rivals. Netscape is out with a test release of version 8.0, and the new browser is nothing like its recent predecessors, which were mostly about fixing bugs and playing catch-up... I particularly liked the feature that lets you check Web-based e-mail from Netscape, AOL, Excite, Gmail, Hotmail, Lycos, Mail.com or Yahoo. You get automatically logged in with a single click, though for now you don't get alerts for new mail. I did have occasional problems with the auto sign-in, but found the tool useful overall.�
“There's something disquieting about giving a child an expensive piece of technology, and something absurd in the idea that kids need to stay in constant contact. But after playing with a kid-centric phone from Firefly Mobile for a few days, I'm starting to come around. This new device could be a useful tool, providing a convenient way for children to stay in touch with their family. But first the phone is going to have to grow out of its infancy, and adults are going to have to get to the point where they can hear the phrase "cell phone for kids" and not cringe in horror.�
Hong Kong company claims it is owed share of iTunes profits, AFP, 10 Mar 2005
“Apple marketing manager in Hong Kong June Lau confirmed Thursday that local tech firm Pat-rights had contacted the iconic Californian computer firm regarding the claims. Lau would make no further comment. An entry on Pat-rights website says that if Apple does not pay 12 percent of gross iTunes earnings by March 21, it will sue.�
Think of a Number ... Come On, Think!, The New York Times, 10 Mar 2005
“If you're like some of the 176 million mobile-phone subscribers nationwide, it may have been before you got your cellphone, because - perhaps unintentionally - you've become reliant on the gadget as both a communication device and a phone book. Is technology, in this case, dumbing people down? Or maybe there are just so many cell, home, business, pager and fax numbers nationwide - about 531 million, according to a recent Federal Communications Commission report, with multiple numbers and even multiple area codes in many households - that consumers are simply taking advantage of a device more suited to number storage than the human brain.�
Mobile growth 'fastest in Africa', BBC News, 9 Mar 2005
“Mobile phone use in Africa is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, according to a report. The study, backed by the UK mobile phone giant Vodafone, said African countries with greater mobile use had seen a higher rate of economic growth…Small businesses in South Africa rely on mobiles, the report said, while Nigeria's market is doubling annually.�
Singapore tops tech economy table, BBC News, 9 Mar 2005
“Singapore has toppled the US from top spot in a ranking of world economies that make the best use of information and communication technology (ICT). The US has been outpaced by the advance of other nations, rather than any slow down in its own performance.�
Singapore Surpasses U.S. As Top Tech Nation, Forbes.com, 9 Mar 2005
“Singapore has displaced the United States as the top economy in information technology competitiveness, according to the World Economic Forum's latest annual Global Information Technology Report released today. The U.S. drops from first to fifth in the rankings, which measures the propensity for countries to exploit the opportunities offered by information and communications technology (ICT).�
Yahoo Launches Small Business Resource Center, eWeek, 9 Mar 2005
“Internet media company Yahoo Inc. said late Tuesday it launched its Small Business Resource Center, a new effort aimed at helping entrepreneurs run and market their online businesses while also helping big advertisers target the small business market. Available at http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources, the service and content offering includes about 1,000 articles from sources like Inc. Magazine and Entrepreneur.com on topics ranging from marketing and legal to finance and human resources. Yahoo already sells a variety of small business offerings including Internet domain names, Web hosting services, e-mail and e-commerce services.�
Alternative intrigue, ComputerWorld Hong Kong, 10 Mar 2005
“Enterprises in Hong Kong continue to contemplate (and even explore) alternative desktop operating systems. But enterprises shouldn't consider switching to open-source alternatives simply because it is the "flavor of the month." Like any IT decision, many factors must be considered-including TCO, the organization's corporate culture, application compatibility, licensing fees, and future requirements…�We started our business in 1998," said Yusuf Goolamabbas, managing architect for Hong Kong-based outsource-messaging provider Outblaze. "And we've been using Linux since Day One." Goolamabbas noted that at that time, Windows 98 wasn't suitable for his firm's needs.��
Fewer foreigners applying to grad school, Cnet News.com, 9 Mar 2005
“The United States' ability to attract graduate students from around the world continues to fade, with competition from abroad a likely culprit, according to a report released Wednesday. Graduate school applications from international students slipped 5 percent from 2004 to 2005, following a 28 percent decline last year, said the Council of Graduate Schools, a group of colleges and universities. The report is sure to raise new concerns about U.S. leadership in the technology field, in part because foreigners historically have earned a large percentage of tech-related doctorates.�
A nation of dunces in the making?, Cnet News.com, 3 Mar 2005
“The United States got such a report card in December, when an international test ranked our 15-year-olds 24th in math out of 29 industrialized nations that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Science skills of U.S. 15-year-olds fell below the 29-nation average, as well. These scores are a wake-up call to anyone concerned about America's economic future.�
Richard Bye Joins Outblaze From Critical Path, Market Wire, 8 Mar 2005
“Outblaze, a global provider of hosted email services, today announced that Richard Bye has joined the company as Vice President of Sales & Corporate Development, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Mr. Bye, who previously held the position of Hosted Sales Director-EMEA at Critical Path, will head Outblaze's European operation from his base in the U.K., focusing efforts on new subscriber relationships in the EMEA markets.�
AOL Readies Internet Phone Service, eWeek, 8 Mar 2005
“American Online Inc. will launch a voice-over-IP telephone service integrated with its instant messaging service to capitalize on burgeoning consumer interest in using the Internet as a low-cost phone service. AOL CEO Jonathan Miller revealed his company's plans to get into the VOIP market Tuesday during his keynote address at the VON Spring 2005 conference here.�
Will Enterprises Take to AOL's VOIP Phone Service?, Ziff Davis, 8 Mar 2005
“America Online Inc.'s disclosure on Tuesday that it will introduce a voice-over-IP telephone service will definitely add credibility to the technology, but it is unlikely to provide the long-term growth engine that would ensure the company's survival. This was the view of three telecommunications industry executives who were attending the VON Spring 2005 conference here who have long been looking for a business catalyst to jump-start the acceptance and use of VOIP (voice over IP).�
HK mid-size business owners spend most time on email, Grant Thornton, 27 Feb 2005
“Hong Kong mid-size business owners spend 2 hours per day on average dealing with email, which ranked the 2nd among 24 countries around the world, according to Grant Thornton's International Business Owners Survey (IBOS) 2005…"Technology has been embraced by Hong Kong entrepreneurial businesses. There is no doubt that email and the internet are a way of life for them." said Gary James, Principal of Grant Thornton in Hong Kong.�
Dating site says UT improperly blocked e-mails, Associated Press, 8 Mar 2005
“An online dating service told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today that its unsolicited e-mails comply with all anti-spam laws and that the University of Texas had no right to block the messages and access to its Web site. White Buffalo Ventures, which operates LonghornSingles.com, is appealing a U.S. district judge's April ruling that the university did not violate the service's constitutional rights by filtering out 59,000 promotional e-mails in 2003.�
World mobile sales surge 30pc, South China Morning Post, 8 Mar 2005
“Global sales of mobile phone handsets surged 30 per cent last year to a record led by growth in South America, with more strong sales expected for this year amid fierce price competition, research house Gartner said on Tuesday…Nokia of Finland remained the industry leader, with sales in last year of 207.2 million handsets, giving it a market share of 30.7 per cent. Motorola of the United States was placed second at 15.4 per cent share, with sales of 104.1 million. South Korea’s Samsung was No3 at 12.6 per cent market share, followed by Germany’s Siemens at 7.2 per cent, South Korea’s LG at 6.3 per cent and the Japanese-Swedish venture Sony Ericsson at 6.2 per cent.�
Virtual 'I do' may lead to date, South China Morning Post, 8 Mar 2005
“If your relationship with a Tamagochi-style virtual girlfriend is leaving you unfulfilled, then Green Tomato and mobile operator CSL believe they have the answer. The pair are offering a real-life dinner date with one of three dream girls. Other 3G mobile games, such as the virtual girls developed by Hong Kong-based Artificial Life, are based on bits and bytes: beautifully animated women entice you to spend $8 on "diamond rings" to keep them happy. The goal, for mobile operators at least, is to boost 3G data usage.�
Danger outage turns Sidekicks into just phones, ZDNet, 7 Mar 2005
“Sidekick users raged against their machines on Monday, as service provider Danger fought to isolate issues that disconnected the hip phones from e-mail, instant messaging and other data services.�
“Phishing, which first appeared more than 10 years ago, has grown from humble roots to become the international electronic crime of choice for amateurs and professionals alike. In its simplest form, phishing involves sending out fake e-mail messages that ask recipients to enter personal information, such as bank account numbers, PINs or credit card numbers, into forms on Web sites that are designed to mimic bank or e-commerce sites.�
On EBay, E-Mail Phishers Find a Well-Stocked Pond, The New York Times, 7 Mar 2005
“For eBay, phishers are more than just an expensive irritation. EBay is among the five companies most frequently targeted by phishers, according to David Jevans, chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, an industry association that includes eBay. Like phishers who go after customers of credit card issuers, those who target eBay users sometimes try to capture credit card numbers as well as general personal information. The company's domination of the online auction business and its heavy dependence on e-mail communication make its users particularly vulnerable to this kind of online scams.�
Skype, Broadreach Team on Voice over Wi-Fi, NewsFactorNetwork, 7 Mar 2005
“Skype Technologies and Broadreach Networks, a UK-based ISP, have reached an agreement to offer free Voice over Wi-Fi in Broadreach hotspots at train stations, cafes and retail outlets across the United Kingdom. This represents the first agreement Skype has forged with a Wi-Fi provider, Skype spokersperson Kelly Larabee told NewsFactor, although some users already have configured Skype to be used as a Voice over Wi-Fi service.�
VoIP upstarts shy from fight, South China Morning Post, 8 Mar 2005
“The story of internet telephony is often cast in terms of David versus Goliath: voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology allows start-ups to run their own telecoms business cheaply, posing a direct challenge to the incumbent fixed-line giants. The city's telecoms regulator is drafting licences that would open the market to many new players, such as internet service providers. According to some estimates, as little as US$1 million is needed to get started. If this is the case, then why are the little guys so doubtful about their chances?�
Europe world's top spam source – report, DMasia.com, 7 Mar 2005
“Europe has become the greatest source of spam, according to a report from e-mail security solutions provider Commtouch. The announcement was based on data from the Commtouch Spam Detection Centre, which analysed hundreds of millions of spam messages in the month of February 2005. During the past six months, there has been a marked rise in spam outbreaks originating from Europe, particularly from Western European countries such as Germany, France, the UK and Spain.�
Commtouch Reports February Spam Trends: The EU is Taking Over, Commtouch, 2 Mar 2005
“Commtouch® (NASDAQ: CTCHC - News), a leading provider of real-time e-mail security solutions, today announced that Europe has become the greatest source of spam. The announcement was based on data from the Commtouch Spam Detection Center, which analyzed hundreds of millions of spam messages in the month of February 2005.�
Yahoo to Invest in Blogs, Analyst Says, Reuters, 4 Mar 2005
“Internet media company Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) is likely to build and buy tools that help its users create, publish and search blogs, Susquehanna Financial Group Marianne Wolk said in a note on Friday. Wolk also said she also expects the company to expand into social networking software, which lets users share and organize content…"We believe Yahoo is likely to continue to invest in the blogosphere; we see Yahoo building and buying blog tools and RSS search capabilities to complement MyYahoo's readership/aggregation service," Wolk wrote in her note.�
Ruling on '.us' Domain Raises Privacy Issues, washingtonpost.com, 4 Mar 2005
“People who own Internet addresses ending in ".us" will no longer be allowed to keep their personal contact information private, a move that has drawn objections from some consumer advocates and from companies that sell third-party Web registrations. The decision, issued by the Commerce Department (news - web sites) in February, bans the practice whereby Web site operators pay a "proxy" company to register an Internet address for them. Instead, people who own .us addresses must provide their phone numbers and street addresses for listing in publicly searchable databases by January 2006 or lose their registrations.�
Feds Catching Up With Proxies, Wired News, 5 Mar 2005
“The Commerce Department has disputed claims by domain registrar Go Daddy that the department launched a new policy when it declared in February that people would no longer be able to keep their personal contact information private when they register a .us domain. The department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency that oversees the country's .us domain, responded to a story published Friday by stating that the department never agreed to the use of proxy registrations that allowed domain owners to shield their personal contact information from the prying eyes of the public, and therefore was not changing its policy by banning them now.�
Got mail? Webmail.us has services, The Roanoke Times, 6 Mar 2005
“Webmail.us (formerly Excedent Technologies) provides e-mail hosting services to small- and medium-sized companies around the world. In other words, it handles all a business's e-mail needs - managing every aspect of the computers and software that process incoming and outgoing messages. In these days of spam and viruses, it's a growing market. Webmail.us increased its revenue 175 percent from 2003 to 2004 (although the company would not disclose the actual revenue figures). In the last 18 months it has hired 14 employees, bringing its payroll to 21, and continues to hire one or two a month. It just signed up its 5,000th customer and is adding them at the rate of several hundred a month.�
Freenet Needs Time to Assess Mobilcom Approach, Reuters, 5 Mar 2005
“Germany's No. 2 Internet provider Freenet (news - web sites) will need two to three months to assess a proposal from mobile phone company Mobilcom for a merger, Freenet chief Eckhard Spoerr told Reuters. The firm would first have to determine the pros and cons of the plan, Spoerr said in the interview on Saturday.�
Chinese Censors and Web Users Match Wits, The New York Times, 4 Mar 2005
“SHANGHAI, March 3 - For many China watchers, the holding of a National People's Congress beginning this weekend is an ideal occasion for gleaning the inner workings of this country's closed political system. For specialists in China's Internet controls, though, the gathering of legislators and top political leaders offers a chance to measure the state of the art of Web censorship. The authorities set the tone earlier this week, summoning the managers of the country's main Internet providers, major portals and Internet cafe chains and warning them against allowing "subversive content" to appear online.�
Earthlink Tests Flash Based Web Mail, BetaNews, 4 Mar 2005
“Earthlink has embarked on a quest to reinvent Web mail for its members. In May, the ISP will launch a beta of EarthLink Enhanced Webmail, powered by Flash-based software from Laszlo, that looks and behaves like a desktop e-mail client. Earthlink Enhanced Webmail is a single page rich Internet application that eliminates the need to click back and forth between pages, and having to refresh pages between tasks or preference changes. The service will initially be restricted to Earthlink subscribers, but the company has not ruled out opening it up to a wider Internet audience.�
Spammers adopt slippery tactics to bypass ISP defences, The Register, 4 Mar 2005
“Spam levels are rising even though the percentage of junk mail spewed out from compromised PCs directly is on the slide. Tests by email security firm MessageLabs on 90,000 inbound connections to its honeypot servers on 1 October 2004 revealed that 79 per cent of the connections came from "open proxy" computers or zombies (computers typically compromised by a virus or Trojan infection). The same tests on 1 February 2005 showed this number had dropped to 59 per cent. Messagelabs stats showed spam levels had risen from 72 per cent of inbound email traffic in September 04 to 83 per cent of inbound email by January 2005. Put together the findings provide evidence that spammers are changing tactics in order to get around the defences established by ISPs.�
