Introduction to E-commerce 2

Introduction to E-Commerce

Intoduction to E-commerce lecture by Dr Ian Mackechnie.
Excellent material for students

E-business Ideas! A Millionaires Perspective

Collaboration In E-Business

Collaborating is essential to service delivery and effective business managment.

Securing Your E-Business

E-business is a powerful tool for business transformation that allows companies to enhance their supply-chain operation, reach new markets, and improve services for customers as well as for suppliers and employees. However, implementing the ebusiness applications that provide these benefits may be impossible without a coherent, consistent approach to e-business security. Traditional network security has focused solely on keeping intruders out using tools such as firewalls. This is no longer adequate. E-business means letting business partners and customers into the network, essentially through the firewall, but in a selective and controlled way, so that they access only the applications they need. To date, organizations have controlled and managed access to resources by building authorization and authentication into each e-business application.

This piecemeal approach is time-consuming error-prone, and expensive to build and maintain. Emerging technology provides a new role-based access control infrastructure for all of the enterprise’s e-business applications. For Example: Ebusiness shopping cart softwares like GoECart equipped with latest security featuresa are making online shopping experience safe and secure. With this infrastructure, developers no longer need to code security features into each application. This can greatly speed up and simplify the deployment of new applications, cut maintenance costs, and give organizations a consistent security policy. This new access control infrastructure also lets organizations implement consistent privacy policies and ensures that authorized people are denied access to sensitive business information sources. In addition, a centralized security solution lends greater flexibility to supporting new technologies such as mobile Internet devices, which are expected to proliferate over the next few years. Besides controlling access, organizations also need to monitor security events across the enterprise so that suspicious activities can be quickly pinpointed. This is becoming critical as enterprise networks grow rapidly in complexity and strategic importance. New monitoring technology lets organizations consolidate data from all their disparate security sensors—firewalls, anti-virus software, host systems, and routers— and provides a coordinated single image of potential intrusions for effective incident response.

Security concerns are bid issues for worry, businesses are however better off preventing rather than curing.

Harnessing ICT: A Pre-requsite for Growth.

 
Informationtechnology is the use of computers and software to manage information. In some companies, this is referred to as Management Information Services (or MIS) or simply as Information Services (or IS).

Internet connectivity on the African continent lags far behind that of the rest of the world. Although rapid progress this year (1998) will fully connect all but one of the capitals of African countries to the Internet (see Figure 1 below, and this comprehensive overview). Where full Internet access exists, it is generally restricted to the largest cities and its cost is far beyond the means of public sector users. At the same time, more and more countries are also providing full access to remote areas, and prices are seen to drop significantly over time. However, still about 70% of African's population does not live in reach of Internet access points. Both inadequate telecommunications systems, the socio-economic situation, as well as lack of human resources in some countries are the main reason for Africa's low connectivity.

Technical roadblocks are also important in efforts to stimulate access to the information highway for development in Africa at both the national and individual levels. Five of the major ones in many African countries are:


the small number of potential users having both the skills and equipment to benefit from access to electronic information networks;

the scarcity and high costs of equipment, software and information compared to situations in the North;

lack of reliable and accessible physical telecommunications infrastructure;

telecommunications monopoly, associated with overly restrictive regulations and high costs, and

lack of interregional networking and cooperation.

Currently several initiatives are under way to improve connectivity and networking on the African continent, an example is the one-laptop-per child.

The growth of ICT will mark a rise in electronic businesses and functions, this can only transform into technological and econnomic growth. Third World countries must play catch up , to move up.

Google's World of Books

When Google announced a couple of years ago that they were going to digitize the world's books, a few eyebrows were raised. They began with all the books whose copyright had expired. Copyright laws vary, but in most countries, copyrights expire after a period of time, like 50 years, at which time they become part of the public domain. There can be exceptions, but this depends on the actions of the individual authors, if still alive, or their estates, or other interested people. So digitizing the books in the public domain is not really a big deal.Then Google extended their realm to obtain the specific permission of copyright holders for books not in the public domain. Again, this was not too big a deal because it at least respected the rights of the authors.A big change took place, when they proposed to digitize all books, and pay the authors part of the proceeds, with the provision that the authors could opt out if they wish. This was a significant change, because it put the onus on the authors to opt out rather than seeking their permission. It was a negative assurance approach to copyright law.Although some groups support the idea because of the perceived advantages of having digitized books, many opposed it. One of the main arguments against it has been the fact that Google is essentially claiming full digital rights to these books, thus taking away a significant part of the copyright benefits of authors and publishers.Of course it has been challenged in the courts and in a class action suit settlement last year, Google was granted the rights to digitize all out-of-print books, which covers many not in the public domain. The settlement essentially gives Google a monomoly over the digitization of books and tramples over the rights of authors, their heirs and traditional publishers. The US Department of Justice, which monitors things like concentration of economic power and monopolies, is concerned and has launched hearings. Most recently the head of the copyright division in the US has voiced opposition to the settlement.This is a vastly important case. The attempts of Google to corner the market for digital books needs to be curtailed. The field needs to be left open to competition and competitive market forces. This is in the long run interests of everyone.Information wants to be free. The internet makes that possible to a greater extent than ever before, but it must be recognized it will never all be free. Free market forces remain relevant. Placing a significant chunk of that information under the control of one large company is the absolute wrong way to go.


Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, and multiple library associations have joined forces with the non-profit Internet Archive to challenge the Google settlement and are pushing for revisions.
 
According to The Wall Street Journal, the coalition was organized by Internet Archive because it believes there are huge antitrust implications that the settlement poses. They argue that the agreement also doesn’t do enough to protect user privacy. They’ve spoken with the Department of Justice, which is currently investigating the matter.

Here are the companies and organizations that are said to be on board or likely to be on board:
- Internet Archive

- Microsoft

- Yahoo()

- Amazon()

- Special Libraries Association

- New York Library Association

- American Society of Journalists and Authors

It’s apparent why some of these organizations have an issue with Google’s settlement. Microsoft, Yahoo, and Amazon are all involved in the related ebooks market, most notably Amazon due to the Kindle.

Interestingly enough, the coalition will be co-led by Gary Reback. You probably know him best as the one of the most prominent lawyers involved in the huge Microsoft antitrust investigation that occurred 1990s. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, it seems.

Wave bye-bye to FB, Wiki and Yahoo!Google Wave Debuts

Google Wave is "a personal communication and collaboration tool" announced by Google at the Google I/O conference on May 27, 2009. It is a web-based service, computing platform, and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking. It has a strong collaborative and real-time focus supported by extensions that can provide, for example, spelling/grammar checking, automated translation among 40 languages, and numerous other extensions.

 Initially released only to developers, a "preview release" of Google Wave was extended to 100,000 users in September 2009, each allowed to invite twenty to thirty additional users. On the 29th of November 2009, Google accepted most requests submitted soon after the extended release of the technical preview in September 2009, these users have around 8 invites to give.


Active session of Google Wave inside Google Chrome browserGoogle Wave is designed as a new Internet communications platform. It is written in Java using OpenJDK and its web interface uses the Google Web Toolkit. Google Wave works like previous messaging systems such as email and Usenet, but instead of sending a message along with its entire thread of previous messages, or requiring all responses to be stored in each user's inbox for context, message documents (referred to as waves) that contain complete threads of multimedia messages (blips) are perpetually stored on a central server. Waves are shared with collaborators who can be added to or removed from the wave at any point during a wave's existence.

Waves, described by Google as "equal parts conversation and document", are hosted XML documents that allow seamless and low latency concurrent modifications. Any participant of a wave can reply anywhere within the message, edit any part of the wave, and add participants at any point in the process. Each edit/reply is a blip and users can reply to individual blips within waves. Recipients are notified of changes/replies in all waves in which they are active and, upon opening a wave, may review those changes in chronological order. In addition, waves are live. All replies/edits are visible in real-time, letter by letter, as they are typed by the other collaborators. Multiple participants may edit a single wave simultaneously in Google Wave. Thus, waves can function not only as e-mails and threaded conversations but also as an instant messaging service when many participants are online at the same time. A wave may repeatedly shift roles between e-mail and instant messaging depending on the number of users editing it concurrently. The ability to show messages as they are typed can be disabled, similar to conventional instant messaging.


The ability to modify a wave at any location lets users create collaborative documents, edited in a manner akin to wikis. Waves can easily link to other waves. It is in many respects a more advanced forum.

Google has been actively collecting feedback with a user survey that was distributed via email through random sampling of Google Wave sandbox users. The survey results were posted on Google Waves blog on November 27th, 2009 and I must say I was really confused at how the results turned out since they seem to contradict one another. Here is a rundown of the survey results:




3 things most liked about Google Wave:

1) The concept of the wave

2) Ability to collaborate with others

3) All communications and documents can be integrated



3 main issues with Google Wave:

1) No one to wave with because friends or contacts don’t

have accounts

2) The platform is too slow

3) Integration with other tools such as email



The second and third likable feature for Google Wave should be a sub category under the first listed like feature “the concept of the wave”. If users are complaining (and this is the number one listed issue) they have no one to wave with because of limited invitations, how can they list their second most likable feature as the “ability to collaborate with others”?

The second contradiction to the survey results is the third listed liked feature “all communications and documents can be integrated”. Now if you look at the third listed main issue with Wave you see that “integration with other tools such as email” was requested. These results have left me really wondering what’s so great about Google Wave anyway? Sure the concept is great, most of us can agree on that, but I’m sure the concept of a $2 bill was great at one time also.

Google Wave has noted that they are organizing a team to work on the core issues and complaints users have pin-pointed in the survey such as trying to make Google Wave faster, integrate Wave with email, and trying to scale their systems to make it less complex. What can i say, Google has done it again

E-Business: Issues and Challenges with Implemetation

Introduction                                          

The commercialization of the internet and the seemingly insatiable thirst for obtaining a competitive advantage has created a global demand for the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in managing businesses. Organizations continue to invest heavily in implementing new technologies hoping it will transcend to greater market share and increase in profit.

Defining Key Concepts

• Electronic Business:

The term E-business (Electronic Business) involves the use of technological infrastructures and applications to synthesize and optimize new and existing business processes (Payne, 2001). E-business involves several innovative technological applications that help enhance the competiveness of a corporation and its relationship with its stakeholders. It includes activities like buying and selling, servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, and conducting electronic transactions within an organisation (Feng, 2007). The extent of the application of E-business Technology almost limitless, as it cuts across different business functions, ranging from inventory control, marketing, accounting, human resource, operations, sales, product development, profit analysis and market forecasting. Many companies have now recognized the power, convenience, and world-wide reach of electronic networks and have employed it use in their businesses, IBM, Amazon, and Wal-Mart are good examples.



• E-Commerce:

E-commerce (Electronic Commerce), although interchangeably used with E-business, E-commerce has a peculiar meaning of its own. The UK Cabinet in 2009 defined E-commerce as “the exchange of information across electronic networks at any stage within the supply chain”. It involves all electronic exchange of data between an organization and its stakeholders as well as technology infrastructure and applications used to support these transactions. (Payne, 2001). It is basically carrying out commercial activities electronically, and is best considered a sub-sect of E-business. E-commerce transactions can be classified into either buy-side e-commerce or sell-side e-commerce.

• Management Strategies & Technology

The above phrase refers to the plan a management has in regard to the application of technological solutions in the course of running a firm, it includes processes such as controlling, leading, monitoring, organizing, and planning. According to Johnson and Scholes(1999), e-business strategy is,

“the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term; which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a changing environment to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations.”

To be effective, a management strategy must identify the key needs and issues within the organisation, and provide a framework for addressing the inherent problems.

The E-Business Matrix

E-business technology has evolved so much that it can be implemented in different business segments. The diagram below shows the different classifications of commercial activities where e-business solutions can be implemented as well as providing examples.

Issues with Implementing E Business Technology

In implementing either a new form of e-business technology, or amend an existing one, there are several technological and business issues companies consider, some of which include:

• Security & Fraud: Relatively, ICT platforms are very susceptible to security issues. Hacking, stealing confidential information and disruption of operations are quite common. Businesses will definitely consider this issue a priority when implementing E-business technology.

• Cost and uncertainty of cost: Corporations are often bothered about the cost implications or the uncertainty on what the eventual cost of implementation would be.

• The Company’s business strategy: E-business technologies are implemented in tandem with a corporations business strategy, hence a crucial issue for consideration bother on what the company’s business strategy is, and how e-business can facilitate the ultimate goal of the strategy.

• Potential for Business Growth: Companies are bound to question the benefit accruable to their organization, if the e-business solution is successfully implemented. Does it improve the business? Or provide better revenue?

• Man-power concerns: Another major issue is whether the company has adequate human resource and skill to implement the E-business technology.

• Legal and Governmental restrictions: One paramount issue to be considered is the legality of implementing such technology. Are there any restrictions placed by government? Are the privacy or consumer protection issues involved? Breaching such regulation may have dire repercussions for corporations and its stakeholders.

• Maintenance & Support: Another issue is whether a company is able to obtain adequate maintenance and support after implementation? Any organization implementing E-business Strategies would consider this an issue.

• Simplifying Processes/Increase Efficiency/Reliability: An issue for consideration is how much efficiency, simplification of processes and reliability a corporation can place on a new e-business solution.

• Compatibility or Interoperability: Before adopting new e-business technology, companies would consider how compatible the new system is with other complimentary systems. The more compatible it is, the better for the company implementing the new solution.

• Impact and risk on existing system: Another major issue for consideration is what the effects of implementing a new e-business strategy have on the existing system. Some time, introducing a new system can expose the business to a lot of risk.

• Parameters for judging Success: One key issue on implementation relates to the factors in which a business will use to evaluate how successful it has been in the implementation of E-business.

When is an E-business Solution Successful?

It is not sufficient for a company to implement a new E-business strategy; corporations must also have a detailed system for reviewing the success of the implemented technology, in consonance with its business objectives. Intermediary websites or analytic tools can be used to measure performance (Chaffey, 41, 2007). Outlined below are some parameters used to examine the degree of success of an E-business solution are:

 Compatibility with business strategic objectives: When an e-business solution is functioning in compatibility with the business objective of accompany, it’s likely to be deemed more successful than otherwise.

 Has the E-business solution achieved its aims? : E-business solutions are adopted for specific purposes, the can be deemed successful if they achieve the purpose for which they were created.

 Maximal performance with minimal risk: An E-business technology that performs maximally at minimal risk could also be considered successful.

 Ease to use: Some E-business solution can be considered successful if they help simplify processes and are less cumbersome to use.

The Business Risk of Implementing New E-Business Technology

Implementing new e-business solutions or amending existing portends some risks to businesses, some of which are:

• Wrongful Implementing E-business Technology: By implementing wrong or defective E-business technology, companies may suffer financial and reputational loss.

• Cyber Crime and E-Fraud risks: By implementing E-business solutions, a company, and its customers are more exposed to the risk of being victims of cybercrime (Chaffey 2007). Businesses have the onus of ensuring a secured E-environment.

• Poor Customer Experience/Complexity: E-business technology can sometimes be too complex or not customer oriented, the business risk here, is a reduction in patronage, or more mistakes in the conduct of processes.

• Infrastructure Risk: By implementing new E-business processes, corporations sometimes expose their infrastructure to external threats, physical and otherwise. Viruses, worms, and other means of sabotage are examples.

• Loss of Man-power: E-business environments are flexible, innovative, and often with an empowered workforce. Such environments make “employee poaching” a regular figure. (David Smith, 29 November 2000)

• Damage to an organization’s reputation: When e-business processes fail, the result is a dent in the public image of the company. (David Smith, 29 November 2000)

• Changing Business Strategic: Implementing new e-business technology can make business more susceptible to changing their business strategies in order to accommodate new e-business solutions. The risk is inherent in the instability, as strategies continue to change.

• Late delivery or incomplete transactions: A failed E-business process may lead to late deliveries or incomplete transactions, and this is a risk that threatens the success of any organization.

The Cultural Challenges

There are several cultural challenges to the implementation of e-business; while some are from internal processes, others are external i.e. between organizations and external stakeholders or end users. Some cultural challenges are outlined below:

• It is not unusual for staff in an organization to resent the implementation of E-business solutions because they are use to a specific work-culture, and do not want to change the organizational culture of doing business in a different way. (Tucker, Younis, and Shalaby 2002)

• The non-localization of websites or some e-business processes is another barrier; the rationale is that different communities have peculiar languages, cultural beliefs, and behavioral pattern. The more general an e-business process is, the more culturally challenging it is for the end-users. (Chaffey, 2007).

• Having and understanding a virtual reality experience is crucial to the successful implementation of an e-business technology. Some cultural beliefs encourage more confidence in business processes that are tangible, hence creating a barrier to the adoption of e-business.

• It is not rare to have some apathy towards the introduction of new e-business technology because of previous failures, inadequate education or reliability issues. A good example is the present payment system in most third-world countries, where the culture of payment, is principally cash-based, not because of an absence of credit cards or online presence, but majorly because of an absence of trust. (Tucker, Younis, and Shalaby 2002)

• In some societies and organizations, those on the older divide of the generation gap find it a little to grasp the intricacies of e-business; hence they have more resentment to adopting it.

• There are cultural misgivings in some societies (particularly third world countries), that e-business processes are only for the rich and extravagant, and this belief has affected the implementation of e-business negatively. Implementing E-business processes in such environments would be considerably difficult Grover, Segars & Durand (1994).

• According to Pahladsingh (March 2006), 80% of the world’s internet content is in English, while half of the world’s internet users cannot comprehend the English language. The presence of different languages further compounds the cultural complexity of E-business.

Most of these cultural barriers can be tackled with better education, improved infrastructure and greater emphases on the benefits of E-businesses.

Management Strategies as a Panacea

In order to be “on top of their game”, company implementing E-business solutions, must ensure that management strategies are tailored to help minimize risk and maximize the capabilities of the technology.

Management must ensure that it develops a customer-oriented strategy, where the customer remains the core focus of the business. Managing customers appropriately is crucial to the success of every business, understanding their needs, and channeling the business functions and processes in that direction is crucial to the success of the e-business implementation.

The core essence of every strategy is to add value, Chaffey and Wood (2004) provide some areas where value can be enhanced:

A. Customer and Markets

B. Cost Reduction

C. Innovation (creating new reality) e.g. new products, services and business ideas.

D. Reduce or Manage Risk.

To be successful, management strategy must be clear and definite. Greater emphases should be stressed on adequate training of staff, and effective management techniques. Firms must also be proactive about their strategy and ensure that it is passed down to staff, this is done through emphases on the businesses vision, mission statement, general orientation and ideology.

Additionally, it suggested that E-business technologies are implemented gradually, rather than introducing it abruptly. Control groups can be used to control the unintended influence implementing e-business innovations

Conclusion

The growth of E-businesses in the next decade appears to be tremendous. However, to be an effective business tool, it must be properly implemented, with much adherence paid to risk reduction, effective customer management and profit maximization.

Dell unveils Android-based Mini 3 smartphone

On friday the 13th of November, Dell announced that it's ready to enter the smartphone business with the Android-based Mini 3.


Long rumored to have such a device in the works, Dell said that the first two carriers to sell the Mini 3 will be China Mobile and Brazil's Claro.

The Mini 3 will apparently use OPhone, China Mobile's customized version of Google's Android operating system. "We are excited for Dell to be among the first manufacturers to introduce new technology based on the OPhone platform," an unnamed China Mobile representative said in Dell's press release.

We've got a call out to Dell to seek clarification on the operating system software.

Dell did not provide technical specifications or pricing information for the phone, saying those would be revealed when the device arrives in stores--probably late November for China Mobile and by year's end for Claro. It also did not say when the phone would arrive in the U.S. or other markets.

Michael Tatelman, a Dell sales and marketing executive, told the Associated Press that the phone has a 3.5-inch high-definition touch screen. The Mini 3 sold in China won't have Wi-Fi at the start, but Tatelman said that would come later.

Similarly, Apple's iPhone just made its official debut in China sans Wi-Fi.

China Mobile has more than 500 million customers, and Claro serves more than 42 million people in Brazil as part of the America Movil network, Dell said.

Dell did tout its "existing agreements with other leading global telecom providers," including Vodafone in Europe; AT&T and Verizon in the U.S.; M1 and Starhub in Singapore; and Maxis in Malaysia.

The Texas-based PC maker also played up the Internet connectivity angle of small mobile gadgetry.

"Our entry into the smartphone category is a logical extension of Dell's consumer product evolution over the past two years," Ron Garriques, president of the Dell Global Consumer Group, said in a statement. "We are developing smaller and smarter mobile products that enable our customers to take their Internet experience out of the home and do the things they want to do whenever and wherever they want."

But does the world need a smartphone from Dell? The device will have plenty of company: Android phones have begun arriving on the market in larger numbers in recent months.

Most notably, U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless last week began selling the much-hyped Droid, made by Motorola, and the more modest Droid Eris, made by HTC.

Culled from Cnet.com

If AT&T is Coca-Cola, Google is 7-UP

Google is set to become your new phone company, perhaps reducing your phone bill to zilch in the process.

Google has bought Gizmo5, an online phone company that is akin to Skype  but based on open protocols and with a lot fewer users. TechCrunch, which broke the news on Monday, reported that Google spent $30 million on the company.

Google announced the Gizmo acquisition on Thursday afternoon Pacific Time. Gizmo5's founder Michael Robertson, a brash serial entrepreneur, will become an Adviser to Google Voice.

It's a potent recipe -- take Gizmo5's open standards-based online calling system. Add to it the new ability to route calls on Google's massive network of cheap fiber. Toss in Google Voice's free phone number, which will ring your mobile phone, your home phone and your Gizmo5 client on your laptop. ÿþ

Meanwhile you can use Gizmo5 to make ultracheap outgoing calls to domestic and international phone numbers, and free calls to Skype, Google Talk, Yahoo and AIM users. You could make and receive calls that bypass the per-minute billing on your smartphone.

Then layer on deluxe phone services like free SMS, voicemail transcription, customized call routing, free conference calls and voicemails sent as recordings to your e-mail account, and you have a phone service that competes with Skype, landlines and the Internet telephone offerings from Vonage and cable companies.

That's not just pie in-the-sky dreaming.

Ask longtime VOIP watcher and consultant Andy Abramson, who introduced the idea of integrating Gizmo5 and Grand Central (now Google Voice), long before Google bought either.

"If AT&T is Coca-Cola, Google is now 7-UP"

"Google is now the the uncommon carrier," Abramson said, punning on the iconic 7-UP commercials and the phrase "common carrier." That refers to phone companies that operate on the traditional publicly switched network -- a status that gives them benefits and obligations.

"If AT&T is Coca-Cola, Google is now 7-UP," Abramson added.

"All of a sudden you have something that offers more than Skype," Abramson said, saying the combo could now put Google in competition with phone and cable companies, IP "telephony" (VOIP) companies and Vonage. "But now you can do everything with Google and pay nothing and have a platform where engineers can build new things."

In fact, Gizmo5 offered a rogue version of that service for $6 a month until last week.

On November 2, Gizmo5 abruptly canceled the two-month old "residential service," which paired the free phone number available through Google Voice with Gizmo's Internet calling service to provide the equivalent of a home-phone replacement like Vonage.

Now, that service has been wiped off the Internet and, more intriguingly, Google's cache of the page disappeared the day after the acquisition was reported.

For $6 a month, Gizmo5 residential users got 300 minutes a month of outbound calling anywhere in the United States, unlimited incoming calls on their home computers or even home phones (using a broadband-to-phone network conversion box) and E911 service (which means 911 calls work like landlines calls do, once you register your home address).

It's not too surprising that offer got taken down.

For one Google is already trying to steer clear of U.S. regulators by making it clear that Google Voice isn't a replacement for a home phone since you have to have phone service from some other company to use it. You can forward calls from a Google Voice number to your Gizmo5 number, but you must have a mobile or landline number as well.

Google doesn't say it, but clearly it hopes that restriction will keep the service from incurring the common carrier obligations attached to the regular phone system (PSTN), and the 911 and wiretapping requirements that apply to Internet telephony and to traditional copper wire phones.

AT&T has already tried to sic federal regulators on Google Voice because Google is blocking outgoing calls to a handful of shady calling services  mostly free conference-calling services that exploit federal rules that let rural phone companies charge high fees to connect calls to rural areas.

AT&T itself has sued similar services that play this arbitrage game, and complaining to the feds may have only brought more attention to an issue the FCC has procrastinating fixing for too long.

Gizmo5 will also help save Google money on phone-call termination fees as users start to use computer-based clients to connect to Google Voice. That would allow Google to recoup the purchase price of $30 million in little time, if only it saves even a few dollars per user per year.

Google also gets Michael Robertson, a troublemaker with technical chops. Robertson made millions from MP3.com in the dot-com boom, despite drawing lawsuits from major record labels for creating innovative services. He was later sued by Microsoft for his startup Lindows, which made Linux installations for cheap PCs. And his current music venture, MP3tunes.com, is being sued by EMI.

Though still in invite-only mode, Google Voice has about 580,000 active users and nearly 1.5 million registered users, according to a Google filing with the FCC.

If you are interested in the combination, you might want to sign up for Gizmo5 before the acquisition is formally announced, since Google often freezes new registrations at companies it acquires until it figures out how to integrate the technology.

Having Problems Connecting To Businesses? Experience the ease of GOOG-411!

GOOG-411 (or Google Voice Local Search) is a telephone service from Google that allows users to make a business search in any U.S. or Canadian city by calling a toll-free telephone number. Released by Google Labs in September 2007, the service uses speech recognition technology to connect users to their desired business. Users who call the toll-free telephone numbers 1-800-466-4411 or 1-877-466-4411 (1-800-GOOG-411, 1-877-GOOG-411), or the local number 1-425-296-4774, are told that the call is being recorded to improve results, and then asked to say the city and state of the sought business. Although Google’s FAQ states that users may prevent their phone number from being saved by blocking their caller-ID, this is ineffective when calling the 800 number and only works when calling the other two.

Users may then search for the business by name or category, which generates a list of up to 8 businesses matching the search. Users may then select a business on the list by speaking or pressing the number that corresponds to the business. Once a business is selected, Google automatically connects the user to the business or sends an SMS with the phone number. Alternatively, users can listen to the address and phone number by saying “details”. U.S. users may narrow search results by zip code or street intersection.

Search can also be invoked by using the phone keys if the user prefers. This works in a similar manner to predictive text input on a cellular phone.

Because GOOG-411 is offered to the public free of charge and does not contain advertising, users have questioned the business model behind the service. Google has stated that the company originally implemented GOOG-411 to build a large phoneme database from users' voice queries. This phoneme database, in turn, will allow Google engineers to refine and improve the speech recognition engine that Google uses to index audio content for searching.

This is definately a great communication tool from google. Bravo Google!

40 Sources of Wealth on the Internet

I was surfing the net for means of making money online and discovered some information from www.dumblittleman.com. It includes information on how to make money doing paid surveys, surfing the internet, contest sites, writing blogs,and selling software legitimately and using Adsense: I have outlined these gold nuggets below:

Infolinks - Infolinks is probably the highest paying option for your in-text advertising. On DLM, you will see underlined links scattered throughout articles. Those are a function of Infolinks and without disclosing too much, it's been a great source of income. Best is that they accept all sizes of websites and blogs. Just sign up and begin.



Build a Niche Store - This is a simple store development platform which enables you to create content based sites that generate income through the eBay affiliate programs. Pretty darn simple and increasingly popular.



Adbrite - Sell space on your site for text ads. This would work like the DLM Marketplace you see on the right of my pages although I chose to manage it myself.


Amazon Affiliate Program - Easily create a store or shopping section on your site instead of sending your visitors to Amazon. Amazon handles the shopping cart and fulfillment.


Amazon Seller - Sell your stuff on Amazon


Associated Content - If you write a story, how-to, rant, how-to cut grass, etc., you can submit it to them and they will pay you $3-$20 per article if they like it.



Yahoo! Merchant Solutions - This is a pretty simple and cheap way to create an online store.



Azoogleads - Another ad program. They do have some decent companies lined up as advertisers. You provide space, they'll provide an ad.


BidVertiser - PPC (pay per click) program with a low $10 payout amount.



Blog - Start a blog and consistently write excellent content. With good ad placement, you may make some money. I detail my process here: Simply Said, How to Blog.



Cafepress - You provide a design, they'll toss it on a T-Shirt, Hat, etc. No upfront costs. Get a free online shop and promote your products on your website.


Chitika - Their eMiniMalls service has shown great results for many Bloggers and site owners. You choose a keyword and they show relevant products on your site using a pretty unique interface.


Clickbank - Quickly becoming my favorite affiliate program. They have thousands of things for you to advertise on your site.



ClicknWork - Get paid $5-$150 per hour for basically doing freelance work on a per-assignment basis. You have to pass a pretty tough test to get in.


Clicksor - These are the guys that generate contextual ads on sites that show up when you hover over a double-underlined word.


Commission Junction - If you have a site, you can join Commission Junction. Once enrolled for free, you can choose companies whose ads are pertinent to your site. Companies have the ultimate say on working with you. There are easily over 1,000 companies to choose from here.


CreamAid - For blogs only, advertisers provide you with a topic and you write about it on your site. To do this, you have to install a flash widget into your blog post. The more people you bring into the conversation through the widget, the more you get paid. It's difficult to explain.


eefoof - Think of it as YouTube + Flickr + Music. You add original content and they pay you based on the visitors you attract.


Ether - If you are an expert on something, Ether provides a way for people to pay you to talk about it in a one-on-one setting. If you want to charge $250/hr, that's fine. You have to do all the advertising so you should have a blog or site already established.


eBay- Come on, you know what this is. Gather your junk and sell it!


eBay Stores - If you have a real store and want to sell your stuff online, this is a decent option to get you started.



ELance - Name gives it away. Programmers, Codes, Web Designers, Writers, Editors, can look for freelance opportunities.


Feedvertising - This is an arm of Text Link Ads and is currently only good for Wordpress 2.0 Users. This does me no good currently, but as you can guess, they place ads in your feed(s).



Feedburner / Google - Not only are they the best place to house your feeds, they will also add ads to your feed and website. You get paid per impression and if you implement Google Adsense to your feed, you are paid per click.



Google Adsense - Come on, you don't need an explanation; these ads are all over the place. Google displays relevant ads based on your site's content


Google Adwords - Create simple text ads and choose keywords that determine when they are displayed. This is where the Adsense Content comes from. You do not need a site for this.


H3.com - Get paid to fill jobs. Commissions range from $50-$5,000. It all depends on how tough the job is to fill and how desperate the hiring company is. This is another one that's tough to explain.



Indeed.com - Add their job board to your site. They then post jobs based on the geographic location of visitors and the position types you pre-select. I tried it and I they continually report that I sent 0 visitors and I know that's not right. Nevertheless, I may have an isolated problem so they make the list.



InnerSell - If you have a customer that wants to buy something you cannot sell, you can sell the lead here.



Jigsaw - It's a pretty flaky model but if you have a Rolodex full of good contacts, you can sell them here. I can't make sense of it but it looks like you get $0.10 per profile.


LinkShare.com - If you have a site, you can join Linkshare. Once enrolled for free, you can choose companies whose ads are pertinent to your site. Companies have the ultimate say on working with you. Like Commission Junction, there are a ton of companies waiting to evaluate your site.


Microsoft Adcenter - Bid on keywords and Microsoft places your created ads then they are searched for. This is similar to Google Adwords. You do not need a site for this.


Overstock.com - Sell your stuff on Overstock.com


Pay Per Post - I don't agree with this model entirely but they have advertisers that will pay you to write about their products on your blog.


Pheedo - If you have an RSS feed, run it through Pheedo. Like Feedburner, they can include ads into your feed and if you really become large, advertisers will pay a premium for you to show their ads.


Shareasale.com - I've never really worked with them but I do have an account. They are similar to Commission Junction and Linkshare however they seem to have lower tiered companies with advertising offers.


Shoemoney - This is a blog that can teach you a ton on making money online. I've spent hours reading his old stuff.


Software Judge - They will pay you up to $50 to review software.


Text Link Ads - I have never made a dime here but I know people that have. You can earn by sending advertisers to them or by selling spots on your site. You must have a real site or blog to do this - nothing on a shared domain (i.e. /blogspot).



Vibrant Media - Don't bother unless your site has 500,000 page views of text based content a month. If you have that readership, these are the guys that display bubble box ads to underlined words on your site.


West Work At Home Agent - Not entirely online but this is worth a mention because it's won awards and is very legitimate. If you are an at-home Mom or free-lancer without work, you should check this out.

Microsoft launches "Microsoft 7".

Windows 7 is the newest version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs and media center PCs.Windows 7 was released to the public on October 22, 2009,less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista.

Unlike its predecessor, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 is intended to be a more focused incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being fully compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista is already compatible with.Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, had suggested that this version of Windows would "be more user-centric and focus on performance improvements". Presentations given by Microsoft in 2008 focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, referred to as the Superbar, a home networking system called "HomeGroup", and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are not included in Windows 7;some are instead offered separately as part of the free Windows Live Essentials suite.Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP (codename Whistler) and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn" was announced for 2003, delaying the development of Blackcomb.By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold while developing new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista) was also restarted, and thus delayed, in August 2004. A number of features were cut from Longhorn.

Blackcomb was renamed Vienna in early 2006,and again to Windows 7 in 2007.In 2008, it was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system.

The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in January 2008 with Milestone 1, build 6519.At PDC 2008, Microsoft demonstrated Windows 7 with its reworked taskbar. Copies of Windows 7 build 6801 were distributed at the end of the conference, however, the demonstrated taskbar was disabled in this build.

On December 27, 2008, Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent.According to a performance test by ZDNet,Windows 7 Beta beat both Windows XP and Vista in several key areas, including boot and shut down time and working with files, such as loading documents. Other areas did not beat XP, including PC Pro benchmarks for typical office activities and video editing, which remain identical to Vista and slower than XP.On January 7, 2009, the 64-bit version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was leaked onto the web, with some torrents being infected with a trojan.At CES 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the Windows 7 Beta, build 7000, had been made available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in the format of an ISO image.The Beta was to be publicly released January 9, 2009, and Microsoft initially planned for the download to be made available to 2.5 million people on this date. However, access to the downloads was delayed because of high traffic.The download limit was also extended, initially until January 24, then again to February 10. People who did not complete downloading the beta had two extra days to complete the download. After February 12, unfinished downloads became unable to complete. Users could still obtain product keys from Microsoft to activate their copy of Windows 7 Beta, which expired on August 1, 2009. The release candidate, build 7100, has been available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers and Connect Program participants since April 30 and became available to the general public on May 5, 2009. It has also been leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent.The release candidate is available in five languages and will expire on June 1, 2010, with shutdowns every two hours starting March 1, 2010.Microsoft stated that Windows 7 would be released to the general public on October 22, 2009. Microsoft released Windows 7 to MSDN and Technet subscribers on August 6, 2009, at 10:00am PDT.[27] Microsoft announced that Windows 7, along with Windows Server 2008 R2 were released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009. Windows 7 RTM is build 7600.16385, which was compiled on July 13, 2009, and was declared the final RTM build after passing all Microsoft's tests internally. "The launch of Windows 7 has superseded everyone’s expectations, storming ahead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the biggest-grossing pre-order product of all-time, and demand is still going strong," claimed managing director Brian McBride, Amazon UK on October 22.Microsoft explained in the Engineering Windows 7 blog that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help prevent performance regressions.

Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that Windows Vista users migrating to Windows 7 would not find the kind of device compatibility issues they encountered migrating from Windows XP. Speaking about Windows 7 on October 16, 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility between Vista and Windows 7,indicating that Windows 7 will be a refined version of Windows Vista.

Features
New and changed features

The new Action Center, which replaces Windows Security CenterMain article: Features new to Windows 7
Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors,improved boot performance, DirectAccess, and kernel improvements. Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors (Heterogeneous Multi-adapter), a new version of Windows Media Center,a Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack and Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion. Many new items have been added to the Control Panel, including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display.Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds), which encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer. Microsoft's Windows kernel engineer Mark Russinovich acknowledged the problem, but noted that there are other vulnerabilities that do not rely on the new setting.Windows 7 also supports Mac-like RAW image viewing through the addition of WIC-enabled image decoders, which enables raw image thumbnails, previewing and metadata display in Windows Explorer, plus full-size viewing and slideshows in Windows Photo Viewer and Window Media Center.

The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with pinning applications to the taskbar. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the task buttons. These buttons also enable the Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks.The revamped taskbar also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons. To the far right of the system clock is a small rectangular button that serves as the Show desktop icon. This button is part of the new feature in Windows 7 called Aero Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop.In touch-enabled displays such as touch screens, tablet PCs, etc., this button is slightly wider to accommodate being pressed with a finger.Clicking this button minimizes all windows, and clicking it a second time restores them. Additionally, there is a feature named Aero Snap, that automatically maximizes a window when it is dragged to either the top or left/right edges of the screen.This also allows users to snap documents or files on either side of the screen to compare them. When a user moves windows that are maximized, the system restores their previous state automatically. This functionality is also accomplished with keyboard shortcuts. Unlike in Windows Vista, window borders and the taskbar do not turn opaque when a window is maximized with Windows Aero applied. Instead, they remain transparent.


The Windows 7 taskbar.
For developers, Windows 7 includes a new networking API with support for building SOAP-based web services in native code (as opposed to .NET-based WCF web services),new features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts, simplified development of installation packages,and improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API. At WinHEC 2008 Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut scRGB (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB.Microsoft is also implementing better support for solid-state drives,including the new TRIM command, and Windows 7 will be able to identify a solid-state drive uniquely. Microsoft is also planning to support USB 3.0 in a subsequent patch, although support was not included in the initial release because of delays in the finalization of the standard.

Internet Spades, Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers, which were removed from Windows Vista, were restored in Windows 7. Windows 7 includes Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Media Player 12.

Wikinews has related news: Windows 7 will allow users to disable Internet Explorer
Users also are able to disable many more Windows components than was possible in Windows Vista. New additions to this list of components include Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Windows Search, and the Windows Gadget Platform. Windows 7 includes 13 additional sound schemes, titled Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, Delta, Festival, Garden, Heritage, Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savanna, and Sonata. A new version of Virtual PC, Windows Virtual PC Beta is available for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.It allows multiple Windows environments, including Windows XP Mode, to run on the same machine, requiring the use of Intel VT-x or AMD-V. Windows XP Mode runs Windows XP in a virtual machine and redirects displayed applications running in Windows XP to the Windows 7 desktop. Furthermore Windows 7 supports the mounting of a virtual hard disk (VHD) as a normal data storage, and the bootloader delivered with Windows 7 can boot the Windows system from a VHD.The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) of Windows 7 is also enhanced to support real-time multimedia application including video playback and 3D games. That means that DirectX 10 can be used in a remote desktop environment.The three application limit will be removed from Windows 7 Starter.
Time however will tell how well Mocrosft 7 fuctions.

Sony Post Fourth Consecutive Loss

Sony Corp just posted a loss for a fourth consecutive quarter, hit by sluggish cellphone sales and as it cut prices of its PlayStation 3 game console, but it narrowed its full year loss forecast.

Sony, which vies with Samsung Electronics in LCD TVs and Canon Inc in digital cameras, swung to an operating loss of 32.6 billion yen ($357.5 million)in July-September from a profit of 11.05 billion yen.

The result is better than the consensus of a 59.2 billion yen loss in a proposed earlier.

Last month, Sony launched a cheaper version of the PS3 to better compete with Microsoft Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd . The move put pressure on the company's profitability, but spurred console sales ahead of the key holiday season, brightening long-term prospects of the game operation.

For the year ending March 2010, Sony cut its operating loss forecast to 60 billion yen from 110 billion yen. That compares with the consensus estimate of a 77.5 billion yen loss and a 227.78 billion yen loss a year earlier.

Shares in Sony, which offers Cyber-shot digital cameras and Bravia flat TVs, have gained 41 percent since the start of the year through Thursday, outperforming a 28 percent rise in the electrical machinery

Celebrities & Technology

This week, ebiz360 would be 'paparazzing" stars and super stars round the world. Our duty? To discover the relvance of the internet to the business of earning mega bucks as stars. Enjoy! Gotta catch my flight to LA. Would keep y'all posted.

THE BOARDROOM: Welcome!

THE BOARDROOM: Welcome!

A few tips on how to run an online marketing business

http://www.samizdat.com/maine.html

Here's a new link spelling out the many benefits of placing your business on the internet. It's a limitless market!

Welcome!

Hi dear readers,

Welcome to the foremost blog on all e-business and e-commerce issues.

The emergence of the internet has guaranteed that the world has now become a global village. Business now find it easier and cheaper to trade via the internet. Our discussions shall range on assisting businesses to make wise decisions while maximizing the potentials of their business. It's a new world. Welcome on board!

Business blogger in chief,
King-Kenny.


http://www.e-business.com/