Philips Electronics (Thailand) Ltd., introduces its latest truly LED TV 9000 series, a full HD LCD display, with a 1920x1080p resolution featuring with direct-lit LED backlighting technology and offering pure performance in picture sharpness, motion and contrast and features the latest innovations in LCD technology – including the latest in internet TV.
Consumers enjoy breathtaking pictures and use up to 40% less energy with Philips award winning LED Pro. Over 1000 LED's are operated selectively in a grid as a backlight for the display. They generate brilliant light in bright image areas, and are dimmed completely in dark areas, saving energy. Combined with the powerful Perfect Pixel HD Engine, the result is a stunning picture with extreme contrast, sharpness and vibrant color. With LED Pro black is black and white is bright.
The Perfect Pixel HD engine deliver unrivalled sharpness and detail. It is also the world’s fastest LCD courtesy of 200Hz Clear LCD and an unbeatable 1 millisecond response time which banishes the motion blur problem common with LCD TVs. 200Hz Clear LCD creates extreme motion sharpness for clear and vibrant images even with fast on-screen motion. It results in a powerful dynamic contrast ratio up to 5,000,000:1.
Perfect Colors is the combination of new color sources, advanced color processing for both existing and new sources, and a Wide Color Gamut display. The powerful 17-bit Color Booster technology pumps out a mesmerizing 2,250 trillion colors, producing brilliant life-like images with natural skin and white tones.
Perfect Natural Motion results in smoother and quieter pictures with excellent sharpness surpassing even the motion performance in a cinema.
Philips immersive Ambilight Spectra 3 technology, which accurately identifies dominant on-screen colors and generates accurately-matched ambient lighting from three sides of the screen onto a rear wall.
As pure performance includes both sound quality as well as the picture quality, the 9700 series sports 2x15W high-efficiency speakers. This provides leading sound performance.
Another highlighted feature is Net TV, which enables simple and quick internet access to a wide range of sites from a start page on the TV screen.
It is also equipped with both Ethernet and WiFi connectivity, allowing them to stream data directly from a DLNA-compliant computer. Additional features include give HDMI 1.3 inputs, integrated subwoofers and tweeters, and full 1080p video output.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Secret For Success in the eBay Market: Grab the Right Opportunity at the Right Time
eBay Member: Orawin Nantasen (Poon)
Story at a glance: eBay generates a 5-figure monthly income for Poon.
Her tip is to focus on international markets during festive season offering Thai high-quality handmade products
Today we would like to introduce Orawin Nantasen, nicknamed Poon, who has found online treasure after giving up her career as an office employee to become a full-time housewife.
“I used to be an office employee. It was a very secure job but also left me with very little spare time to spend with my family. Finally, I decided to become a full-time housewife and started looking into running my own
e-commerce business on eBay. I am very proud I took the significant step to become an eBay seller, as I now regularly generate 5-figure monthly revenues. More importantly, I can work from home and have time to look after my children according to my own schedule,” said Poon.
Poon started her eBay business in early 2007. “When I first began listing products on eBay, I had no clue about analysing market demand. Instead of making a huge investment, I began to test the market by offering a wide range of products, starting with fashion accessories. Some items sold well while others didn’t, but I wasn’t discouraged. I valued this time as an opportunity to become more familiar with eBay’s trading platform while honing my photographic skills and product listing techniques.”
Poon’s eBay business has gone from strength to strength, especially during the holiday season in late 2007. “A few months before Christmas, I found out that with a little imagination, many products such as home decorative items and party items were a perfect complement to festive celebrations. Since then, I started growing within the eBay marketplace by offering premium, hand-made Thai products including ornaments, home decorative goods and silk items from Thailand that are popular among foreigners.”
The key driver for Poon’s success on eBay is grabbing the right opportunity at the right time. This means choosing products that are suitable for festive occasions in overseas countries, especially major celebrations such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sellers should also list new products rapidly and consider the right time for closing bids in each country.
“Many of my customers are in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, so they often buy things related to major festivities. Beforehand, I will list colorful products ideal for that particular occasion, using the name of the event as a keyword to make it easier to find my products. On average, I list 400 items on eBay per month to give my products greater visibility to customers,” added Poon.
For new eBay sellers, Poon suggested that their first priority should be establishing the credibility of their own eBay shop. Buyers need to have the confidence to order products from sellers they have never met. New sellers must ensure their listings have clear, colorful images that accurately show what the products look like along with detailed descriptions. Products should be properly wrapped and shipped right away as soon as customers make their payments. Customers also need regular and sincere communications.
“What I have learned from my earlier working experience can be applied to my eBay business today. This includes my belief that credibility and a customer-service attitude are the key success factors for an eBay seller,” concluded Poon.
Story at a glance: eBay generates a 5-figure monthly income for Poon.
Her tip is to focus on international markets during festive season offering Thai high-quality handmade products
Today we would like to introduce Orawin Nantasen, nicknamed Poon, who has found online treasure after giving up her career as an office employee to become a full-time housewife.
“I used to be an office employee. It was a very secure job but also left me with very little spare time to spend with my family. Finally, I decided to become a full-time housewife and started looking into running my own
e-commerce business on eBay. I am very proud I took the significant step to become an eBay seller, as I now regularly generate 5-figure monthly revenues. More importantly, I can work from home and have time to look after my children according to my own schedule,” said Poon.
Poon started her eBay business in early 2007. “When I first began listing products on eBay, I had no clue about analysing market demand. Instead of making a huge investment, I began to test the market by offering a wide range of products, starting with fashion accessories. Some items sold well while others didn’t, but I wasn’t discouraged. I valued this time as an opportunity to become more familiar with eBay’s trading platform while honing my photographic skills and product listing techniques.”
Poon’s eBay business has gone from strength to strength, especially during the holiday season in late 2007. “A few months before Christmas, I found out that with a little imagination, many products such as home decorative items and party items were a perfect complement to festive celebrations. Since then, I started growing within the eBay marketplace by offering premium, hand-made Thai products including ornaments, home decorative goods and silk items from Thailand that are popular among foreigners.”
The key driver for Poon’s success on eBay is grabbing the right opportunity at the right time. This means choosing products that are suitable for festive occasions in overseas countries, especially major celebrations such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sellers should also list new products rapidly and consider the right time for closing bids in each country.
“Many of my customers are in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, so they often buy things related to major festivities. Beforehand, I will list colorful products ideal for that particular occasion, using the name of the event as a keyword to make it easier to find my products. On average, I list 400 items on eBay per month to give my products greater visibility to customers,” added Poon.
For new eBay sellers, Poon suggested that their first priority should be establishing the credibility of their own eBay shop. Buyers need to have the confidence to order products from sellers they have never met. New sellers must ensure their listings have clear, colorful images that accurately show what the products look like along with detailed descriptions. Products should be properly wrapped and shipped right away as soon as customers make their payments. Customers also need regular and sincere communications.
“What I have learned from my earlier working experience can be applied to my eBay business today. This includes my belief that credibility and a customer-service attitude are the key success factors for an eBay seller,” concluded Poon.
Thai SMBs Take the ‘Hero’ Approach to Running Their Business
PayPal survey reveals that Thai SMBs rank creativity and imagination as top start-up skills
Thailand, 14 December 2009 – According to a regional PayPal study released today, when it comes to the way Thai SMBs conduct business, more than a fifth (21 percent) liken themselves to ‘heroes’ – committed to meeting any challenge before them and leading their business through all types of conditions.
Keys to success
Over a third (32 percent) of Thai SMBs consider creativity and imagination as the most important skill when starting your own company, followed by self-confidence (30 percent) and industry expertise (30 (percent).
The Internet is also playing an increasingly important role in the success of Thai SMBs, with over a third (37 percent) of annual turnover derived from online sales, equating to US $182,000. Global reach, additional sales revenues and staying ahead of the times were cited as the top three drivers for going online. Currently, 66 percent of Indian SMBs have a company website and 52 percent are engaging in e-commerce activities such as offering online orders (89 percent), online payment (56 percent) and online delivery (9 percent).
Potential roadblocks
Almost three quarters (73 percent) of the SMBs surveyed in Thailand intend to grow their business steadily in the next two to three years. However, they are encountering some challenges in meeting their goal. Forty-seven percent are concerned about surviving the current global downturn, 43 percent are facing increasing competition in their industry and 37 percent are having trouble building an online business.
Thai SMBs see e-commerce as one way to overcome those roadblocks and believe it will provide an additional avenue for more sales (71 percent), help them to increase global reach (53 percent) and keep up with the times (51 percent).
The future looks bright
The average annual sales turnover for SMBs in Thailand is currently US$492,200 and the majority of Thai SMBs (80 percent) are either very or quite optimistic about business growth in the next 12 months, with more than 2 in 5 looking at up to 20 percent growth. With over 1.6 billion Internet users worldwide, it is clear that e-commerce will play a very important role in Indian SMBs achieving that growth.
“Our research shows that Thai SMBs clearly recognise the value of ecommerce with the highest proportion (over 50 percent) across the four countries surveyed already engaged in ecommerce activities,” said Mario Shiliashki, General Manager of PayPal Southeast Asia and India. “Convenience, security and minimal set-up costs will help Thai SMBs to overcome their current roadblocks and satisfy their desire to grow internationally and drive additional sales revenues. With over eleven years of experience connecting buyers and sellers across the globe, we offer merchants a cost-effective, convenient and secure way to get started online and grow their business. Plus, research has shown that SMBs can receive an average sales increase of 14 percent when they add PayPal to their site. ”
About PayPal
PayPal is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online. The service allows members to send and receive payments without disclosing financial information, with the flexibility to pay or get paid using a variety of secure payment options, including account balances, bank accounts (in approved countries), credit cards or promotional financing. With more than 78 million active accounts in 190 markets and 24 currencies around the world, PayPal enables global ecommerce.
In the U.S., PayPal is the most preferred payment service on the Web after Visa. In the UK and Australia, PayPal is the most preferred payment service on the Web .
PayPal’s Total Payment Volume, the total value of transactions in 2008 represented nearly 9 percent of global e-commerce .
PayPal is headquartered in San Jose, California. Its international headquarters (PayPal Pte. Ltd.) is located in Singapore.
PayPal is an eBay company. More information about the company can be found at www.paypal.com
Consumer advisory - PayPal Pte. Ltd., the holder of PayPal's stored value facility, does not require the approval of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Users are advised to read the terms and conditions available at www.paypal.com carefully before use.
About the survey
The PayPal survey was conducted by BlackBox in August and September 2009 in India, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. In each country, 300 small-medium businesses (SMB) with 5 to 50 staff and either an existing ecommerce site or plans to implement one in the next 12 months were surveyed. Respondents were either SMB owners, decision-makers or managers with financial authority or influence.
Thailand, 14 December 2009 – According to a regional PayPal study released today, when it comes to the way Thai SMBs conduct business, more than a fifth (21 percent) liken themselves to ‘heroes’ – committed to meeting any challenge before them and leading their business through all types of conditions.
Keys to success
Over a third (32 percent) of Thai SMBs consider creativity and imagination as the most important skill when starting your own company, followed by self-confidence (30 percent) and industry expertise (30 (percent).
The Internet is also playing an increasingly important role in the success of Thai SMBs, with over a third (37 percent) of annual turnover derived from online sales, equating to US $182,000. Global reach, additional sales revenues and staying ahead of the times were cited as the top three drivers for going online. Currently, 66 percent of Indian SMBs have a company website and 52 percent are engaging in e-commerce activities such as offering online orders (89 percent), online payment (56 percent) and online delivery (9 percent).
Potential roadblocks
Almost three quarters (73 percent) of the SMBs surveyed in Thailand intend to grow their business steadily in the next two to three years. However, they are encountering some challenges in meeting their goal. Forty-seven percent are concerned about surviving the current global downturn, 43 percent are facing increasing competition in their industry and 37 percent are having trouble building an online business.
Thai SMBs see e-commerce as one way to overcome those roadblocks and believe it will provide an additional avenue for more sales (71 percent), help them to increase global reach (53 percent) and keep up with the times (51 percent).
The future looks bright
The average annual sales turnover for SMBs in Thailand is currently US$492,200 and the majority of Thai SMBs (80 percent) are either very or quite optimistic about business growth in the next 12 months, with more than 2 in 5 looking at up to 20 percent growth. With over 1.6 billion Internet users worldwide, it is clear that e-commerce will play a very important role in Indian SMBs achieving that growth.
“Our research shows that Thai SMBs clearly recognise the value of ecommerce with the highest proportion (over 50 percent) across the four countries surveyed already engaged in ecommerce activities,” said Mario Shiliashki, General Manager of PayPal Southeast Asia and India. “Convenience, security and minimal set-up costs will help Thai SMBs to overcome their current roadblocks and satisfy their desire to grow internationally and drive additional sales revenues. With over eleven years of experience connecting buyers and sellers across the globe, we offer merchants a cost-effective, convenient and secure way to get started online and grow their business. Plus, research has shown that SMBs can receive an average sales increase of 14 percent when they add PayPal to their site. ”
About PayPal
PayPal is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online. The service allows members to send and receive payments without disclosing financial information, with the flexibility to pay or get paid using a variety of secure payment options, including account balances, bank accounts (in approved countries), credit cards or promotional financing. With more than 78 million active accounts in 190 markets and 24 currencies around the world, PayPal enables global ecommerce.
In the U.S., PayPal is the most preferred payment service on the Web after Visa. In the UK and Australia, PayPal is the most preferred payment service on the Web .
PayPal’s Total Payment Volume, the total value of transactions in 2008 represented nearly 9 percent of global e-commerce .
PayPal is headquartered in San Jose, California. Its international headquarters (PayPal Pte. Ltd.) is located in Singapore.
PayPal is an eBay company. More information about the company can be found at www.paypal.com
Consumer advisory - PayPal Pte. Ltd., the holder of PayPal's stored value facility, does not require the approval of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Users are advised to read the terms and conditions available at www.paypal.com carefully before use.
About the survey
The PayPal survey was conducted by BlackBox in August and September 2009 in India, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. In each country, 300 small-medium businesses (SMB) with 5 to 50 staff and either an existing ecommerce site or plans to implement one in the next 12 months were surveyed. Respondents were either SMB owners, decision-makers or managers with financial authority or influence.
Friday, November 20, 2009
KFC Has Brand Appeal for International Mobile Internet Users
Global survey uncovers most popular brands across a variety of categories
BuzzCity, the mobile media company has today released the findings of its latest study of mobile internet users across the globe. The study investigated which brands have the most appeal among the mobile internet audience, why this audience prefers these brands and how likely they are to recommend their favourite brands. The aim of the study is to help brands from all sectors and the agencies that work with them to better understand the mobile internet consumer and how to influence their purchasing decisions.
The study found that the brands most favoured by mobile internet users across the globe were as follows:
1 KFC
2 McDonald's
3 Sony
4 Nestle
5 Samsung
6 Nokia
7 LG
8 Coca-Cola
9 Panasonic
10 Philips
The survey also revealed that users typically base their preferences on brand performance first followed by style and then price. Quality, reliability, value and trust all also influence choice.
“We have been carrying out regular studies in to the mindset of mobile internet users for the past few years,” says KF Lai, CEO of BuzzCity. “It is clear from this study that mobile surfers are ardent brand advocates and will regularly make recommendations to peers. To encourage this, there is the potential for brands to share more product information through the mobile platform. This would be especially potent in the food sector where domestic brands dominate. Brands such as Arab Dairy (Egypt), Amul (India), Indofood (Indonesia), Mama (Thailand), San Miguel (Phillipines) and Simba (South Africa) operate in markets where the mobile internet is, most likely, the only access users have to the internet.”
The study found that although 54% of mobile users would recommend a brand to their peers only 4% would in reaction to a specific sales promotion. This finding offers brands significant insight when it comes to the type of campaigns to run over a mobile platform.
“Consumer behaviour on mobile is different from that on the internet,” continued KF Lai. “Our research shows that although some brands are starting to develop mobile strategies, there is still much work to be done. Simply producing a mobile website will no longer cut it with these savvy consumers. The provision of m-banking services and the development of mobile widgets and feeds that make content discovery and consumption easier and more accessible, are two very good places for brands to start.”
BuzzCity, the mobile media company has today released the findings of its latest study of mobile internet users across the globe. The study investigated which brands have the most appeal among the mobile internet audience, why this audience prefers these brands and how likely they are to recommend their favourite brands. The aim of the study is to help brands from all sectors and the agencies that work with them to better understand the mobile internet consumer and how to influence their purchasing decisions.
The study found that the brands most favoured by mobile internet users across the globe were as follows:
1 KFC
2 McDonald's
3 Sony
4 Nestle
5 Samsung
6 Nokia
7 LG
8 Coca-Cola
9 Panasonic
10 Philips
The survey also revealed that users typically base their preferences on brand performance first followed by style and then price. Quality, reliability, value and trust all also influence choice.
“We have been carrying out regular studies in to the mindset of mobile internet users for the past few years,” says KF Lai, CEO of BuzzCity. “It is clear from this study that mobile surfers are ardent brand advocates and will regularly make recommendations to peers. To encourage this, there is the potential for brands to share more product information through the mobile platform. This would be especially potent in the food sector where domestic brands dominate. Brands such as Arab Dairy (Egypt), Amul (India), Indofood (Indonesia), Mama (Thailand), San Miguel (Phillipines) and Simba (South Africa) operate in markets where the mobile internet is, most likely, the only access users have to the internet.”
The study found that although 54% of mobile users would recommend a brand to their peers only 4% would in reaction to a specific sales promotion. This finding offers brands significant insight when it comes to the type of campaigns to run over a mobile platform.
“Consumer behaviour on mobile is different from that on the internet,” continued KF Lai. “Our research shows that although some brands are starting to develop mobile strategies, there is still much work to be done. Simply producing a mobile website will no longer cut it with these savvy consumers. The provision of m-banking services and the development of mobile widgets and feeds that make content discovery and consumption easier and more accessible, are two very good places for brands to start.”
Thursday, November 12, 2009
New twist in book-scan deal
A judge has given Google Inc more time to revise a legal settlement that has drawn government scrutiny because it would give the Internet search leader the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books.
Under a change approved on Monday,Google and groups representing US authors and publishers now have until Friday to change an agreement reached more than a year ago. It marked the latest twist in a copyright lawsuit that the authors and publishers filed against Google's digital book project four years ago.
The revisions to the settlement were supposed to be filed by the end of Monday, but Google and its negotiating partners told US District Judge Denny Chin they still needed to address objections raised in September by the US Justice Department. Chin signed off on the extension without comment.
The Justice Department has warned it probably would try to block the current agreement from taking effect because antitrust regulators had concluded it threatened to thwart competition and drive up prices.
Some of the Justice Department's preliminary findings echoed concerns from a chorus of critics that include Google rivals Microsoft Corp, Yahoo Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
Google had insisted the settlement merited court approval until the Justice Department raised red flags.
In its current form, the settlement would entrust Google with a digital database containing millions of copyright-protected books, including volumes no longer being published. The Internet search leader would act as the sales agent for the authors and publishers,giving 63% of the revenue to the copyright holders.
The Justice Department believes the arrangement could lead to collusion that would raise the prices for digital books a format that is expected to become increasingly popular with the advent of electronic readers such as Amazon's Kindle.
Google contends its plan to make digital copies of so many hard-to-find books would benefit society by making more knowledge available to anyone with an Internet connection.
For that reason, the Justice Department has said it hopes an acceptable compromise can be worked out.
Under a change approved on Monday,Google and groups representing US authors and publishers now have until Friday to change an agreement reached more than a year ago. It marked the latest twist in a copyright lawsuit that the authors and publishers filed against Google's digital book project four years ago.
The revisions to the settlement were supposed to be filed by the end of Monday, but Google and its negotiating partners told US District Judge Denny Chin they still needed to address objections raised in September by the US Justice Department. Chin signed off on the extension without comment.
The Justice Department has warned it probably would try to block the current agreement from taking effect because antitrust regulators had concluded it threatened to thwart competition and drive up prices.
Some of the Justice Department's preliminary findings echoed concerns from a chorus of critics that include Google rivals Microsoft Corp, Yahoo Inc and Amazon.com Inc.
Google had insisted the settlement merited court approval until the Justice Department raised red flags.
In its current form, the settlement would entrust Google with a digital database containing millions of copyright-protected books, including volumes no longer being published. The Internet search leader would act as the sales agent for the authors and publishers,giving 63% of the revenue to the copyright holders.
The Justice Department believes the arrangement could lead to collusion that would raise the prices for digital books a format that is expected to become increasingly popular with the advent of electronic readers such as Amazon's Kindle.
Google contends its plan to make digital copies of so many hard-to-find books would benefit society by making more knowledge available to anyone with an Internet connection.
For that reason, the Justice Department has said it hopes an acceptable compromise can be worked out.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
FINALLY, EQUALITY ON THE INTERNET
More than half of the world's 1.67 billion Internet surfers will find their life online getting a little easier soon, because they will no longer need to use English or any other Latin script to find Web pages. Users will be able to find sites by typing or searching for Web addresses in their own script such as Chinese, Japanese, Arabic or Korean.
Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, decided last week to support full addresses in non-Latin characters. Countries can apply to register tehse internationalised domain names from November 16. Other top-level names, including those ending in.com,.net and so on, will similarly be available in the coming years.
The faster-growing non-Latin user community can no longer be neglected. Beyond the ease of use and convenience, benefits will include at least symbolic equality on the Net. For them it promises a world of difference. For Latin surfers, however, not much will change. They will not, in any case, type non-Latin addresses to access content in languages they do not comprehend.
Cyberspace, nevertheless, is as dynamic as it is unpredictable. The social, cultural and commercial ramifications of what Icann called "the biggest technical change" in Internet history will become obvious only in the long term, if not in hindsight.
An immediate consequence is that it will promote communication among, and therefore attract more, non-Latin users. Sheer numbers are what are often needed to drive Internet innovations. Take Google for instance, it gets a cut every time a user clicks on advertising appearing alongside results from searches they make through the billions of Web pages it indexes.
Chinese domain names might enable Chinese to overtake English. If so, they will help the virtual economic epicentre to move eastward, the same direction that the real economy is going in the current global realignment. The Chinese market will be hard to ignore online as well as off-line. Singapore is favourably placed linguistically to compete. Singaporean enterprises should not neglect building Chinese e-commerce sites if they want to communicate with and sell to that market. For added customer convenience, they should also adopt Chinese Web addresses.
Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, decided last week to support full addresses in non-Latin characters. Countries can apply to register tehse internationalised domain names from November 16. Other top-level names, including those ending in.com,.net and so on, will similarly be available in the coming years.
The faster-growing non-Latin user community can no longer be neglected. Beyond the ease of use and convenience, benefits will include at least symbolic equality on the Net. For them it promises a world of difference. For Latin surfers, however, not much will change. They will not, in any case, type non-Latin addresses to access content in languages they do not comprehend.
Cyberspace, nevertheless, is as dynamic as it is unpredictable. The social, cultural and commercial ramifications of what Icann called "the biggest technical change" in Internet history will become obvious only in the long term, if not in hindsight.
An immediate consequence is that it will promote communication among, and therefore attract more, non-Latin users. Sheer numbers are what are often needed to drive Internet innovations. Take Google for instance, it gets a cut every time a user clicks on advertising appearing alongside results from searches they make through the billions of Web pages it indexes.
Chinese domain names might enable Chinese to overtake English. If so, they will help the virtual economic epicentre to move eastward, the same direction that the real economy is going in the current global realignment. The Chinese market will be hard to ignore online as well as off-line. Singapore is favourably placed linguistically to compete. Singaporean enterprises should not neglect building Chinese e-commerce sites if they want to communicate with and sell to that market. For added customer convenience, they should also adopt Chinese Web addresses.
DEVELOPERS TURNING TO INTERNET
Thailand's property firms are adapting their marketing strategies to meet the new information-technology era, and are cementing an image change from property market operators to lifestyle businesses.
Although they have not abandoned traditional marketing media, many firms are using integrated marketing with increasing emphasis on new online channels.
For example, Land & Houses (L&H) has launched an Internet homepage, www.my1sthome.in.th, aimed at attracting first-time homebuyers. The company is reaching out to a younger market, such as new members of the workforce, who expect to use the Internet to obtain information.
Sansiri has begun using the wildly popular social-networking power of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as a means of attracting people to its main website www.homeandicom. It hopes to be able to create a social network between the company and its customers.
Meanwhile, LPN Development plans to bring an online social-net-working atmosphere to its new website, www.30happydays.com. The company has now developed more than 60 residential projects, and it hopes the website will become a centre for communication between the company and its customers.
Property Perfect launched its latest marketing tool via a social online network after 15 per cent of its customer were found to visit its projects through Facebook and Twitter, said project-planning director Thongchai Piyasantiwong.
The company also launched a miniseries that can be viewed at www.thehappylivingstory.com, to help drive its sales, he said.
LPN Development managing director Opas Sripayak said his company's website would create a close relationship between the company and its customers, providing a channel through which the company could learn by direct contact what its customers wanted in order to suit their lifestyles.
Suparat Veerakul, vice president for communications at L&H, said her company's homepage was aimed at tapping customers aged 25-35 who were probably first-time home-buyers.
The page includes tips on how to buy houses. It also provides games to test people to see whether they are ready to own a home. Other content includes promotions and details of L&H products. LH Bank will also provide online consultation services to people on home financing, she said.
People who sign up as members of the homepage will receive a special loan rate from LH Bank when buying residences advertised on the site.
She said it should fit with the lifestyle of the "young adult" group.
"We think the Internet is the most effective way to reach them," she said.
Samatcha Promsiri, senior marketing manager at Sansiri, said after opening its digital-era marketing media earlier this year that integration between new media channels would help the company to respond faster and provide information directly to customers.
Research by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce shows demand for Internet access has become increasingly popular, especially among college students, who these days do their research and seek information on the Internet for their papers and careers.
The number of Internet users in Thailand reached nearly 13 million at the end of last year, according to a survey by TT&T.
Although they have not abandoned traditional marketing media, many firms are using integrated marketing with increasing emphasis on new online channels.
For example, Land & Houses (L&H) has launched an Internet homepage, www.my1sthome.in.th, aimed at attracting first-time homebuyers. The company is reaching out to a younger market, such as new members of the workforce, who expect to use the Internet to obtain information.
Sansiri has begun using the wildly popular social-networking power of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as a means of attracting people to its main website www.homeandicom. It hopes to be able to create a social network between the company and its customers.
Meanwhile, LPN Development plans to bring an online social-net-working atmosphere to its new website, www.30happydays.com. The company has now developed more than 60 residential projects, and it hopes the website will become a centre for communication between the company and its customers.
Property Perfect launched its latest marketing tool via a social online network after 15 per cent of its customer were found to visit its projects through Facebook and Twitter, said project-planning director Thongchai Piyasantiwong.
The company also launched a miniseries that can be viewed at www.thehappylivingstory.com, to help drive its sales, he said.
LPN Development managing director Opas Sripayak said his company's website would create a close relationship between the company and its customers, providing a channel through which the company could learn by direct contact what its customers wanted in order to suit their lifestyles.
Suparat Veerakul, vice president for communications at L&H, said her company's homepage was aimed at tapping customers aged 25-35 who were probably first-time home-buyers.
The page includes tips on how to buy houses. It also provides games to test people to see whether they are ready to own a home. Other content includes promotions and details of L&H products. LH Bank will also provide online consultation services to people on home financing, she said.
People who sign up as members of the homepage will receive a special loan rate from LH Bank when buying residences advertised on the site.
She said it should fit with the lifestyle of the "young adult" group.
"We think the Internet is the most effective way to reach them," she said.
Samatcha Promsiri, senior marketing manager at Sansiri, said after opening its digital-era marketing media earlier this year that integration between new media channels would help the company to respond faster and provide information directly to customers.
Research by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce shows demand for Internet access has become increasingly popular, especially among college students, who these days do their research and seek information on the Internet for their papers and careers.
The number of Internet users in Thailand reached nearly 13 million at the end of last year, according to a survey by TT&T.
Magnificent seven
In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Halloween scares up sales on eBay marketplace
Halloween presents business opportunities for Thai sellers on eBay, the world's largest online marketplace and online shopping destination for holiday gifts.
According to eBay, Thai sellers are taking advantage.
Most of the products offered by Thai sellers are costumes for parties and events, such as vampire capes, thematic costumes and latex masks.
Allis Ghim, the Southeast Asia director of eBay, said Halloween-related sales amounted to $4.3 million, or about 144 million baht, in September.
She noted that buyers typically started shopping for Halloween items on eBay in early August, with the strongest buying activity in the middle of October.
"Prior to festive celebrations like Halloween, we see spikes in sales of related products on eBay two weeks before the actual day," she said.
eBay provides such potential for entrepreneurs by connecting to international markets such the US where festive periods such as Halloween and Christmas are highly celebrated events.
The total September listings for eBay.com topped 450,000, with almost half finding a sale. The most popular words used by shoppers to search for items were Halloween, costume, witch,pumpkin, and black.
Popular categories for Halloween items listed by eBay sellers are clothing,shoes, accessories, collectibles and crafts.On average, the price of Halloween items sold on eBay was $17.
Interestingly, the most expensive item sold on eBay in the past month was a "complete Halloween haunted house",which went for $6,001.
According to eBay, Thai sellers are taking advantage.
Most of the products offered by Thai sellers are costumes for parties and events, such as vampire capes, thematic costumes and latex masks.
Allis Ghim, the Southeast Asia director of eBay, said Halloween-related sales amounted to $4.3 million, or about 144 million baht, in September.
She noted that buyers typically started shopping for Halloween items on eBay in early August, with the strongest buying activity in the middle of October.
"Prior to festive celebrations like Halloween, we see spikes in sales of related products on eBay two weeks before the actual day," she said.
eBay provides such potential for entrepreneurs by connecting to international markets such the US where festive periods such as Halloween and Christmas are highly celebrated events.
The total September listings for eBay.com topped 450,000, with almost half finding a sale. The most popular words used by shoppers to search for items were Halloween, costume, witch,pumpkin, and black.
Popular categories for Halloween items listed by eBay sellers are clothing,shoes, accessories, collectibles and crafts.On average, the price of Halloween items sold on eBay was $17.
Interestingly, the most expensive item sold on eBay in the past month was a "complete Halloween haunted house",which went for $6,001.
Mail-order company goes bust
The venerable German mail-order company Quelle is shutting down more than 80 years after revolutionising the country's retail landscape, having missed customers' move to online shopping.
The unit of insolvent German retailer Arcandor failed to find new investors and would be closed down, Arcandor's insolvency administrator Klaus Hubert Goerg said on Tuesday.
A Quelle employee who took part in a staff meeting at the company's headquarters in Nuremberg said October's salaries would still be paid but beyond that nothing was certain.
"It's over, crying doesn't help," Quelle employee Marianne Thieg told Reuters.A colleague added:"Quelle is dead."
At least half of the 10,500 employees of Arcandor's Primondo unit, which Quelle is part of, could lose their jobs,but no official figures have yet been given.
Marco Atzberger, retail expert at EHI retail institute, said Quelle's downfall was a result of the company's own problems rather than an industry-wide malfunction."Quelle is a tragic story,because the mail order business in general works quite well. They failed to integrate the online business properly and relied too strongly on the catalogue business," he said.
The Quelle catalogue used to be a common feature in Germany's letter boxes and fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld even offered his collection "KL by Karl Lagerfeld" in the autumn/winter 1996-97 catalogue.
Quelle was founded by Gustav Schickedanz in 1927, naming it after his business idea to sell products directly to the customers right from the source, or "Quelle," in German.
But the emergence of the Internet took shoppers online, rapidly boosting sales of online retailers like Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc.
"While the catalogue is not obsolete,it is not the main sales driver either, any more," EHI's Atzberger said.
The German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bvh)expects online shopping will for the first time this year make up more than half of the overall sales in the mail-order industry, which it estimates at 29.1 billion ($43.6 billion) for 2009.
The unit of insolvent German retailer Arcandor failed to find new investors and would be closed down, Arcandor's insolvency administrator Klaus Hubert Goerg said on Tuesday.
A Quelle employee who took part in a staff meeting at the company's headquarters in Nuremberg said October's salaries would still be paid but beyond that nothing was certain.
"It's over, crying doesn't help," Quelle employee Marianne Thieg told Reuters.A colleague added:"Quelle is dead."
At least half of the 10,500 employees of Arcandor's Primondo unit, which Quelle is part of, could lose their jobs,but no official figures have yet been given.
Marco Atzberger, retail expert at EHI retail institute, said Quelle's downfall was a result of the company's own problems rather than an industry-wide malfunction."Quelle is a tragic story,because the mail order business in general works quite well. They failed to integrate the online business properly and relied too strongly on the catalogue business," he said.
The Quelle catalogue used to be a common feature in Germany's letter boxes and fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld even offered his collection "KL by Karl Lagerfeld" in the autumn/winter 1996-97 catalogue.
Quelle was founded by Gustav Schickedanz in 1927, naming it after his business idea to sell products directly to the customers right from the source, or "Quelle," in German.
But the emergence of the Internet took shoppers online, rapidly boosting sales of online retailers like Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc.
"While the catalogue is not obsolete,it is not the main sales driver either, any more," EHI's Atzberger said.
The German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bvh)expects online shopping will for the first time this year make up more than half of the overall sales in the mail-order industry, which it estimates at 29.1 billion ($43.6 billion) for 2009.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Twitter on the look for translators
Twitter, the fastgrowing service, is seeking volunteer French, German, Italian, and Spanish translators to render its website into other languages.
Twitter's website, Twitter.com, is currently only offered in English or Japanese.
Biz Stone, a co-founder of the San Francisco-based startup, said in a blog post on Friday that Twitter was planning versions of its website in other languages,starting with French, German, Italian and Spanish.
He invited a "small group" of Twitter users to become "volunteer translators"to suggest translations for the Twitter website.
"We will distribute the translations to Twitter platform developers making it easier for them to offer multiple language support as well," he said.
"We're very excited that more people will be able to use Twitter in their native language!" he added.
Twitter, which allows users to pepper one another with 140-character-or-less messages known as "tweets," has grown rapidly in popularity since it was launched in August 2006 and claims to have topped 50 million users.
Twitter's website, Twitter.com, is currently only offered in English or Japanese.
Biz Stone, a co-founder of the San Francisco-based startup, said in a blog post on Friday that Twitter was planning versions of its website in other languages,starting with French, German, Italian and Spanish.
He invited a "small group" of Twitter users to become "volunteer translators"to suggest translations for the Twitter website.
"We will distribute the translations to Twitter platform developers making it easier for them to offer multiple language support as well," he said.
"We're very excited that more people will be able to use Twitter in their native language!" he added.
Twitter, which allows users to pepper one another with 140-character-or-less messages known as "tweets," has grown rapidly in popularity since it was launched in August 2006 and claims to have topped 50 million users.
Facebook to boost tourism
Tourism should take advantage of social networking as a tool to attract new visitors while carefully monitoring bad corporate image, said the president of the Tourism Technology Association (TTA).
Apichai Sakulsureeyadej, president of the TTA, said that the increasing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as using YouTube and blogs as marketing tools allows tourist to share their experiences and suggestions about the country.
Currently, at least 50 percent of travellers do their research over the Internet prior to embarking on their trip. Many of these travellers also plan, book, and pay through various websites. The rate of online information for users and buyers of tourism products is increasing at an alarming rate. Around 80 percent of those tourists who use the Internet use social network sites.
Use of social networking sites is going beyond normal e-marketing that uses the Web as a new channel to sell or send email marketing. So if the country uses networking sites it will be easier to reach those travellers and have a beneficial effect on Thai tourism.
For example, if a tourist takes pictures of a beautiful place and posts the photos on Facebook and connects with their network of friends, those pictures may be more effective than if the TTA or the hotel operators had posted them.
There are successes in some countries that already use social networking sites such as Australia. Activities on Twitter and Facebook are getting those who have visited Australia to talk and tweet about their experiences.
Moreover, new research by academics at Bournemouth University in the UK showed that Information Acquisition obtaining up-to date information - was found to be the most influential factor for users of tourist social networks, followed by Social-Psychological factors such as seeking identity, forming relationships and seeking a sense of belonging, and hedonistic benefits including having fun with content, entertainment and being amused.
The research was carried out on Internet users in South Korea, which has one of the largest populations of Internet users in the world.
However, the country and tourism operators should be aware of carefully monitoring feedback and responding to negative opinions rather than ignoring and deleting negative views.
Early next year the TTA will collaborate with the National Statistics Office (NSO)on the first "National ICT for Tourism Survey" done within Thailand. Apichai believes that the information will give the ICT industry a better idea on which areas of technology to focus when catering to the tourism industry.
It will be easier to transform the tourism industry to become a knowledge and information rich industry, giving the operators in Thailand the edge over competition from other countries in marketing, internal management, service levels and technology-savvy staff.
"In today's economic environment,the tourism industry relies heavily on Information Technology. Technology is embedded within every stage of the travel life-cycle. It is important that the tourism operators have the knowledge of how technology can empower their businesses to do better,"Apichai said.
Apichai Sakulsureeyadej, president of the TTA, said that the increasing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as using YouTube and blogs as marketing tools allows tourist to share their experiences and suggestions about the country.
Currently, at least 50 percent of travellers do their research over the Internet prior to embarking on their trip. Many of these travellers also plan, book, and pay through various websites. The rate of online information for users and buyers of tourism products is increasing at an alarming rate. Around 80 percent of those tourists who use the Internet use social network sites.
Use of social networking sites is going beyond normal e-marketing that uses the Web as a new channel to sell or send email marketing. So if the country uses networking sites it will be easier to reach those travellers and have a beneficial effect on Thai tourism.
For example, if a tourist takes pictures of a beautiful place and posts the photos on Facebook and connects with their network of friends, those pictures may be more effective than if the TTA or the hotel operators had posted them.
There are successes in some countries that already use social networking sites such as Australia. Activities on Twitter and Facebook are getting those who have visited Australia to talk and tweet about their experiences.
Moreover, new research by academics at Bournemouth University in the UK showed that Information Acquisition obtaining up-to date information - was found to be the most influential factor for users of tourist social networks, followed by Social-Psychological factors such as seeking identity, forming relationships and seeking a sense of belonging, and hedonistic benefits including having fun with content, entertainment and being amused.
The research was carried out on Internet users in South Korea, which has one of the largest populations of Internet users in the world.
However, the country and tourism operators should be aware of carefully monitoring feedback and responding to negative opinions rather than ignoring and deleting negative views.
Early next year the TTA will collaborate with the National Statistics Office (NSO)on the first "National ICT for Tourism Survey" done within Thailand. Apichai believes that the information will give the ICT industry a better idea on which areas of technology to focus when catering to the tourism industry.
It will be easier to transform the tourism industry to become a knowledge and information rich industry, giving the operators in Thailand the edge over competition from other countries in marketing, internal management, service levels and technology-savvy staff.
"In today's economic environment,the tourism industry relies heavily on Information Technology. Technology is embedded within every stage of the travel life-cycle. It is important that the tourism operators have the knowledge of how technology can empower their businesses to do better,"Apichai said.
YouTube to broadcast UK TV shows
British independent television network Channel 4 last week announced a "pioneering" deal to broadcast its shows on YouTube after first being viewed on TV.
"YouTube and Channel 4 have signed a pioneering content deal that will make the broadcaster's original programmes available on demand, in full and freeof-charge via YouTube in the UK in the coming months," said a statement.
"The strategic partnership marks the first time a broadcaster anywhere in the world has made a comprehensive catchup schedule available on YouTube."
Neither group disclosed financial terms of the deal that would run for at least three years and be supported by advertising revenue.
"Channel 4 was the first broadcaster in the world to make all its commissioned content available online," said Channel 4 Chief Executive Andy Duncan.
"This is another important milestone for us and we're delighted to be combining the power of the '4' brand and the appeal of our content with YouTube's unrivalled reach and reputation online."
The number of views on the videosharing website has surpassed one billion a day, the co-founder of the site Chad Hurley said last week on the third anniversary of its acquisition by Google.
YouTube's director of partnerships Patrick Walker said the deal was in reaction to calls from the site's followers for it to broadcast full-length shows.
"This demonstrates our commitment to bringing an even greater range of content to YouTube," he added.
"YouTube and Channel 4 have signed a pioneering content deal that will make the broadcaster's original programmes available on demand, in full and freeof-charge via YouTube in the UK in the coming months," said a statement.
"The strategic partnership marks the first time a broadcaster anywhere in the world has made a comprehensive catchup schedule available on YouTube."
Neither group disclosed financial terms of the deal that would run for at least three years and be supported by advertising revenue.
"Channel 4 was the first broadcaster in the world to make all its commissioned content available online," said Channel 4 Chief Executive Andy Duncan.
"This is another important milestone for us and we're delighted to be combining the power of the '4' brand and the appeal of our content with YouTube's unrivalled reach and reputation online."
The number of views on the videosharing website has surpassed one billion a day, the co-founder of the site Chad Hurley said last week on the third anniversary of its acquisition by Google.
YouTube's director of partnerships Patrick Walker said the deal was in reaction to calls from the site's followers for it to broadcast full-length shows.
"This demonstrates our commitment to bringing an even greater range of content to YouTube," he added.
GOOGLE WOOING RIVAL FIRMS' CUSTOMERS
Google on Monday ramped up a campaign to convert businesses worldwide into users of e-mail, calendar, document and other software programs it offers online as services on the Internet.
"Gone Google" advertising was expanded to Britain, France, Canada, Japan, Australia, Singapore and other countries.
Ads are being displayed in places such as train stations and airports "to help companies, schools and organisations learn all about the benefits of going Google with our enterprise products".
Google has been enhancing and expanding online software services as a trend toward Internet-based cloud computing has gained momentum.
Companies hustling to survive the grim economic conditions have been attracted to cost savings that stem from renting software instead of buying, installing and maintaining it on their own machines.
US software giant Microsoft has responded to the trend with a "software plus services" model that combines its core pakcaged products with programs hosted online.
Google Apps programs hosted on the Internet giant's computers are used by more than two million businesses in more than 100 countries, according to a blog post by Vivian Leung and Tom Oliveri of the Google Enterprise Team.
"Each day, thousands of companies choose to 'go Google', that is, switch to Google Apps,' Leung and Oliveri said. "These companies no longer have to deal with the hassles of managing e-mail servers or rolling out software updates, and their employees now enjoy the convenience of shared documents and calendars, Gmail and more."
Konica Minolta, Rentokil Initial, and TOTO are among firms that have recently "gone Google", according to Leung and Oliveri.
"Gone Google" advertising was expanded to Britain, France, Canada, Japan, Australia, Singapore and other countries.
Ads are being displayed in places such as train stations and airports "to help companies, schools and organisations learn all about the benefits of going Google with our enterprise products".
Google has been enhancing and expanding online software services as a trend toward Internet-based cloud computing has gained momentum.
Companies hustling to survive the grim economic conditions have been attracted to cost savings that stem from renting software instead of buying, installing and maintaining it on their own machines.
US software giant Microsoft has responded to the trend with a "software plus services" model that combines its core pakcaged products with programs hosted online.
Google Apps programs hosted on the Internet giant's computers are used by more than two million businesses in more than 100 countries, according to a blog post by Vivian Leung and Tom Oliveri of the Google Enterprise Team.
"Each day, thousands of companies choose to 'go Google', that is, switch to Google Apps,' Leung and Oliveri said. "These companies no longer have to deal with the hassles of managing e-mail servers or rolling out software updates, and their employees now enjoy the convenience of shared documents and calendars, Gmail and more."
Konica Minolta, Rentokil Initial, and TOTO are among firms that have recently "gone Google", according to Leung and Oliveri.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Google adds automatic translation
Internet giant Google added automatic translation to Google Docs on Thursday allowing users to translate documents into 42 languages.
The "Tools" menu on Google Docs now includes a "Translate Document"feature which provides a list of the various languages offered, which run from Albanian to Icelandic to Vietnamese.
A translation is done "in a matter of seconds," Google said in a blog post,and formatting and layout is preserved whatever the language of the document.
"Translations aren't perfect, but we are continuously working on improving translation quality over time," Google said. Google Docs provides word processing, spreadsheet and other programs hosted on the Internet.
The Mountain View, California-based company has already built automatic translation features into its popular email program Gmail and into services such as its blog reader.
The "Tools" menu on Google Docs now includes a "Translate Document"feature which provides a list of the various languages offered, which run from Albanian to Icelandic to Vietnamese.
A translation is done "in a matter of seconds," Google said in a blog post,and formatting and layout is preserved whatever the language of the document.
"Translations aren't perfect, but we are continuously working on improving translation quality over time," Google said. Google Docs provides word processing, spreadsheet and other programs hosted on the Internet.
The Mountain View, California-based company has already built automatic translation features into its popular email program Gmail and into services such as its blog reader.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Students get second chance
The National Institute of Educational Testing Service will spend four million baht to arrange catch-up tests for students who missed the third round of the General Aptitude Test and the Professional Aptitude Test, Niets director Uthumporn Jamornmarn says.
The Niets website was attacked by hackers last week, causing students who applied to sit in the third round of GAT and PAT, running from Thursday to Sunday, to miss their exams.
Mrs Uthumporn said Niets had to close down its website for three days after the attack. Many GAT and PAT applicants could not print their identity cards from the website or check the time and places of their exams.
Niets decided to organise make-up rounds for the GAT and PAT.
Two groups of students are eligible to take the replacement exams, Mrs Uthumporn said. Those who missed the exams because of the website hacking problem and those who could not apply for the third round of GAT and PAT are eligible. These students could apply to sit the make-up exams via Niets website at www.niets.or.th from Thursday to Oct 22.
The names of those eligible to take the catch-up exams will be announced on Oct 25.
The make-up exams will be held from Oct 29 to Nov 1 at test centres in seven provinces -Bangkok, Chiang Mai,Phitsanulok, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Hat Yai district in Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Exam results will be announced on Nov 10, also via the website, Mrs Uthumporn said.
The Niets website was attacked by hackers last week, causing students who applied to sit in the third round of GAT and PAT, running from Thursday to Sunday, to miss their exams.
Mrs Uthumporn said Niets had to close down its website for three days after the attack. Many GAT and PAT applicants could not print their identity cards from the website or check the time and places of their exams.
Niets decided to organise make-up rounds for the GAT and PAT.
Two groups of students are eligible to take the replacement exams, Mrs Uthumporn said. Those who missed the exams because of the website hacking problem and those who could not apply for the third round of GAT and PAT are eligible. These students could apply to sit the make-up exams via Niets website at www.niets.or.th from Thursday to Oct 22.
The names of those eligible to take the catch-up exams will be announced on Oct 25.
The make-up exams will be held from Oct 29 to Nov 1 at test centres in seven provinces -Bangkok, Chiang Mai,Phitsanulok, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Hat Yai district in Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Exam results will be announced on Nov 10, also via the website, Mrs Uthumporn said.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Exam chaos after hackers attack site
Computer hackers have attacked the website of the National Institute of Edu-cational Testing Service (Niets), prompt-ing about 40% of students applying to sit in the General Aptitude Test (GAT)and the Professional Aptitude Test (PAT)at test centres to miss the exams yester-day.The third round of GAT and PAT tests ran from Thursday to today at 314 test centres nationwide, including at Sukho-thai Thammathirat Open University.
Deputy Education Minister Chaiwuti Ban-nawat admitted yester-day that the GAT and PAT had been targetted by hackers.
They have written a computer programme to manipulate the web-site of Niets, an agency responsible for organ-ising the GAT and PAT,blocking students from accessing the website for three days. Many stu-dents have not been able to check the time and place of their tests since Wednesday.
Niets closed down its website,www.niets.or.th , to fix the hacking prob-lem for three days. Its operation resumed only yesterday.
It was the first time that university admission tests have been troubled by hackers.
"We never thought this could hap-pen," said Mr Chaiwuti.
He said hackers in the past have derailed university admission tests in Russia and South Korea, but this kind of incident has never happened in Thailand before. In the case of South Korea,authorities had to cancel the test.
However, Mr Chaiwuti said Niets did not have to cancel the ongoing GAT and PAT because the hackers could not steal or damage information stored in the agency's data system, they only blocked students' access to the website.
He said the incident was a lesson for authorities that they need to be prepared for future technical problems and hacks.
Niets should have a back-up website or a back-up system in which students may telephone to ask for their test in-formation, he added.
There were 400,000 students regis-tering for the tests yesterday. At Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University alone,1,994 students sat tests but another 1,300 students, or 40%, did not show up.
Niets is checking on the amount of students missing this round of GAT and PAT at other places.
During the second round of GAT and PAT,only about 20% of stu-dents missed their tests.Officials have asked about 10 students at the university test centre about their friends who missed the tests. Most of them said friends missed the tests as they could not access the in-formation on the time and places of their tests,according to Mr Chaiwuti.
If the website attack caused students to miss their tests, Niets might have to consider organising make-up tests, the deputy minister said.
Niets director Uthumporn Jamorn-marn confirmed that the agency will arrange make-up tests for students who missed the tests.
The agency has filed a complaint with police, asking investigators to search for the hackers and take action against them, said Mrs Uthumporn.
Niets has also sought help from the Information and Communication Tech-nology Ministry as well as private detec-tives in its attempt to find the hackers.
If arrested the hackers will be obliged to pay compensation for Niets' expenses related to the organisation of make-up tests for affected students as well.
Deputy Education Minister Chaiwuti Ban-nawat admitted yester-day that the GAT and PAT had been targetted by hackers.
They have written a computer programme to manipulate the web-site of Niets, an agency responsible for organ-ising the GAT and PAT,blocking students from accessing the website for three days. Many stu-dents have not been able to check the time and place of their tests since Wednesday.
Niets closed down its website,www.niets.or.th , to fix the hacking prob-lem for three days. Its operation resumed only yesterday.
It was the first time that university admission tests have been troubled by hackers.
"We never thought this could hap-pen," said Mr Chaiwuti.
He said hackers in the past have derailed university admission tests in Russia and South Korea, but this kind of incident has never happened in Thailand before. In the case of South Korea,authorities had to cancel the test.
However, Mr Chaiwuti said Niets did not have to cancel the ongoing GAT and PAT because the hackers could not steal or damage information stored in the agency's data system, they only blocked students' access to the website.
He said the incident was a lesson for authorities that they need to be prepared for future technical problems and hacks.
Niets should have a back-up website or a back-up system in which students may telephone to ask for their test in-formation, he added.
There were 400,000 students regis-tering for the tests yesterday. At Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University alone,1,994 students sat tests but another 1,300 students, or 40%, did not show up.
Niets is checking on the amount of students missing this round of GAT and PAT at other places.
During the second round of GAT and PAT,only about 20% of stu-dents missed their tests.Officials have asked about 10 students at the university test centre about their friends who missed the tests. Most of them said friends missed the tests as they could not access the in-formation on the time and places of their tests,according to Mr Chaiwuti.
If the website attack caused students to miss their tests, Niets might have to consider organising make-up tests, the deputy minister said.
Niets director Uthumporn Jamorn-marn confirmed that the agency will arrange make-up tests for students who missed the tests.
The agency has filed a complaint with police, asking investigators to search for the hackers and take action against them, said Mrs Uthumporn.
Niets has also sought help from the Information and Communication Tech-nology Ministry as well as private detec-tives in its attempt to find the hackers.
If arrested the hackers will be obliged to pay compensation for Niets' expenses related to the organisation of make-up tests for affected students as well.
TWITTER - THINK BEFORE YOU TWEET
Times are tough for the "tweet before you think" crowd. Courtney Love was sued by a fashion designer after she posted a series of inflammatory tweets, one calling the designer a liar and a thief. A landlord in Chicago sued a tenant for US$50,000(1.67 million baht) after she tweeted about her mouldy apartment. And Demi Moore slapped back at Perez Hilton over a revealing photograph of the actress' daughter.
A growing number of people have begun lashing out at their Twitter critics, challenging the not-quite rules of etiquette on a service where insults are lobbed in brief bursts, too short to include the social niceties. Some offended parties are suing. For others, extracting a public mea culpa will do. In some cases, the payback is extreme: Mark Cuban,the owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, was fined $25,000 for criticising a referee in a tweet after a game.
Blogs, of course, have long been rife with the discontented heaping abuse on foes. But academics and researchers who study online attitudes say that same behaviour has been less common on Twitter, in part, because many people use their real names. Now it is migrating to the service, attracting lawsuits and leaving users to haggle among themselves about what will be tolerated.
Complicating matters, there are few prescribed social norms on Twitter like those in more closed communities like Facebook.The service has attained mass popularity without much time to develop an organic users' culture. On top of that, with tweets limited to 140 characters, users come right to the point without context or nuance.
"It's the same reason why schoolyard fights don't start out with,'I have a real problem with the way you said something so let's discuss it'," said Josh Bernoff, a researcher and an author of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies ."You get right to the punch in the nose.Twitter doesn't allow room for reflection. It gets people to the barest emotion."
The same laws of libel and defamation when someone knowingly says something false that causes harm- that apply to traditional media and the internet also apply to Twitter, according to free speech experts.What is likely to shift, said Floyd Abrams, the well known "first amendment lawyer", is what language is considered acceptable and whether it is deemed harmful. In the 1950s,he explained, it was libellous to call someone a communist; today it is not.
"The basic law will be the same, but I would think that a defendant might argue that the language used on Twitter is understood to not be taken as seriously as is the case in other forms of communication," said Mr Abrams, who has represented The New York Times ."We will have to wait and see how judges and juries figure out how to deal with this."
Bryan Freedman is the lawyer in Los An-geles who is representing Dawn Simorangkir,a designer who markets clothes under the Boudoir Queen label, and who sued Love for libel in March.
The lawsuit contends that Love "became infatuated" with the designer, asking her to create costumes using vintage material the singer owned.
When Ms Simorangkir asked to be paid,Love balked at the price. Ms Simorangkir, in return, refused to return Love's vintage material, according to legal documents filed by Love's lawyers. The singer accused the designer of being a liar and thief (among other things) in a number of rambling, misspelled tweets.
"You will end up in a circle of corched eaeth hunted til your dead," read one tweet from Love in March.
Love and her lawyers, Keith Fink and Olaf Muller, declined to comment on the lawsuit.But in August Love's lawyers sought to dismiss the case, saying it would violate and inhibit her right to free speech. Mr Freedman maintains, however, that Ms Simorangkir's business has suffered because of Love. A hearing is set for this month."I find with this kind of communication you will always end up saying something that will get you in trouble," Mr Freedman said.
Mr Freedman's perspective is interesting because he also represents Perez Hilton, the gossip blogger known for taunting celebrities with embarrassing posts. In September, Hilton was involved in a public spat with Demi Moore on Twitter after he posted a link on his website to a photo of Moore's 15-yearold daughter in a low-cut blouse.
In a series of tweets, Moore accused Hilton,whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, of flouting child pornography laws. Hilton went on the attack, posting tweets that said Moore was an inept mother.
Both parties' lawyers exchanged threatening letters. Through Mr Freedman, Hilton accused Moore of defamation. On Sept 4,Moore's lawyer, Marty Singer, responded in a letter, calling Hilton "regularly crude, insulting and cruel".
No lawsuits were filed. As Stephen Huvane,Moore's publicist, put it:"No one wins in these situations."
In defence of Hilton, Mr Freedman said that as long as his tweets reflect opinion, it doesn't matter if his targets think he is cruel.But he conceded that much of the tension arises from the unthinking way that some people use Twitter."I'm not saying it is right or wrong," Mr Freedman said,"but I think we are seeing a blurring of lines between nastiness and free speech."
According to legal experts, much of what is said on Twitter is opinion - even nasty name-calling - which means it is protected speech.
"When you look at a lot of the things people are complaining about it is not actual defamation, it is a statement of opinion,"said David Ardia, director of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard University."In many cases, it's about two people who had a breakdown in a relationship and took that online."
Twitter has made a choice not to become involved in such disputes."We don't want to be a mediator," said Alexander Macgillivray,Twitter's general counsel.
In June, though, the company began verifying accounts after complaints from celebrities about others falsely using their identities.
A growing number of people have begun lashing out at their Twitter critics, challenging the not-quite rules of etiquette on a service where insults are lobbed in brief bursts, too short to include the social niceties. Some offended parties are suing. For others, extracting a public mea culpa will do. In some cases, the payback is extreme: Mark Cuban,the owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, was fined $25,000 for criticising a referee in a tweet after a game.
Blogs, of course, have long been rife with the discontented heaping abuse on foes. But academics and researchers who study online attitudes say that same behaviour has been less common on Twitter, in part, because many people use their real names. Now it is migrating to the service, attracting lawsuits and leaving users to haggle among themselves about what will be tolerated.
Complicating matters, there are few prescribed social norms on Twitter like those in more closed communities like Facebook.The service has attained mass popularity without much time to develop an organic users' culture. On top of that, with tweets limited to 140 characters, users come right to the point without context or nuance.
"It's the same reason why schoolyard fights don't start out with,'I have a real problem with the way you said something so let's discuss it'," said Josh Bernoff, a researcher and an author of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies ."You get right to the punch in the nose.Twitter doesn't allow room for reflection. It gets people to the barest emotion."
The same laws of libel and defamation when someone knowingly says something false that causes harm- that apply to traditional media and the internet also apply to Twitter, according to free speech experts.What is likely to shift, said Floyd Abrams, the well known "first amendment lawyer", is what language is considered acceptable and whether it is deemed harmful. In the 1950s,he explained, it was libellous to call someone a communist; today it is not.
"The basic law will be the same, but I would think that a defendant might argue that the language used on Twitter is understood to not be taken as seriously as is the case in other forms of communication," said Mr Abrams, who has represented The New York Times ."We will have to wait and see how judges and juries figure out how to deal with this."
Bryan Freedman is the lawyer in Los An-geles who is representing Dawn Simorangkir,a designer who markets clothes under the Boudoir Queen label, and who sued Love for libel in March.
The lawsuit contends that Love "became infatuated" with the designer, asking her to create costumes using vintage material the singer owned.
When Ms Simorangkir asked to be paid,Love balked at the price. Ms Simorangkir, in return, refused to return Love's vintage material, according to legal documents filed by Love's lawyers. The singer accused the designer of being a liar and thief (among other things) in a number of rambling, misspelled tweets.
"You will end up in a circle of corched eaeth hunted til your dead," read one tweet from Love in March.
Love and her lawyers, Keith Fink and Olaf Muller, declined to comment on the lawsuit.But in August Love's lawyers sought to dismiss the case, saying it would violate and inhibit her right to free speech. Mr Freedman maintains, however, that Ms Simorangkir's business has suffered because of Love. A hearing is set for this month."I find with this kind of communication you will always end up saying something that will get you in trouble," Mr Freedman said.
Mr Freedman's perspective is interesting because he also represents Perez Hilton, the gossip blogger known for taunting celebrities with embarrassing posts. In September, Hilton was involved in a public spat with Demi Moore on Twitter after he posted a link on his website to a photo of Moore's 15-yearold daughter in a low-cut blouse.
In a series of tweets, Moore accused Hilton,whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, of flouting child pornography laws. Hilton went on the attack, posting tweets that said Moore was an inept mother.
Both parties' lawyers exchanged threatening letters. Through Mr Freedman, Hilton accused Moore of defamation. On Sept 4,Moore's lawyer, Marty Singer, responded in a letter, calling Hilton "regularly crude, insulting and cruel".
No lawsuits were filed. As Stephen Huvane,Moore's publicist, put it:"No one wins in these situations."
In defence of Hilton, Mr Freedman said that as long as his tweets reflect opinion, it doesn't matter if his targets think he is cruel.But he conceded that much of the tension arises from the unthinking way that some people use Twitter."I'm not saying it is right or wrong," Mr Freedman said,"but I think we are seeing a blurring of lines between nastiness and free speech."
According to legal experts, much of what is said on Twitter is opinion - even nasty name-calling - which means it is protected speech.
"When you look at a lot of the things people are complaining about it is not actual defamation, it is a statement of opinion,"said David Ardia, director of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard University."In many cases, it's about two people who had a breakdown in a relationship and took that online."
Twitter has made a choice not to become involved in such disputes."We don't want to be a mediator," said Alexander Macgillivray,Twitter's general counsel.
In June, though, the company began verifying accounts after complaints from celebrities about others falsely using their identities.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Consult the sommelier in your pocket
Shopping for wine is a lot like parenting a teenager. You feel stupid when you're in the middle of it,and when you finally emerge, you're desperately ready for a drink.
There is, alas, no app for raising teenagers. But mobile software developers have begun aiming at oenophiles, and in so doing, they have established one of the more useful categories of wireless apps.
Appropriately enough, choosing the right one can be puzzling and tedious.Some of the refined entries in the current vintage include Cor.kz, Wine Enthusiast Guide, Nat Decants Food & Wine Matcher and Pair It!. I'd give them a rating of 85,with an asterisk. They're fairly good now,and they should age nicely.
Before digging into the details, though,consider the overall value of these services for a moment. Let's say you're at your favourite wine shop with about 15 minutes to spare, and you want a bottle that will make your dinner guests coo,without maxing out your credit card.
The shop owner is helping someone near the Mouton Rothschild, and the other employees are 23-year-olds with extensive beer-stocking skills. Rather than choosing a random bottle or asking the beer guys, you can now just reach for the sommelier in your cell phone.
From there you have a couple of options. Some apps, like Wine Enthusiast,let you find the most highly rated wines at specific price levels, so you can quickly browse the store - or, if you're in a restaurant, the wine list - for suitable matches.
If you have Cor.kz or, to a lesser extent,Nat Decants, you can reverse the process,and look through the wine list or shelves until you find a promising label. Then it's a matter of doing a quick check on its rating.
The second approach has limits, simply because it takes too long to type in,say,"2003 Hochheimer Koenigin Victoriaberg Riesling Beerenauslese," to say nothing of the time it might take to click through the ratings and then move onto another bottle.
Smartphone mavens are already wondering why you can't just use the phone's camera to scan the bottle's bar code and have the app display the wine's rating? In the coming weeks, you'll be able to get fairly close to that bit of grape-soaked geekery, thanks to a new feature from Cor.kz.
But first, more about the core features of this app, which will soon be available to BlackBerry users and owners of Android devices like T-Mobile's MyTouch 3G.
Cor.kz stands on the shoulders of an Internet giant, cellartracker.com, which houses more than a million reviews by roughly 82,000 wine aficionados. Cor.kz can also help users manage their wine cellar inventory, but it is perhaps best used by those who just want to buy more intelligently.
Type in the name of the wine you are considering - Del Dotto, say - and Cor.kz retrieves everything in CellarTracker's data base about the wine.
This can be a blessing and a curse.Wines from Del Dotto, a small but muchbeloved vintner in Napa Valley, California, yield 581 tasting notes. If you type something more specific into your iPhone, like "2005 Del Dotto Cabernet,"Cor.kz returns 95 matches.
Some of these results include a numerical rating. To save yourself wasted clicks, choose those listings. The rating represents the average from CellarTracker's reviewers, and those entries will also include detailed reviews and retail prices.
There is, alas, no app for raising teenagers. But mobile software developers have begun aiming at oenophiles, and in so doing, they have established one of the more useful categories of wireless apps.
Appropriately enough, choosing the right one can be puzzling and tedious.Some of the refined entries in the current vintage include Cor.kz, Wine Enthusiast Guide, Nat Decants Food & Wine Matcher and Pair It!. I'd give them a rating of 85,with an asterisk. They're fairly good now,and they should age nicely.
Before digging into the details, though,consider the overall value of these services for a moment. Let's say you're at your favourite wine shop with about 15 minutes to spare, and you want a bottle that will make your dinner guests coo,without maxing out your credit card.
The shop owner is helping someone near the Mouton Rothschild, and the other employees are 23-year-olds with extensive beer-stocking skills. Rather than choosing a random bottle or asking the beer guys, you can now just reach for the sommelier in your cell phone.
From there you have a couple of options. Some apps, like Wine Enthusiast,let you find the most highly rated wines at specific price levels, so you can quickly browse the store - or, if you're in a restaurant, the wine list - for suitable matches.
If you have Cor.kz or, to a lesser extent,Nat Decants, you can reverse the process,and look through the wine list or shelves until you find a promising label. Then it's a matter of doing a quick check on its rating.
The second approach has limits, simply because it takes too long to type in,say,"2003 Hochheimer Koenigin Victoriaberg Riesling Beerenauslese," to say nothing of the time it might take to click through the ratings and then move onto another bottle.
Smartphone mavens are already wondering why you can't just use the phone's camera to scan the bottle's bar code and have the app display the wine's rating? In the coming weeks, you'll be able to get fairly close to that bit of grape-soaked geekery, thanks to a new feature from Cor.kz.
But first, more about the core features of this app, which will soon be available to BlackBerry users and owners of Android devices like T-Mobile's MyTouch 3G.
Cor.kz stands on the shoulders of an Internet giant, cellartracker.com, which houses more than a million reviews by roughly 82,000 wine aficionados. Cor.kz can also help users manage their wine cellar inventory, but it is perhaps best used by those who just want to buy more intelligently.
Type in the name of the wine you are considering - Del Dotto, say - and Cor.kz retrieves everything in CellarTracker's data base about the wine.
This can be a blessing and a curse.Wines from Del Dotto, a small but muchbeloved vintner in Napa Valley, California, yield 581 tasting notes. If you type something more specific into your iPhone, like "2005 Del Dotto Cabernet,"Cor.kz returns 95 matches.
Some of these results include a numerical rating. To save yourself wasted clicks, choose those listings. The rating represents the average from CellarTracker's reviewers, and those entries will also include detailed reviews and retail prices.
NEW SANOOK SERVICE MAKES ONLINE SHOPPING SAFER
Shopping.co.th, a two-year-old online market place run by Sanook.com and eBay, has added a "TRUST by Shopping.co.th" service to make buyers more confident and protect its merchants from fraud.
Veerawat Hongsitthiwong, a vice president at Sanook Online, said the service offered six applications for merchants and buyers, namely an enhanced payment system called PaySure by PaySbuy; Track & Trace from Thailand Post; Buyer & Seller Verification; Feedback Score; Buyer Protection Program, and Education Program.
He said the TRUST service was added to increase security and give its 2,000 online merchants and the 100,000 or so visitors it gets every day more confidence in purchasing via Shopping.co.th.
"The main benefit is that online transactions will become more secure because the TRUST option will verify buyers' identification number, which will protect our merchants from fraud," Veerawat said.
Consumers, too, will be protected from fraudulent merchants via the PaySure option.
"When buyers pay for products, the money will first be left within the PaySure system, which will pay the merchants only when the product has been delivered. This will make shoppers more confident," Veerawat explained.
Somwang Luangphiboonsri, general manager of PaySbuy, said PaySure now allows customers to use either their credit card or their PaySbuy eWallet, an online deposit account.
"Under this system, transaction fees will be a little higher, with Bt20 added on to 4.5 per cent of the total transaction value," Somwang said.
He said the TRUST service should also help double the total number of transactions from the current Bt15 million-Bt20 million per month to between Bt30 million and Bt40 million per month within the next 12 months.
"We have made these improvements to increase the confidence of online buyers and sellers, and hope this will encourage people to purchase expensive products online," Veerawat said.
In addition, customers will be able to track where their purchases are through the Track & Trace service provided Thailand Post.
The Feedback Score and Buyer Protection Programs were added to Shopping.co.th to ensure that customers are protected and remain happy while shopping at the site.
The Education Program, meanwhile, will teach merchants the tricks of remaining competitive.
At present, Shopping.co.th provides around 90,000 items, which are listed for 15 days at a time.
The top five best sellers are women's clothing, jewellery, Buddha statues, stamps and beauty products.
Veerawat Hongsitthiwong, a vice president at Sanook Online, said the service offered six applications for merchants and buyers, namely an enhanced payment system called PaySure by PaySbuy; Track & Trace from Thailand Post; Buyer & Seller Verification; Feedback Score; Buyer Protection Program, and Education Program.
He said the TRUST service was added to increase security and give its 2,000 online merchants and the 100,000 or so visitors it gets every day more confidence in purchasing via Shopping.co.th.
"The main benefit is that online transactions will become more secure because the TRUST option will verify buyers' identification number, which will protect our merchants from fraud," Veerawat said.
Consumers, too, will be protected from fraudulent merchants via the PaySure option.
"When buyers pay for products, the money will first be left within the PaySure system, which will pay the merchants only when the product has been delivered. This will make shoppers more confident," Veerawat explained.
Somwang Luangphiboonsri, general manager of PaySbuy, said PaySure now allows customers to use either their credit card or their PaySbuy eWallet, an online deposit account.
"Under this system, transaction fees will be a little higher, with Bt20 added on to 4.5 per cent of the total transaction value," Somwang said.
He said the TRUST service should also help double the total number of transactions from the current Bt15 million-Bt20 million per month to between Bt30 million and Bt40 million per month within the next 12 months.
"We have made these improvements to increase the confidence of online buyers and sellers, and hope this will encourage people to purchase expensive products online," Veerawat said.
In addition, customers will be able to track where their purchases are through the Track & Trace service provided Thailand Post.
The Feedback Score and Buyer Protection Programs were added to Shopping.co.th to ensure that customers are protected and remain happy while shopping at the site.
The Education Program, meanwhile, will teach merchants the tricks of remaining competitive.
At present, Shopping.co.th provides around 90,000 items, which are listed for 15 days at a time.
The top five best sellers are women's clothing, jewellery, Buddha statues, stamps and beauty products.
Japanese firm buys stake in TARAD.com
Rakuten Inc, a leading Japanese internet company, has acquired a controlling stake in Thailand's largest e-commerce portal to cash in on the growing local market.
Rakuten has completed the acquisition procedure to take a 67% in TARAD Dot Com Co Ltd. Established in 1999,TARAD.com is an online shopping service with about 160,000 participating merchants offering 1.4 million products, from fashion items to electronics.
The website claims to have a mem-bership of 2 million users.
Rakuten plans to use its experience and management style to expand TARAD.com by introducing new functions and services for both merchants and users from early 2010.
Three senior Rakuten executives will manage the Thai operation.
"We selected TARAD.com because it is a suitable partner for pursuing growth opportunities in the Thai e-commerce market," said Hiroshi Mikitani, the founder, chairman and CEO of Rakuten.
In Japan, Rakuten operates the portal www.rakuten.co.jp and has approximately 60 million registered members. The site offers more than 40 million products from some 30,000 merchants. Last year sales totalled US$2.7 billion.
It has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming the world's leading internet service company.
The Thai acquisition is its second move in the international market after last year forming a joint venture with Taiwan's President Chain Store Corp.
Rakuten has completed the acquisition procedure to take a 67% in TARAD Dot Com Co Ltd. Established in 1999,TARAD.com is an online shopping service with about 160,000 participating merchants offering 1.4 million products, from fashion items to electronics.
The website claims to have a mem-bership of 2 million users.
Rakuten plans to use its experience and management style to expand TARAD.com by introducing new functions and services for both merchants and users from early 2010.
Three senior Rakuten executives will manage the Thai operation.
"We selected TARAD.com because it is a suitable partner for pursuing growth opportunities in the Thai e-commerce market," said Hiroshi Mikitani, the founder, chairman and CEO of Rakuten.
In Japan, Rakuten operates the portal www.rakuten.co.jp and has approximately 60 million registered members. The site offers more than 40 million products from some 30,000 merchants. Last year sales totalled US$2.7 billion.
It has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming the world's leading internet service company.
The Thai acquisition is its second move in the international market after last year forming a joint venture with Taiwan's President Chain Store Corp.
Violence on video clips "making society violent"
Academics yesterday called for an official watch on violent and obscene media, warning that Thailand is entering the state of a so-called "online criminal society".
Repeated presentation of video clips could affect children and oversensitive or depressed people to use violence against others or themselves, they told a seminar on the impact of violent videos on Thai society, organised by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.
The foundation's media-watch group manager Tham Saicheu said the community had entered a time when crime and the Internet were converging and becoming easily accessible.
Video clips were a new cultural trend allowing people to produce and publish the content themselves.
Tham warned the convergence of crime and Internet-including computer and IT advancement, social circles, a tendency to use negative words as searching tools, and crime - was leading to an "online criminal society".
Young people were equipped with the ability to share information, but lacked maturity in using media, which could lead to social problems.
He urged controls on the repeated presentation of violent content, which could change society by causing people to be too familiar with it, he warned.
Youth mental health expert, Dr Kamol Saenthongsrikamol from Bangkok Hospital, said that seeing violent images repeatedly affected small children and those who were oversensitive or suffering from depression. He said small children would respond with no regard to other's pain because they lacked maturity, while those suffering depression could act out the violence, such as killing or injuring themselves.
"The media has a job to present the facts but every time they show repeated images of violence, they stimulate people's mood for violence. The media should present such images moderately," Kamol said.
The Thai Broadcast Journalists Association vice-president, Patchara Sarapimpa, said the profession this year has drafted guide-lines for news presentation and complaints could be filed if there was a violation.
He said the association had tried to oversee a professional code wihtin an appropriate frame. If the media didn't present news at all, society would have no standards of what was right and what was wrong.
A youth representative, Nareelak Pradabsil, said the violence factor often came from families in which parents beat each other in front of the kids until the act was regarded as normal, leading to a tendency for kids to use violence to solve their life problems too.
Repeated presentation of video clips could affect children and oversensitive or depressed people to use violence against others or themselves, they told a seminar on the impact of violent videos on Thai society, organised by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.
The foundation's media-watch group manager Tham Saicheu said the community had entered a time when crime and the Internet were converging and becoming easily accessible.
Video clips were a new cultural trend allowing people to produce and publish the content themselves.
Tham warned the convergence of crime and Internet-including computer and IT advancement, social circles, a tendency to use negative words as searching tools, and crime - was leading to an "online criminal society".
Young people were equipped with the ability to share information, but lacked maturity in using media, which could lead to social problems.
He urged controls on the repeated presentation of violent content, which could change society by causing people to be too familiar with it, he warned.
Youth mental health expert, Dr Kamol Saenthongsrikamol from Bangkok Hospital, said that seeing violent images repeatedly affected small children and those who were oversensitive or suffering from depression. He said small children would respond with no regard to other's pain because they lacked maturity, while those suffering depression could act out the violence, such as killing or injuring themselves.
"The media has a job to present the facts but every time they show repeated images of violence, they stimulate people's mood for violence. The media should present such images moderately," Kamol said.
The Thai Broadcast Journalists Association vice-president, Patchara Sarapimpa, said the profession this year has drafted guide-lines for news presentation and complaints could be filed if there was a violation.
He said the association had tried to oversee a professional code wihtin an appropriate frame. If the media didn't present news at all, society would have no standards of what was right and what was wrong.
A youth representative, Nareelak Pradabsil, said the violence factor often came from families in which parents beat each other in front of the kids until the act was regarded as normal, leading to a tendency for kids to use violence to solve their life problems too.
HK journalists slam Beijing for press gag
More than 1,300 Hong Kong journalists yesterday joined in a signature campaign accusing China of "blatant trampling on press freedom".
The campaign, featuring full-page advertisements in Hong Kong newspapers, follows the detention and beating of reporters from the former British colony sent to cover news events in China.
Three television journalists were detained and beaten up as they tried to cover ethnic unrest in the western city of Urumqi in September and were later accused of inciting unrest among protesters.
In a separate incident, another Hong Kong TV journalist was accused of possessing drugs in what she claimed was a ploy to prevent her covering the trial of an anti-corruption campaigner.
Advertisements condemning the actions have been taken out by the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong one day ahead of Chinese National Day celebrations.
The advertisements, carrying the names of 1,300-plus signatories, said journalists were "angered by such violent stoppage of news coverage and blatant trampling on press freedom".
They call on both the Sichuan and Xinjiang provincial governments to investigate the incidents, stop repression,pledge themselves to uphold press freedoms and punish guilty officials.
The advertisement also calls for the Chinese government to abolish rules requiring journalists to apply for press permits to cover news in China and to open up dialogue with front-line journalists.
A poll by the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Tuesday found support for the Beijing government in the city of 7 million had fallen to its lowest level in almost two years following the incident.
Meanwhile, internet users in China have found more and more online roadblocks and dissidents have reported increased surveillance as the authorities nervously prepare to celebrate 60 years of communist rule.
Social websites such as Facebook and Twitter that were blocked after deadly riots in Xinjiang in July, and sensitive sites including Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International were inaccessible in China yesterday.
Some web users have seen their free proxy services, which allowed them to access sites blocked by government censors, wiped out in the run-up to Oct 1, China's National Day.
The campaign, featuring full-page advertisements in Hong Kong newspapers, follows the detention and beating of reporters from the former British colony sent to cover news events in China.
Three television journalists were detained and beaten up as they tried to cover ethnic unrest in the western city of Urumqi in September and were later accused of inciting unrest among protesters.
In a separate incident, another Hong Kong TV journalist was accused of possessing drugs in what she claimed was a ploy to prevent her covering the trial of an anti-corruption campaigner.
Advertisements condemning the actions have been taken out by the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong one day ahead of Chinese National Day celebrations.
The advertisements, carrying the names of 1,300-plus signatories, said journalists were "angered by such violent stoppage of news coverage and blatant trampling on press freedom".
They call on both the Sichuan and Xinjiang provincial governments to investigate the incidents, stop repression,pledge themselves to uphold press freedoms and punish guilty officials.
The advertisement also calls for the Chinese government to abolish rules requiring journalists to apply for press permits to cover news in China and to open up dialogue with front-line journalists.
A poll by the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Tuesday found support for the Beijing government in the city of 7 million had fallen to its lowest level in almost two years following the incident.
Meanwhile, internet users in China have found more and more online roadblocks and dissidents have reported increased surveillance as the authorities nervously prepare to celebrate 60 years of communist rule.
Social websites such as Facebook and Twitter that were blocked after deadly riots in Xinjiang in July, and sensitive sites including Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International were inaccessible in China yesterday.
Some web users have seen their free proxy services, which allowed them to access sites blocked by government censors, wiped out in the run-up to Oct 1, China's National Day.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Throw the book at them
Today is the day that the US Commerce Department's contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) expires; therefore, it is also the day that much of the world, primarily the European Union, demands that President Barack Obama be replaced by a diverse world committee to oversee the Internet; the issue is likely to become a major sticking point between America and Europe, but most Internet users will be blissfully unaware that anything needs to be fixed in the first place; the Europeans' plan for a "G12 for Internet governance" would not seem to affect content at first, because the US only oversees the technical machines that keep the Internet going, without any attention to content; it's unbelievable that a new system bringing in other governments could similarly avoid that temptation.
Several European scientists, who believe that genetic modification should be labelled Frankenfood and that cellphones cause brain damage, said that nanoparticles "might" pose a health danger; Susanne Stark, a chemist employed by the Consumer Information Association, said that clothing which contains little teensy particles should be labelled as potentially dangerous,and so should cosmetics and food products; a doctor who specialises in en-vironmental hygiene, claimed that nanoparticles in food could enter the body through the mouth.
Engineers in Germany, which recently began dismantling many of its nuclear power plants, now are rethinking the safety of planned geothermal replacements; some believe that a geothermal project set off an earthquake, and scientists in the US and Switzerland are equally concerned.
Adobe Systems bought the web analytics and website building firm Omniture for $1.8 billion; the deal was made faster than you can say "Flash website".
China began building its fourth space launch base, the Wenchang Space Satellite Launch Centre on Hainan island;it is a major departure for the Chinese,who until now have kept their space launch sites well hidden even from their own people; the Hainan launch pad will fire the new Long March 5 rocket,due for flight in 2014 and likely to become the country's workhorse rocket for the country's manned space flights.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy announced the government plans to break up Telstra , the biggest telecoms group in Australia, with strict regulation; partly government owned Telstra has two choices - split its retail and network arms voluntarily or invol-untarily; the company will be barred from acquiring further wireless spectrum until it restructures.
The luggable iron Post Database Quote of the Week Trophy goes to US media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who predicts newspapers will be printed on "flexible devices instead of crushed trees.It won't be soon; it could take 20 years.But there will be no paper, no printing plants, no unions. It will be a great future." Speaking of quotations:"I don't think the world will be a better or safer place without me"; those are the last words of executed prisoner Jeffery Doughtie, as recorded on a web page of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/executedoffenders.htm.
If you want your book sold and advertised at Amazon.com , you (or your publisher of course) will provide the volume in PDF format, no exceptions;Amazon says it's more eco-friendly, and also just by coincidence it makes it much easier to index every word of your book and let browsers look inside it - even though Amazon has opposed Google 's plan to do the same; as part of its justification for the onerous formatting instructions, Amazon.com notes that books that are searchable for free outsell unsearchable books.
The US Justice Department notified a New York federal judge that it expects to oppose the plan by Google to scan,copy and perhaps get copyright to millions of out of print books; a 28-page decision said the Obama administration had "significant legal concerns with the breadth of a proposed settlement"under which Google would set up a $150 million fund in case of copyright breaches; even the government was bright enough to realise that a properly structured deal "[could] breathe life into millions of works that are now effectively off limits to the public"no matter what Amazon.com says. Google announced it will re-issue 2 million out-of-print books in its library as paperbacks; the firm's Espresso Book Machine can turn out a paperbackbound,300-page book in less than five minutes from scanned PDF copies; it is by far the biggest boost since the Jurassic Age for On Demand Books , makers of the Espresso Machines.
Google released Chrome 3.0, another minor update to their fast but unfeatured browser, with customisable themes but still virtually no add-ons or support for webapps; this raised the question of how Google could possibly justify calling the tweaks a full-version upgrade.
Avaya of America won the auction to buy bankrupt networking vendor Nortel of Canada for $900 million; Avaya promised to fire no more than 25 percent of Nortel workers.
Several European scientists, who believe that genetic modification should be labelled Frankenfood and that cellphones cause brain damage, said that nanoparticles "might" pose a health danger; Susanne Stark, a chemist employed by the Consumer Information Association, said that clothing which contains little teensy particles should be labelled as potentially dangerous,and so should cosmetics and food products; a doctor who specialises in en-vironmental hygiene, claimed that nanoparticles in food could enter the body through the mouth.
Engineers in Germany, which recently began dismantling many of its nuclear power plants, now are rethinking the safety of planned geothermal replacements; some believe that a geothermal project set off an earthquake, and scientists in the US and Switzerland are equally concerned.
Adobe Systems bought the web analytics and website building firm Omniture for $1.8 billion; the deal was made faster than you can say "Flash website".
China began building its fourth space launch base, the Wenchang Space Satellite Launch Centre on Hainan island;it is a major departure for the Chinese,who until now have kept their space launch sites well hidden even from their own people; the Hainan launch pad will fire the new Long March 5 rocket,due for flight in 2014 and likely to become the country's workhorse rocket for the country's manned space flights.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy announced the government plans to break up Telstra , the biggest telecoms group in Australia, with strict regulation; partly government owned Telstra has two choices - split its retail and network arms voluntarily or invol-untarily; the company will be barred from acquiring further wireless spectrum until it restructures.
The luggable iron Post Database Quote of the Week Trophy goes to US media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who predicts newspapers will be printed on "flexible devices instead of crushed trees.It won't be soon; it could take 20 years.But there will be no paper, no printing plants, no unions. It will be a great future." Speaking of quotations:"I don't think the world will be a better or safer place without me"; those are the last words of executed prisoner Jeffery Doughtie, as recorded on a web page of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/executedoffenders.htm.
If you want your book sold and advertised at Amazon.com , you (or your publisher of course) will provide the volume in PDF format, no exceptions;Amazon says it's more eco-friendly, and also just by coincidence it makes it much easier to index every word of your book and let browsers look inside it - even though Amazon has opposed Google 's plan to do the same; as part of its justification for the onerous formatting instructions, Amazon.com notes that books that are searchable for free outsell unsearchable books.
The US Justice Department notified a New York federal judge that it expects to oppose the plan by Google to scan,copy and perhaps get copyright to millions of out of print books; a 28-page decision said the Obama administration had "significant legal concerns with the breadth of a proposed settlement"under which Google would set up a $150 million fund in case of copyright breaches; even the government was bright enough to realise that a properly structured deal "[could] breathe life into millions of works that are now effectively off limits to the public"no matter what Amazon.com says. Google announced it will re-issue 2 million out-of-print books in its library as paperbacks; the firm's Espresso Book Machine can turn out a paperbackbound,300-page book in less than five minutes from scanned PDF copies; it is by far the biggest boost since the Jurassic Age for On Demand Books , makers of the Espresso Machines.
Google released Chrome 3.0, another minor update to their fast but unfeatured browser, with customisable themes but still virtually no add-ons or support for webapps; this raised the question of how Google could possibly justify calling the tweaks a full-version upgrade.
Avaya of America won the auction to buy bankrupt networking vendor Nortel of Canada for $900 million; Avaya promised to fire no more than 25 percent of Nortel workers.
Yahoo launches media blitz
Yahoo Inc believes a lot of its good work has been overlooked by investors and the media so it's spending more than $100 million to get the word out to consumers directly.
The money is going toward the Internet company's most expensive marketing campaign since Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo started Yahoo's website 15 years ago. Yahoo provided a peek at the 15-month blitz last week in New York.
The ads will run on television, online and other media in the United States and nine other countries where Yahoo hopes to expand on a worldwide audience that is already approaching 600 million.
Despite its extensive reach, Yahoo's brand has been bruised in recent years as its profits sagged and many people turned to Internet search leader Google Inc. and relative newcomers like Facebook and Twitter - none of which have spend much money on self-promotion.
Yahoo's financial struggles were magnified last year when Yang and the rest of the Sunnyvale-based company's board spurned a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp.
The money is going toward the Internet company's most expensive marketing campaign since Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo started Yahoo's website 15 years ago. Yahoo provided a peek at the 15-month blitz last week in New York.
The ads will run on television, online and other media in the United States and nine other countries where Yahoo hopes to expand on a worldwide audience that is already approaching 600 million.
Despite its extensive reach, Yahoo's brand has been bruised in recent years as its profits sagged and many people turned to Internet search leader Google Inc. and relative newcomers like Facebook and Twitter - none of which have spend much money on self-promotion.
Yahoo's financial struggles were magnified last year when Yang and the rest of the Sunnyvale-based company's board spurned a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp.
Twitter valued at a billion dollars
Twitter Inc.'s founders now have a billion-dollar baby,and they seem determined to raise it without a corporate parent.
That was the message underlying Friday's news that Twitter has lined up $100 million to finance its operations while founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone plot ways to make money off one of the Internet's most popular communications tools.
The investment values the 3-yearold company at $1 billion, even though it has yet to generate any meaningful revenue, let alone profits.
Twitter itself didn't provide specifics about the size of the investment, saying only it involved a significant sum. Two people with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed the amounts to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the parties had agreed not to announce the specifics.
Williams and Stone declined an interview request.
The latest stakes were sold to three of Twitter's existing investors - Benchmark Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and Spark Capital - and two new shareholders, Insight Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price.
San Francisco-based Twitter had previously raised $55 million, with the latest infusion of $35 million coming just seven months ago.
With so much money in the bank,Twitter now has the means to buy more computers and keep improving the reliability of its outage-prone service. It can expand its work force of 60 employees without feeling the pressure to sell to a larger company.
"This is a smart move by Twitter because it buys them more time to capitalise on their momentum and come up with a business plan," said Ken Marlin, a technology investment banker in New York with Marlin & Associates.
The funding is meant to preserve Twitter's independence until its making enough money to cover its own expenses, according to one of the people familiar with the negotiations.
Twitter already turned down a $500 million buyout offer from Facebook Inc. last year and both Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. were rumoured to be inquiring about a possible acquisition earlier this year.
Williams didn't refer directly to any suitors in Friday's blog posting, but he indicated Twitter wants to see how far it can go on its own.
"It was important to us that we find investment partners who share our vision for building a company of enduring value," Williams wrote."Twitter's journey has just begun and we are committed to building the best product,technology, and company possible."
For now Williams and Stone have been focusing on building Twitter's audience.
Twitter has more than 54 million worldwide users who share their thoughts, activities, Web links and other information in messages no longer than 140 characters. Just a year ago, only 4 million people were "tweeting"- the term commonly used to describe the chatter on Twitter. By 2013, Twitter hopes to have 1 billion users, making its service "the pulse of the planet,"according to internal company documents leaked on the Internet this summer.
Those documents also included projections of $140 million in revenue next year.
Where could that come from?Twitter has mulled the possibility of selling ads on the site, although Williams and Stone have indicated that isn't at the top of their agenda. Twitter has hinted it could capitalise on corporate use of the service, perhaps by introducing fees on some accounts primarily used for commercial purposes. The service also could be mined for insights about people's opinions and preferences that would be valuable to marketers.Or Google and other search engines might be willing to pay for better and quicker access to Twitter's postings.
If Twitter is unable to make enough money to pay its bills, Marlin thinks the company would still fetch a substantial price, although probably not $1 billion. Valuing privately held companies like Twitter can be difficult anyway, since the prices are established by a smaller pool of investors than in the publicly traded stock exchanges.
Facebook, another Internet sensation with 300 million users and projected revenue of $500 million this year, has seen its valuation fluctuate wildly. A 2007 investment by Microsoft valued Facebook at $15 billion, but internal company documents showed a valuation of about $4 billion.
That was the message underlying Friday's news that Twitter has lined up $100 million to finance its operations while founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone plot ways to make money off one of the Internet's most popular communications tools.
The investment values the 3-yearold company at $1 billion, even though it has yet to generate any meaningful revenue, let alone profits.
Twitter itself didn't provide specifics about the size of the investment, saying only it involved a significant sum. Two people with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed the amounts to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the parties had agreed not to announce the specifics.
Williams and Stone declined an interview request.
The latest stakes were sold to three of Twitter's existing investors - Benchmark Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and Spark Capital - and two new shareholders, Insight Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price.
San Francisco-based Twitter had previously raised $55 million, with the latest infusion of $35 million coming just seven months ago.
With so much money in the bank,Twitter now has the means to buy more computers and keep improving the reliability of its outage-prone service. It can expand its work force of 60 employees without feeling the pressure to sell to a larger company.
"This is a smart move by Twitter because it buys them more time to capitalise on their momentum and come up with a business plan," said Ken Marlin, a technology investment banker in New York with Marlin & Associates.
The funding is meant to preserve Twitter's independence until its making enough money to cover its own expenses, according to one of the people familiar with the negotiations.
Twitter already turned down a $500 million buyout offer from Facebook Inc. last year and both Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. were rumoured to be inquiring about a possible acquisition earlier this year.
Williams didn't refer directly to any suitors in Friday's blog posting, but he indicated Twitter wants to see how far it can go on its own.
"It was important to us that we find investment partners who share our vision for building a company of enduring value," Williams wrote."Twitter's journey has just begun and we are committed to building the best product,technology, and company possible."
For now Williams and Stone have been focusing on building Twitter's audience.
Twitter has more than 54 million worldwide users who share their thoughts, activities, Web links and other information in messages no longer than 140 characters. Just a year ago, only 4 million people were "tweeting"- the term commonly used to describe the chatter on Twitter. By 2013, Twitter hopes to have 1 billion users, making its service "the pulse of the planet,"according to internal company documents leaked on the Internet this summer.
Those documents also included projections of $140 million in revenue next year.
Where could that come from?Twitter has mulled the possibility of selling ads on the site, although Williams and Stone have indicated that isn't at the top of their agenda. Twitter has hinted it could capitalise on corporate use of the service, perhaps by introducing fees on some accounts primarily used for commercial purposes. The service also could be mined for insights about people's opinions and preferences that would be valuable to marketers.Or Google and other search engines might be willing to pay for better and quicker access to Twitter's postings.
If Twitter is unable to make enough money to pay its bills, Marlin thinks the company would still fetch a substantial price, although probably not $1 billion. Valuing privately held companies like Twitter can be difficult anyway, since the prices are established by a smaller pool of investors than in the publicly traded stock exchanges.
Facebook, another Internet sensation with 300 million users and projected revenue of $500 million this year, has seen its valuation fluctuate wildly. A 2007 investment by Microsoft valued Facebook at $15 billion, but internal company documents showed a valuation of about $4 billion.
More users getting the instant message
Thailand is the world's seventh-ranked user of Windows Live Messenger, which points to high revenue potential for the mobile version once 3G is fully rolled out.
The ranking relates to the number of instant messages sent per month, per user, with Thais sending an average of 839 messages each month through Windows Live Messenger, said Craig LawSmith, Southeast Asia Marketing Director,Online Service Group at Microsoft.
The six countries ahead of Thailand are Mexico, where users send an average of 978 messages per month, followed by Brazil with 963 messages, Taiwan (927),Spain (903), Netherlands (867) and Italy (846).
Microsoft was quick to localise Windows Live Messenger in Thailand,offering geographically relevant content on top of continuing worldwide innovations such as the nudge - introduced with MSN Messenger 7.0 in 2005- enabling users to get the attention of, and interact with, their favourite chat partners.
Law-Smith noted that Windows Live Messenger already has 5.3 million subscribers, and this figure is growing at a rate of 25 percent year-on-year.
"As of May, on average, each Windows Live user spends 533 minutes per month using the programme. This shows a high user engagement.
"High-engagement users with mass volume will help us monetise by offering a better return on investment foradvertisers.
Furthermore, once 3G is up and running in Thailand, an increase in people using Windows Live Messenger on there mobiles is expected, bringing yet more revenue from advertising and network operators.
Competition among operators and handset manufacturers should lower prices for consumers, which in turn will help make Messenger more affordable and thus accessible.
"In Jakarta, more and more people are using Messenger on their mobiles as a cheaper alternative to the normal short message service [SMS]," said LawSmith.
He continued that the growth of social networking sites - which help people to connect and share photos, videos,music, documents, links and so on has increased the amount of channels and accounts requiring login, so integration between instant messaging and social networking is attractive.
Already Windows Live Messenger has more than 20 web partners, including Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Flickr, and others. Data shows that Facebook notifications account for 3 percent of all Hotmail messages.
"To survive in this business, we have to add value for users and integrate with other web partners to simplify connections for customers," said Law-Smith.
"This goes beyond instant messaging or emailing or social networking; it's about making everything as simple as possible for consumers.
"Even in the economic crisis, the users also use IM more to connect with their friends and family or for finding jobs, so it show how IM plays an important role for communication tools."
The ranking relates to the number of instant messages sent per month, per user, with Thais sending an average of 839 messages each month through Windows Live Messenger, said Craig LawSmith, Southeast Asia Marketing Director,Online Service Group at Microsoft.
The six countries ahead of Thailand are Mexico, where users send an average of 978 messages per month, followed by Brazil with 963 messages, Taiwan (927),Spain (903), Netherlands (867) and Italy (846).
Microsoft was quick to localise Windows Live Messenger in Thailand,offering geographically relevant content on top of continuing worldwide innovations such as the nudge - introduced with MSN Messenger 7.0 in 2005- enabling users to get the attention of, and interact with, their favourite chat partners.
Law-Smith noted that Windows Live Messenger already has 5.3 million subscribers, and this figure is growing at a rate of 25 percent year-on-year.
"As of May, on average, each Windows Live user spends 533 minutes per month using the programme. This shows a high user engagement.
"High-engagement users with mass volume will help us monetise by offering a better return on investment foradvertisers.
Furthermore, once 3G is up and running in Thailand, an increase in people using Windows Live Messenger on there mobiles is expected, bringing yet more revenue from advertising and network operators.
Competition among operators and handset manufacturers should lower prices for consumers, which in turn will help make Messenger more affordable and thus accessible.
"In Jakarta, more and more people are using Messenger on their mobiles as a cheaper alternative to the normal short message service [SMS]," said LawSmith.
He continued that the growth of social networking sites - which help people to connect and share photos, videos,music, documents, links and so on has increased the amount of channels and accounts requiring login, so integration between instant messaging and social networking is attractive.
Already Windows Live Messenger has more than 20 web partners, including Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Flickr, and others. Data shows that Facebook notifications account for 3 percent of all Hotmail messages.
"To survive in this business, we have to add value for users and integrate with other web partners to simplify connections for customers," said Law-Smith.
"This goes beyond instant messaging or emailing or social networking; it's about making everything as simple as possible for consumers.
"Even in the economic crisis, the users also use IM more to connect with their friends and family or for finding jobs, so it show how IM plays an important role for communication tools."
Have your say on web page content
Google unveiled a new tool recently which allows comments to be posted alongside web pages.
"Google Sidewiki" appears as a narrow pop-up browser panel on the left hand side of a website and displays messages from users about the content of the page.
The messages are visible to other users of Sidewiki who visit the site and they can post their own comments, but they cannot edit the comments of others.
A website about museums in New York city, for example, would have a Sidewiki panel featuring relevant notes and comments from other visitors.
Google, in a blog post, said Sidewiki was a way for web users to contribute "insights" and "helpful information"next to any web page.
The Internet search and advertising giant said it had developed an algorithm to ensure that the "most useful, highquality entries" are displayed at the top of a Sidewiki panel.
Sidewiki is a feature of Google Toolbar for Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers and Google said it will be available soon for Google Chrome, its own browser.
Google Sidewiki is similar to other services launched in the past, with mixed reviews from technology bloggers.
Ars Technica said Sidewiki was "intriguing" but "it's unclear if the service will really deliver a lot of value" and it could end up being "little more than a glorified comment system."
Paidcontent.org said Sidewiki "may anger some online publishers who have commenting systems of their own they'd prefer visitors continue to use".
"Google Sidewiki" appears as a narrow pop-up browser panel on the left hand side of a website and displays messages from users about the content of the page.
The messages are visible to other users of Sidewiki who visit the site and they can post their own comments, but they cannot edit the comments of others.
A website about museums in New York city, for example, would have a Sidewiki panel featuring relevant notes and comments from other visitors.
Google, in a blog post, said Sidewiki was a way for web users to contribute "insights" and "helpful information"next to any web page.
The Internet search and advertising giant said it had developed an algorithm to ensure that the "most useful, highquality entries" are displayed at the top of a Sidewiki panel.
Sidewiki is a feature of Google Toolbar for Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers and Google said it will be available soon for Google Chrome, its own browser.
Google Sidewiki is similar to other services launched in the past, with mixed reviews from technology bloggers.
Ars Technica said Sidewiki was "intriguing" but "it's unclear if the service will really deliver a lot of value" and it could end up being "little more than a glorified comment system."
Paidcontent.org said Sidewiki "may anger some online publishers who have commenting systems of their own they'd prefer visitors continue to use".
"Should Obama be killed" poll yanked
The US Secret Service is trying to identify the people who launched on online poll at Facebook asking whether US President Barack Obama should be assassinated.
Facebook on Mondey shot down the user - generated poll, which was titled "Should Obama be killed?" and offered answer choices of yes, no, maybe, and "if he cuts my heathcare".
"Once we found out about it, we worked with Facebook to have it removed," said Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley.
"We are certainly investigating; just like we would with any threat case."
More than 750 Facebook users had reportedly cast votes by the time the poll, was yanked from the wildly site.
"This is sick and sad," a fAcebook user with the screen name Cocoa Fly sid in a posting on the website.
"All of this anti-Obama rage is pure racism."
Facebook on Mondey shot down the user - generated poll, which was titled "Should Obama be killed?" and offered answer choices of yes, no, maybe, and "if he cuts my heathcare".
"Once we found out about it, we worked with Facebook to have it removed," said Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley.
"We are certainly investigating; just like we would with any threat case."
More than 750 Facebook users had reportedly cast votes by the time the poll, was yanked from the wildly site.
"This is sick and sad," a fAcebook user with the screen name Cocoa Fly sid in a posting on the website.
"All of this anti-Obama rage is pure racism."
Major firms in online advertising battle
Social networking leads switch from conventional advertising
Major technology firms are jumping into the social networking arena and are joining an online battle to take a marketing lead in the coming year, hoping to boost brand awareness and perception, thereby driving business growth in Thailand.
Overall spending by major IT companies for online marketing is very small - about Bt1.5 billion - when compared with their total marketing expenditure of about Bt90 billion per year. However, it seems they will channel much more money into online advertising because Microsoft (Thailand), Intel (Thailand) and HTC (Thailand) are all moving to compete in this area.
Microsoft (Thailand)'s marketing director Lisa Lim said Microsoft's spending on online advertising would rise from 30 per cent to between 40 and 45 per cent of its total marketing budget.
It will focus on four main online channels: its main website, Microsoft.com/Thailand; a microsite developed for the purpose of marketing a specific product, Windows7Thailand.com; social-network sites, especially Facebook and Twitter; and viral video, scheduled for launching next month.
At Microsoft's main website, there are currently 300,000 unique visitors and 1 million page-views per month. Its microsite, which was launched just a month ago, is getting 11,000 unique visitors and 120,000 page-views per month. On the social-network sites, it has 700 fans at Facebook.com community and 500 followers in Twitter.com.
Lim said Microsoft expects both Facebook.com and Twitter.com to be more active in achieving two objectives: getting feedback from customers and delivering information about the company's marketing activities, products and services.
"We started it with our new product - Windows 7 - that is scheduled to be officially launched on October 26," Lim said. "This year is an outstanding year for us to focus more on online marketing than ever before, because this is the year in which we will launch the entire Windows-product family, including Windows 7, Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010."
She said the basis for returns on investment from online advertising included how many people it could reach and what kind of impact it made.
Microsoft's main purposes in using online advertising were to reach the right target customers, to get a quick response, to provide the right product information and promotion to the right potential customers and to keep them in touch with the company directly.
HTC (Thailand)'s country manager Nattawat Woranopkul said his company had been spending more on online advertising, especially on social-network sites Facebook (Facebook.com/htcthailand) and Twitter (Twitter.com/htcthailand).
The company plans to double its spending on online marketing this year from 20 per cent to 40 per cent of its above-the-line marketing budget.
The company's strategy is to "blend" online and offline marketing. The objective of its online-marketing tactic is to build brand awareness, maintain customer loyalty and create more sales.
"We aim to build a huge online community and use online marketing as a fundamental marketing tool to lead these people to offline activities. We aim to blend all of them into a seamless and efficient marketing exercise," Nattawat said.
Moreover, HTC will also use its main website - HTCThailand.com - as a major online-marketing channel, and will create microsites for specific purposes, such as www.whoisyourhero.net, which was created for marketing HTC Hero.
Intel Microelectronics (Thailand)'s marketing programme manager Dudchaneeporn Pruckwattananon said that her company had jumped into online marketing last year through several channels, including Intel's main website (Intel.com/th), microsites at its partners such as Sanook (www.gamesanook.com/intel), and online banner ads and rich media ads such as rich banner and page takeover ads.
It moved into social-network sites in July, beginning at Facebook with Facebook.com/intel and this month at Twitter, with Twitter.com/intelthailand.
She said about 80 per cent of Intel's total marketing budget this year would be spent on online marketing.
"Our pages at Facebook.com and Twitter.com are to update our customers about the movements of Intel in Thailand. Some information comes from our main website and microsites," Dudchaneeporn said.
Major technology firms are jumping into the social networking arena and are joining an online battle to take a marketing lead in the coming year, hoping to boost brand awareness and perception, thereby driving business growth in Thailand.
Overall spending by major IT companies for online marketing is very small - about Bt1.5 billion - when compared with their total marketing expenditure of about Bt90 billion per year. However, it seems they will channel much more money into online advertising because Microsoft (Thailand), Intel (Thailand) and HTC (Thailand) are all moving to compete in this area.
Microsoft (Thailand)'s marketing director Lisa Lim said Microsoft's spending on online advertising would rise from 30 per cent to between 40 and 45 per cent of its total marketing budget.
It will focus on four main online channels: its main website, Microsoft.com/Thailand; a microsite developed for the purpose of marketing a specific product, Windows7Thailand.com; social-network sites, especially Facebook and Twitter; and viral video, scheduled for launching next month.
At Microsoft's main website, there are currently 300,000 unique visitors and 1 million page-views per month. Its microsite, which was launched just a month ago, is getting 11,000 unique visitors and 120,000 page-views per month. On the social-network sites, it has 700 fans at Facebook.com community and 500 followers in Twitter.com.
Lim said Microsoft expects both Facebook.com and Twitter.com to be more active in achieving two objectives: getting feedback from customers and delivering information about the company's marketing activities, products and services.
"We started it with our new product - Windows 7 - that is scheduled to be officially launched on October 26," Lim said. "This year is an outstanding year for us to focus more on online marketing than ever before, because this is the year in which we will launch the entire Windows-product family, including Windows 7, Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010."
She said the basis for returns on investment from online advertising included how many people it could reach and what kind of impact it made.
Microsoft's main purposes in using online advertising were to reach the right target customers, to get a quick response, to provide the right product information and promotion to the right potential customers and to keep them in touch with the company directly.
HTC (Thailand)'s country manager Nattawat Woranopkul said his company had been spending more on online advertising, especially on social-network sites Facebook (Facebook.com/htcthailand) and Twitter (Twitter.com/htcthailand).
The company plans to double its spending on online marketing this year from 20 per cent to 40 per cent of its above-the-line marketing budget.
The company's strategy is to "blend" online and offline marketing. The objective of its online-marketing tactic is to build brand awareness, maintain customer loyalty and create more sales.
"We aim to build a huge online community and use online marketing as a fundamental marketing tool to lead these people to offline activities. We aim to blend all of them into a seamless and efficient marketing exercise," Nattawat said.
Moreover, HTC will also use its main website - HTCThailand.com - as a major online-marketing channel, and will create microsites for specific purposes, such as www.whoisyourhero.net, which was created for marketing HTC Hero.
Intel Microelectronics (Thailand)'s marketing programme manager Dudchaneeporn Pruckwattananon said that her company had jumped into online marketing last year through several channels, including Intel's main website (Intel.com/th), microsites at its partners such as Sanook (www.gamesanook.com/intel), and online banner ads and rich media ads such as rich banner and page takeover ads.
It moved into social-network sites in July, beginning at Facebook with Facebook.com/intel and this month at Twitter, with Twitter.com/intelthailand.
She said about 80 per cent of Intel's total marketing budget this year would be spent on online marketing.
"Our pages at Facebook.com and Twitter.com are to update our customers about the movements of Intel in Thailand. Some information comes from our main website and microsites," Dudchaneeporn said.
MARKETING TRANSFORMED BY SOCIAL NETWORKING
Social-network marketing, using both Facebook and Twitter, has become the talk of the town among marketers in all industries.
The rapid rise in the number of users at both sites in Thailand has demanded the attention of Thai marketers, many of whom are currently calculating what share of their annual budget they should divert to the new online medium.
An adviser to the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Ian Fenwick, has given some pointers to online-marketing success.
He said marketing was moving towards a new digital era, for which new marketing models would be designed and developed to deliver messages digitally through a variety of end-devices and platforms including Internet web 2.0, mobile phones, Internet television, personal Internet devices, social-networking platforms, and electronic devices yet to be developed.
Referring to the "Four Ps" of traditional marketing strategy - product, price, place and promotion, he said digital marketing came with its own Four Ps: permission, participation, profile and personalisation.
"Marketers need to understand the fundamental elements of the new era of marketing first. Then they have to understand how to use their marketing budget to gain the most benefit," Fenwick said.
This year, Internet penetration around the world amounts to 1.6 billion users. Of these, 42 per cent are in Asia. These people are also spending more of their time on the Internet, from only 15 per cent of their daily life in 2003 to 30 per cent in 2008. Their main activities on the Internet are participating in social networks and reading blogs.
The best-known social-network site is Facebook. It now has 330 million users - up from 250 million in July. The trends are similar in Thailand, where there are 16 million Internet users and more than 1 million of them are Facebook users.
Twitter, the most popular microblog site, had more than 7 million users in February, up from fewer than 5 million one year earlier.
Marketing expert Thunyawat Chaitrakulchai, who is managing editor of MKT magazine, said social-network marketing, especially that using Facebook and Twitter, was the next big thing. Marketers should not ignore it, but should pay more attention to learning about it and understanding it in order to use it as a marketing weapon to reach the right target customers at a lower cost in terms of time and money.
He said it was better to use both Facebook and Twitter in parallel, with "balanced portions" devoted to each. The size of the portions directed at each channel depended on the requirements of different businesses.
"There is no one success model for all. This is a time for marketers to pay attention. They have to realise that they cannot ignore this. Both large corporations and small- and medium-sized enterprises should jump in," Thunyawat said.
A similar message came from Worawisut Pinyoyang, marketing expert and owner of Newmedia.com and MKTtwit.com. He said Facebook and Twitter had a big impact on product and brand awareness.
The beauty of social networking for marketing is that it provides a huge number of target customers with the correct demographic profile, he said. Personalisation enables marketers to get very quick feedback and their marketing message can reach a mass market in a short time by "going viral".
The rapid rise in the number of users at both sites in Thailand has demanded the attention of Thai marketers, many of whom are currently calculating what share of their annual budget they should divert to the new online medium.
An adviser to the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Ian Fenwick, has given some pointers to online-marketing success.
He said marketing was moving towards a new digital era, for which new marketing models would be designed and developed to deliver messages digitally through a variety of end-devices and platforms including Internet web 2.0, mobile phones, Internet television, personal Internet devices, social-networking platforms, and electronic devices yet to be developed.
Referring to the "Four Ps" of traditional marketing strategy - product, price, place and promotion, he said digital marketing came with its own Four Ps: permission, participation, profile and personalisation.
"Marketers need to understand the fundamental elements of the new era of marketing first. Then they have to understand how to use their marketing budget to gain the most benefit," Fenwick said.
This year, Internet penetration around the world amounts to 1.6 billion users. Of these, 42 per cent are in Asia. These people are also spending more of their time on the Internet, from only 15 per cent of their daily life in 2003 to 30 per cent in 2008. Their main activities on the Internet are participating in social networks and reading blogs.
The best-known social-network site is Facebook. It now has 330 million users - up from 250 million in July. The trends are similar in Thailand, where there are 16 million Internet users and more than 1 million of them are Facebook users.
Twitter, the most popular microblog site, had more than 7 million users in February, up from fewer than 5 million one year earlier.
Marketing expert Thunyawat Chaitrakulchai, who is managing editor of MKT magazine, said social-network marketing, especially that using Facebook and Twitter, was the next big thing. Marketers should not ignore it, but should pay more attention to learning about it and understanding it in order to use it as a marketing weapon to reach the right target customers at a lower cost in terms of time and money.
He said it was better to use both Facebook and Twitter in parallel, with "balanced portions" devoted to each. The size of the portions directed at each channel depended on the requirements of different businesses.
"There is no one success model for all. This is a time for marketers to pay attention. They have to realise that they cannot ignore this. Both large corporations and small- and medium-sized enterprises should jump in," Thunyawat said.
A similar message came from Worawisut Pinyoyang, marketing expert and owner of Newmedia.com and MKTtwit.com. He said Facebook and Twitter had a big impact on product and brand awareness.
The beauty of social networking for marketing is that it provides a huge number of target customers with the correct demographic profile, he said. Personalisation enables marketers to get very quick feedback and their marketing message can reach a mass market in a short time by "going viral".
Officials probe Twitter "leaks" before polling sites closed
German officials were investigating yesterday how broadly accurate results of the country's election appeared on microblogging website Twitter before polling stations closed.
Dozens of short messages appeared on the site before voting ended at 6pm local time on Sunday, many of which had data very close to the scores revealed by the official exit polls.
It is illegal to make public exit poll data before voting has finished because people who have yet to cast their ballot could be influenced.
Those breaking this law face fines of up to 50,000(2.46 million baht). In extreme cases, premature exit poll results could lead to legal challenges against the election result.
Although several "tweets"- the name given to the messages of less than 140 characters posted on Twitter - had figures that corresponded closely to the final results, others were way off the mark, however.
A spokesman for the federal election commission said a special team had been formed to ascertain whether actual figures obtained from pollsters were leaked.
But experts were divided as to how much influence a premature publication of exit poll data could have.
"We need to act energetically against people that publish actual results," said constitutional lawyer Joerg Ipsen, from the University of Osnabrueck.
"Otherwise the freedom and the secrecy of the election is in danger."
Margreth Luenenborg, a media expert at the Free University in Berlin, had a different view.
"I think this door can no longer be closed," she said.
"I reckon that voters are mature enough to handle pre-published results,"she added.
German politicians were enraged in late August when exit polls for state elections were leaked early on Twitter before voting ended.
At the time, the deputy parliamentary head of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, Wolfgang Bosbach,said the leaking of the results "damaged democracy".
But not all Twitter users, alias Tweeters,were taking it all so seriously on Sunday.
Early on election-day morning, people began publishing farcical results in jest,with many giving the Internet-friendly Pirate party an impossible double-digit score. Another Tweeter wrote:"Forecast for my work ethic next week: Monday 55%, Tuesday 23.5%, Wednesday 10%,Thursday 7%, Friday 4.5%."
For the record, official results showed Ms Merkel's Christian Democrats clinch 33.8% and her partners the Free Democrats on 14.6%, handing her preferred centre-right coalition a clear mandate.
Her rival centre-left Social Democrats registered what their candidate FrankWalter Steinmeier decried as a "bitter defeat" with 23%. The far-left Linke scored 11.9% and the Greens 10.7%.
And the Pirate party? They clinched 2% of the vote with 845,000 votes much to the pleasure, presumably, of German Tweeters.
Dozens of short messages appeared on the site before voting ended at 6pm local time on Sunday, many of which had data very close to the scores revealed by the official exit polls.
It is illegal to make public exit poll data before voting has finished because people who have yet to cast their ballot could be influenced.
Those breaking this law face fines of up to 50,000(2.46 million baht). In extreme cases, premature exit poll results could lead to legal challenges against the election result.
Although several "tweets"- the name given to the messages of less than 140 characters posted on Twitter - had figures that corresponded closely to the final results, others were way off the mark, however.
A spokesman for the federal election commission said a special team had been formed to ascertain whether actual figures obtained from pollsters were leaked.
But experts were divided as to how much influence a premature publication of exit poll data could have.
"We need to act energetically against people that publish actual results," said constitutional lawyer Joerg Ipsen, from the University of Osnabrueck.
"Otherwise the freedom and the secrecy of the election is in danger."
Margreth Luenenborg, a media expert at the Free University in Berlin, had a different view.
"I think this door can no longer be closed," she said.
"I reckon that voters are mature enough to handle pre-published results,"she added.
German politicians were enraged in late August when exit polls for state elections were leaked early on Twitter before voting ended.
At the time, the deputy parliamentary head of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, Wolfgang Bosbach,said the leaking of the results "damaged democracy".
But not all Twitter users, alias Tweeters,were taking it all so seriously on Sunday.
Early on election-day morning, people began publishing farcical results in jest,with many giving the Internet-friendly Pirate party an impossible double-digit score. Another Tweeter wrote:"Forecast for my work ethic next week: Monday 55%, Tuesday 23.5%, Wednesday 10%,Thursday 7%, Friday 4.5%."
For the record, official results showed Ms Merkel's Christian Democrats clinch 33.8% and her partners the Free Democrats on 14.6%, handing her preferred centre-right coalition a clear mandate.
Her rival centre-left Social Democrats registered what their candidate FrankWalter Steinmeier decried as a "bitter defeat" with 23%. The far-left Linke scored 11.9% and the Greens 10.7%.
And the Pirate party? They clinched 2% of the vote with 845,000 votes much to the pleasure, presumably, of German Tweeters.
STRENGTH IN SCRUTINY
Website underscores government's determination to ensure that stimulus funds aren't wasted, writes Wichit Chantanusornsiri
It's a 1.43-trillion-baht question can the government effectively implement its grandiose investment programme, on deadline, with minimal waste and corruption?The answer will have profound implications for the economy, not only in the speed of recovery from the global recession, but also in how the country can compete over the medium term.
One promising sign, however, is the commitment made to allow public scrutiny of the "Thailand: Investing from Strength to Strength" programme. The Finance Ministry has set up a website,www.tkk2555.com, that promises to allow anyone access to details on the progress made in implementing each of the thousands of projects under the programme.
The website name stems from Thai Khem Kaeng , as the programme is more commonly known, combined with the Buddhist year 2555, representing the year 2012 or when the investments are to be completed.
Supachai Jongsiri, the ministry's deputy permanent secretary overseeing the website, said the objective was to give the entire public, urban and rural residents alike, clear access to details of each project involved in the programme.
Web programmers have been directed to make the site user-friendly and accessible to laymen.
"The aim is to allow the public to participate directly, to examine for themselves how public money is being spent,"Mr Supachai said.
It is a novel concept for the civil service.Historically, government projects have been mostly hidden from view with little opportunity given for ordinary citizens to access details about spending, procurement and investment details.
A map of Thailand on the website categorises each of the projects by geographic area. Clicking on any individual project will bring up details on the responsible agency and project objective.If a project has already had funds committed, additional details are given about progress made to date.
Each project is colour-coded, with purple representing projects on track and red for projects that have fallen behind schedule.
Mr Supachai said the progress reports on the web would serve as a tool to measure the efficiency of each state agency in implementing projects under the Thai Khem Kaeng programme.Agencies behind schedule must stipulate the reasons for delays, as well as the individuals responsible for the project.
"The public can contact any agency for themselves if they wish. We believe this will help put pressure on the different state departments to meet their mandates, helping raise efficiency for the entire programme," Mr Supachai said.
Authorities say Thai Khem Kaeng will feature public transparency at a scale never before seen in Thailand. The funding details and budgets approved by the cabinet for the projects will be open to scrutiny, as well as the winning contractor bids and procurement details.
Projects proposed by each ministry are first vetted by the Budget Department,and then by the cabinet for final approval.Project details are input into the Government Fiscal Management System (GFMIS), a database that was set up in 2004 as part of the civil service's "egovernment" initiative.
The Budget Bureau will also input details on each project in its own ebudgeting system, including disbursement schedules based on the priority assigned to each project. This data is reconciled with the GFMIS system, with cross-links made between the agencies responsible for making payments for each project, planning centres overseeing the progress made to date to facilitate quick identification of where bottlenecks and delays exist.
"All of the information is electronic.Even questions submitted through the website by the public will be forwarded and answered online by the responsible agencies. Each project must have its data keyed into the system using a webbased form," Mr Supachai said.
He said he wanted the site to have a web board allowing the public to post comments about the projects, adding another level of checks and balances.
The ministry is even investing in additional servers and bandwidth to help cope with public demand for the site.
The site will split small microprojects from larger projects involving funds of more than 50 or 100 million baht. Larger projects will have additional data available in an e-book, including information about the project design, photographs tracking progress made at each stage and Google Earth maps showing the location of each project.
So far, the cabinet has approved 2,352 projects, involving 199 billion baht. Most are small community programmes selected for their readiness and ability for rapid completion, to maximise the shortterm benefits for the economy.
It's a 1.43-trillion-baht question can the government effectively implement its grandiose investment programme, on deadline, with minimal waste and corruption?The answer will have profound implications for the economy, not only in the speed of recovery from the global recession, but also in how the country can compete over the medium term.
One promising sign, however, is the commitment made to allow public scrutiny of the "Thailand: Investing from Strength to Strength" programme. The Finance Ministry has set up a website,www.tkk2555.com, that promises to allow anyone access to details on the progress made in implementing each of the thousands of projects under the programme.
The website name stems from Thai Khem Kaeng , as the programme is more commonly known, combined with the Buddhist year 2555, representing the year 2012 or when the investments are to be completed.
Supachai Jongsiri, the ministry's deputy permanent secretary overseeing the website, said the objective was to give the entire public, urban and rural residents alike, clear access to details of each project involved in the programme.
Web programmers have been directed to make the site user-friendly and accessible to laymen.
"The aim is to allow the public to participate directly, to examine for themselves how public money is being spent,"Mr Supachai said.
It is a novel concept for the civil service.Historically, government projects have been mostly hidden from view with little opportunity given for ordinary citizens to access details about spending, procurement and investment details.
A map of Thailand on the website categorises each of the projects by geographic area. Clicking on any individual project will bring up details on the responsible agency and project objective.If a project has already had funds committed, additional details are given about progress made to date.
Each project is colour-coded, with purple representing projects on track and red for projects that have fallen behind schedule.
Mr Supachai said the progress reports on the web would serve as a tool to measure the efficiency of each state agency in implementing projects under the Thai Khem Kaeng programme.Agencies behind schedule must stipulate the reasons for delays, as well as the individuals responsible for the project.
"The public can contact any agency for themselves if they wish. We believe this will help put pressure on the different state departments to meet their mandates, helping raise efficiency for the entire programme," Mr Supachai said.
Authorities say Thai Khem Kaeng will feature public transparency at a scale never before seen in Thailand. The funding details and budgets approved by the cabinet for the projects will be open to scrutiny, as well as the winning contractor bids and procurement details.
Projects proposed by each ministry are first vetted by the Budget Department,and then by the cabinet for final approval.Project details are input into the Government Fiscal Management System (GFMIS), a database that was set up in 2004 as part of the civil service's "egovernment" initiative.
The Budget Bureau will also input details on each project in its own ebudgeting system, including disbursement schedules based on the priority assigned to each project. This data is reconciled with the GFMIS system, with cross-links made between the agencies responsible for making payments for each project, planning centres overseeing the progress made to date to facilitate quick identification of where bottlenecks and delays exist.
"All of the information is electronic.Even questions submitted through the website by the public will be forwarded and answered online by the responsible agencies. Each project must have its data keyed into the system using a webbased form," Mr Supachai said.
He said he wanted the site to have a web board allowing the public to post comments about the projects, adding another level of checks and balances.
The ministry is even investing in additional servers and bandwidth to help cope with public demand for the site.
The site will split small microprojects from larger projects involving funds of more than 50 or 100 million baht. Larger projects will have additional data available in an e-book, including information about the project design, photographs tracking progress made at each stage and Google Earth maps showing the location of each project.
So far, the cabinet has approved 2,352 projects, involving 199 billion baht. Most are small community programmes selected for their readiness and ability for rapid completion, to maximise the shortterm benefits for the economy.
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