Tag: internet

Google tests Audio Ads for radio…but why?

Post ImageGoogle started testing their radio advertising service, dubbed Google Audio Ads, today. It’s one of the hottest topics in the blogosphere right now. We have known about it for a long time, and it sounds really great (in terms of the technology), but I still don’t get it. Let me explain.

Given this:

The radio industry won’t want to hear this. Advertising dollars are shifting online faster than analysts anticipated. In fact, advertisers will soon spend as much money on the Internet as they do on the airwaves, according to a newly released eMarketer study.

Why this?

Google Inc. has started testing a long-awaited radio advertising service…[that] will help sell advertising on more than 700 radio stations in more than 200 U.S. metropolitan markets. Google hopes to eventually sign up more than 5,000 stations, according to documents shown potential advertisers.

I can think of two potential reasons:

  1. Google wants to ease the transition for traditional advertisers looking to move online.
    I don’t know how good an argument this is, given that so many companies are already advertising online. It does make a certain amount of sense though.
  2. It’s not about radio at all. This is really Google’ first baby step towards rich media advertising on the web.
    Obviously, this is the reasoning that I prefer. Bring on audio ads for podcasting!

I suppose another alternative would be that Google feels there is still enough money to be made in radio advertising that it’s worth trying. My gut feeling though is that Google Audio Ads are destined for something far beyond just radio.

BitTorrent acquires uTorrent

Post ImageSome potentially bad news today for uTorrent fans such as myself. Bram Cohen, the creator of BitTorrent, announced that his company has aquired the popular client app. TechCrunch has the scoop:

The move will bring quite a few torrent users over to BitTorrent. News site TorrentFreak estimates that buying uTorrent, will bring BitTorrent nearly 50 percent of torrent users.

The acquisition price has not yet been disclosed.

You can read more comment on the deal here. You can also checkout the special uTorrent forum. And here is the BitTorrent press release.

I say potentially bad because BitTorrent has made massive efforts to go completely legit, and has inked deals with many content providers such as MTV and 20th Century Fox. There is some concern that they would add content filtering to uTorrent or backtrack on the protocol encryption work.

Most importantly, I hope that BitTorrent doesn’t add bloat to the wonderfully small and efficient uTorrent.

Read: TechCrunch

Wow…Google Checkout really hates Canada

Post ImageYou may recall that when Google launched their Checkout service back in June, I posted about how Canadian merchants were left out in the cold. I went back to the site every couple weeks hoping to see that Canada had been added as a valid merchant country, but it never happened. I gave up around late August and haven’t been back to the site since, until today.

John Battelle posted this morning about a promotion Google Checkout is running for the holidays. I figured, what the heck, might as well check. Nope, still only American merchants allowed. Then I stumbled on the page titled: Google Checkout is available to buyers with billing addresses in…

I was shocked that Canada wasn’t on the list. Then I figured that maybe they left countries like Canada and the US off the list because it was assumed that they were valid countries. Nope. As you can see, the US as well as The United Kingdom are both on the list. The Vatican, Kazakhstan, and Namibia all made the list, yet Canada didn’t.

Either they screwed up and forgot to put Canada on that page, or they screwed up because they don’t allow Canadians to use the service. Unacceptable either way.

UPDATE (12/8/2006): I just checked the page again, and Canada now appears on the list. I wonder if my post had anything to do with it?

Read: Google Checkout

Microsoft likes municipal wi-fi too

Post ImageBy now you’ve probably heard about the wifi network that Google built in San Francisco with partner Earthlink. Now Microsoft wants in on the game, and has partnered with MetroFi to blanket Portland in wireless Internet bliss. The deal is more than just a “me too” reaction:

Content providers who capture the growing municipal Wi-Fi market will be in a better position to enjoy higher traffic to their sites and greater customer loyaltyand, as a result, grab a greater share of online advertising dollars, expected to reach $16 billion in the U.S. this year, according to consultancy eMarketer. “It’s a battle for eyeballs,” says Matt Rosoff, an analyst with consultancy Directions on Microsoft.

I could care less what the battle is about, as long as they keep building these networks. I have to agree with John Battelle:

All I can say is, please, keep up the competition. I’d love a chance to select from three different Wifi carriers in every major city, each of them free/advertising based.

Entire cities covered in free wireless Internet access can only lead to goodness. Bring on wireless everywhere!

Read: BusinessWeek

Three years of blogging…

It was three years ago today that I started this blog. And after three years of posting I can honestly say that I enjoy it more now than I did when I began.

A few days ago Darren had an interesting post where he looked a bunch of popular blogger’s very first posts. They aren’t what you’d expect in a lot of cases. My first post was fairly introductory, but that’s because I actually had a different blog for a month before this one got started. Unfortunately, it has been lost (at least I can’t find it anywhere), and that’s why I consider this one the start of my blogging career.

Sounds funny doesn’t it, a blogging career? Well call it what you will, I’m just getting started!

Do spammers get spammed?

Post ImageLarry posted yesterday about the many kinds of spam he receives, including some that could not possibly result in any revenue for anyone. I get some of that too. The most interesting kind I have gotten lately is spam with the subject line “hi mack” or “hi mmale” – they are getting better! Anyway, Larry has a pretty common idea for punishing the spammers:

There are those that advocate capital punishment for spammers. I think we should just sentence them to a lifetime of receiving spam themselves.

I hear this all the time, and it just makes me laugh. I think it’s safe to assume there’s a person behind every piece of spam that gets sent (someone has to turn on the computer in the first place) – we’ll call them the spammer. So why would anyone think that the spammer is exempt from getting spam? I bet the spammers get just as much spam as the rest of us.

Read: Larry Borsato

Minnesota to launch solar wifi network

Post ImageYay for wireless everywhere! Let us all follow the fine example about to be set by Minnesota. According to Web Worker Daily, the state is getting ready to take a major step into the wireless world (via Tris Hussey):

From a state better known for wind chill and the latest in fur-trimmed parka fashion, a plan to create a wireless mesh network with nodes powered by batteries refreshed via solar panels is gathering steam.

The solar panels being used are apparently the same type already being used for highway signs across the country. The battery system is theoretically capable of lasting nearly seven years between replacement. And all the hardware is promised to work even during the dead of winter, through snow and sub-freezing temps.

Canadians take note! This sounds like the kind of technology we need to deploy here in our own cities. Apparently 300 residents are already testing the network (not currently solar powered) and a final decision on the project should be made on Monday.

Wireless Internet access provided by an all-weather, solar-powered mesh network. Awesome.

Read: Web Worker Daily

Firefox 2.0

Post ImageI had a chance to install the latest release of Firefox this morning, and I have to admit, it’s pretty sharp looking! The user interface and default theme have both been updated with a fresh, clean look. Here are my favorite new features:

  • The updated user interface of course!
  • The close button for tabs is now on the tab itself, like IE7 and Opera.
  • Session Restore – replaces one of my favorite extensions.
  • The new add-ons manager is easier to use than the old extensions box.
  • You can reorder tabs now!
  • It’s not really a feature, but so far it appears Firefox is using way less memory than it used to.

The obvious question when you install a new browser is – how does it compare to the other browsers? Well, Firefox 2 appears to be a good improvement over Firefox 1.5, that much is clear. Compared to IE7 and Opera 9? They are all so similar now, it is becoming increasingly difficult to say one is better than the other. The installer for Firefox is definitely the best, though I have read some reports of errors when trying to uninstall.

As I mentioned a while ago, I have switched back to IE7 as my main browser, but I’ve always got the three (don’t forget Opera!) installed. If you’re a Firefox user, you should definitely upgrade to 2.0!

Bet you didn’t know: the IE Team at Microsoft sent Firefox guys a cake to celebrate their launch!

Read: Firefox

Wireless at Red Deer College

Post ImageMy sister and I came down to Red Deer last night to visit Tom. He’s on the Kings soccer team, so we figured we’d come down to watch his game today. Today is the second last game of the season, and I think it’s fair to say that the Kings are looking forward to the end. After placing third in the province last year, they haven’t done so well this year! You can see the current standings here.

The game isn’t until noon, but I came down to the college with Tom this morning anyway. I figured I’d do a little work so I came to the library which is where I am writing this post. I am connected to their public wireless Internet network, and I have to say, I am really impressed. The speeds are just amazing for a wireless network, and I haven’t had any connectivity issues whatsoever. That’s far more than I can say about the wireless network at the UofA (granted, it has far more traffic than the one here).

I was so impressed actually, that I ran a speed test at DSL Reports:

When you convert those numbers, it works out to roughly 227 KB/sec download, and 90 KB/sec upload. Not bad at all. I wish all wireless hotspots were this good!

Kim and I are heading back to Edmonton this evening.

Internet Explorer 7

Post ImageLate yesterday afternoon, Microsoft released the final version of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP. I have updated my desktop and tablet, so I am now running the latest and greatest of the IE family. And I really do like IE7, I think it’s a great browser. Today the IE team announced that starting November 1st, IE7 will be rolled out via auomatic updates:

Of course we want to make sure you are ready to upgrade, so AU will notify you when IE7 is ready to install by presenting a welcome screen. You can choose whether or not to install it; IE7 will not install without your consent.

I also want to remind you that IE7 setup will preserve your current toolbars, home page, search settings, and favorites and will not change your choice of default browser. You will also be able to roll back to IE6 by using Add/Remove Programs. Only a user who is a local administrator will be offered the update.

Not everyone wants the update of course (mainly because it may break proprietary applications inside a company) so Microsoft has a free Blocker Toolkit which organizations can use to block the automatic update. This is a good strategy – companies that really want to block IE7 will use the tool, and those that don’t won’t bother with the toolkit and they’ll be much safer as a result of having a better browser installed.

As much as I like IE7, there are definitely some areas that Microsoft needs to work on (and apparently they have already begun work on IE8):

  • The setup experience needs work. It takes too long and requires two restarts (if you have old versions of IE7 installed, not sure about IE6 users which may require only one). The goal should be to have a setup similar to Firefox or Opera – short and sweet, no restarts required.
  • It may not be as bad as Firefox, but IE7 is still a memory hog. And I think the Firefox team have done some work on this in the 2.0 version, so Microsoft needs to keep up and make IE7 less resource-hungry.
  • There’s just no comparison between IE7 and earlier versions when it comes to standards support, but there’s still room for improvement.
  • It would be great to see something in the way of extensions, a la Firefox. The search builder in Opera is cool too.
  • Inline search! Dammit, I really hate that IE7 still has that archaic find box.

All of that side, I wouldn’t wait for the automatic updates if I were you – download IE7 from Microsoft now!

Read: IE Blog