05/23/2006
Something interesting happened, however, at about the point of the graph inhabited by songs that were being listened to 500 times a month on Rhapsody's Online Music Service. The curve leveled out -- and it kept going, and kept going, and kept going -- producing a long tail. The sales of most of the songs playing fewer than 500 times generated revenues to small to justify their stocking in most stores.

Music and the Long Tail or The Keyword Long Tail

05/22/2006
A class action lawsuit has been filed upon the behalf of Google Adwords advertisers. The suit filers claim according to an independent study that for every $ 1000 in ads, $ 400 is fraudlent.

Meanwhile, independent studies assert that anywhere from $100 to $400 of every $1,000 stems from click fraud. If those estimates prove correct, Google might be on the hook for $1 billion to $5 billion in advertising refunds.

Wonder what this will do to Google Stock...

05/19/2006
What does it take to succeed as an entrepreneur? A lot of hard work and determination, and achieving results of one's own--you could say, being "self-made." To find America's self-made entrepreneurs, Inc.com, along with The History Channel, asked readers to send us their stories in our Self-Made in America contest. Here, we feature several of their extraordinary tales.

Entrepreneurial Success Stories

05/16/2006
As the Internet matures, users and governments are struggling to manage controversial issues. Lets face it, the Internet did not exist when the US copyright laws were written;let us not forget, while many countries respect copyright laws, the Internet is global without a governing body. There are not only different laws, rules and regulations, but also jurisdiction issues. RSS didn't exist when copyright laws were written either. While ardent supporters feel any content in a feed can be syndicated, other equally fervernet publishers contend that original works are just that--original works, and in many countries protected by copyright laws.

Fair Use

05/15/2006
A great article addresses the question:

If spam blogs exist, but nobody sees them, then do they matter?

The question may sound slightly absurd since there are millions of splogs, fake web blog sites consisting of stolen or nonsensical designed solely to drive up traffic numbers of disreputable sites, doing their best to grab attention on the Web. Blog search engine companies don't deny that, but argue that what's most important is keeping them out of search results.

Complete Article

05/14/2006
This is an important one to watch!

A former Google Inc. advertiser sued Wednesday to block a proposed $90 million class-action settlement, arguing the amount grossly understates how much the online search engine leader has benefited from a ruse known as "click fraud."

Complete Article

05/12/2006
Google Trends aims to provide insights into broad search patterns on Google. It is based upon just a portion of Google's searches, and several approximations are used when computing the results.

05/09/2006
Associations and trade organizations are great places to meet individuals. Usually organizations have a common theme, and it is an understood implication that all members participate to improve themselves and their businesses.

Networking for Business

05/08/2006
The book, The Tipping Point, in part discusses the concept of connectors and mavens, and how they bring about change. Connectors are those unique individuals who have an uncanny connection to an unbelievable number of other people. They typically cultivate relationships and grow extensive networks in a variety of different social circles. Connectors have extremely diverse social networks, while most individual have three to five social networks; connectors have an astounding fifteen social networks. Mavens are those individuals who consistently provide highly specific and relevant information based on analysis of a specific sector, they might evangelize a specific brand or be known for being price conscious.

The Tipping Point

05/05/2006
The phrase "The Long Tail" was first used in 2004 by Chris Anderson a writer for Wired Magazine. Anderson used the phrase to describe business models. The article initially referencing The Long Tail referred to the fact that a small handful of blogs have a large number of links pointing to them, while millions of smaller blogs have only a handful of links. Chris Anderson described the effects of the long tail on business models and argued that products that are in a low demand can effectively and collectively make up a market share that exceeds the few of those that are in high demand.

What is the Long Tail

05/02/2006
Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media on Monday said it had purchased two small Internet companies aimed at letting users remix their own music and media on the Internet.

Fox purchased Newroo Inc. and kSolo.com for an undisclosed price.

Newroo has created technology tools that enable users to scour the Internet for relevant information from Web sites and blogs that can be used on their own Web sites.

kSolo's service lets users sing, record and share their own karaoke recordings by using a database of songs that include everything from "Oops I Farted Again" by Parody to "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra.

Complete Article