Bangkok-based Rakluke Group has expanded into online business via its website www.momypedia.com and plans to provide personal information to users.
The group's president Subhawadee Harnmethee, said Rakluke (love children) intended the website to create a community of families and parents who wanted to communicate and share experiences and knowledge via an online network.
The company is also keen to sell advertising space on the website to companies wanting to promote their business on a family-based network, and is open to application for membership registration from Internet users who are prepared to pay for its services.
Subhawadee said the website would provide online media and solution services and business services such as online research and surveying.
The marketing manager of www.momypedia.com, Vatayos Atvisejsiwakul, said that in a "next step", the website planned to provide Web 3.0 - creating a large collection of databases that could be connected on demand. This will enable users to access information on demand, providing them with knowledge to support their lifestyles.
Www.momypedia.com will also provide live chat facilities with experts such as doctors next year, as well as producing online television programmes and radio over its online network. It will also begin marketing commercial businesses to customers next year, Subhawadee said
Rakluke Group's managing director Chanida Intaravisut said the website was not only a Web-based community for families, enabling members to create activities together, but was also a new marketing channel for businesses.
It has already won three international awards, including bronze awards from 8th Annual Horizon Interactive Awards and the 2009 Summit Creative Awards, both in the United States. It also won an Award of Distinction at the 15th Communicator Awards, Chanida said.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Vietnam paper fires blogger
One of Vietnam's most popular and boldest bloggers has been fired by his newspaper after the ruling Communist Party complained to editors about his writings.
Huy Duc, who writes his blog under the pen name "Osin", was dismissed this week because his postings did not reflect the editorial positions of Saigon Tiep Thi , said Tran Cong Khanh, an editor at the newspaper.
Mr Khanh cited a recent Osin posting that praised the fall of the Berlin Wall and criticised the former Soviet Union's Communist leaders, saying their rule had led to years of misery for the people of Eastern Europe. Mr Duc referred to the wall as "the wall of shame".
"The attitude of his entry did not reflect that of our newspaper, and we can't use him anymore," Mr Khanh said.
Mr Khanh said the newspaper made the decision to dismiss Mr Duc on its own, without direct pressure from the government, which strictly monitors Vietnam's state-controlled media.
But he acknowledged the Propaganda and Education Commission, the Communist Party's media watchdog, had complained about roughly 100 of Mr Duc's blogs and newspaper stories.
Mr Duc's Osin blog has tested the limits of free expression in Vietnam, frequently featuring articles critical of government leaders and their policies.
He has chided leaders for chartering Vietnam Airlines planes to fly abroad,and criticised a controversial bauxite mining project in Vietnam's Central Highlands.
Huy Duc, who writes his blog under the pen name "Osin", was dismissed this week because his postings did not reflect the editorial positions of Saigon Tiep Thi , said Tran Cong Khanh, an editor at the newspaper.
Mr Khanh cited a recent Osin posting that praised the fall of the Berlin Wall and criticised the former Soviet Union's Communist leaders, saying their rule had led to years of misery for the people of Eastern Europe. Mr Duc referred to the wall as "the wall of shame".
"The attitude of his entry did not reflect that of our newspaper, and we can't use him anymore," Mr Khanh said.
Mr Khanh said the newspaper made the decision to dismiss Mr Duc on its own, without direct pressure from the government, which strictly monitors Vietnam's state-controlled media.
But he acknowledged the Propaganda and Education Commission, the Communist Party's media watchdog, had complained about roughly 100 of Mr Duc's blogs and newspaper stories.
Mr Duc's Osin blog has tested the limits of free expression in Vietnam, frequently featuring articles critical of government leaders and their policies.
He has chided leaders for chartering Vietnam Airlines planes to fly abroad,and criticised a controversial bauxite mining project in Vietnam's Central Highlands.
High hopes for TAN Network launch
Thai-Asean News (TAN) Network, Thailand's only 24-hour English-language TV channel, aims to become a major broadcaster in Asean countries over the next five years.
Though the channel has been broadcasting news and variety programmes through the ASTV satellite dish and on its website for five years, it was only officially launched yesterday.
The channel's managing editor, Chadaporn Lin, explained that the official launch was a marketing tactic to attract more sponsors.
"As everybody knows, the cost of producing English-language programmes is high, so we need sponsors to cover these expenses. We hope the sponsorship will help us break even next year," she said.
She explained that the station's top priority was not earning profits in the near future but creating brand awareness within Asean countries.
The station, formerly known as Thailand Outlook TV, changed its name last year in order to expand its audience base. She added that the station was also planning to set up news bureaus in several Asean nations from next year.
It is also hoping that more people, especially those living in foreign countries, will view the channel via its website, www.tannetwork.tv.
"Local viewers need to purchase an ASTV satellite dish or watch the channel via cable networks, which keeps the number of viewers limited. We hope more people would access the channel through the website," she said.
The channel is currently viewed by some 2 million people, 80 per cent of whom are foreigners, she said. TAN Network also hopes to tap audiences in the provinces through its website.
Though the channel has been broadcasting news and variety programmes through the ASTV satellite dish and on its website for five years, it was only officially launched yesterday.
The channel's managing editor, Chadaporn Lin, explained that the official launch was a marketing tactic to attract more sponsors.
"As everybody knows, the cost of producing English-language programmes is high, so we need sponsors to cover these expenses. We hope the sponsorship will help us break even next year," she said.
She explained that the station's top priority was not earning profits in the near future but creating brand awareness within Asean countries.
The station, formerly known as Thailand Outlook TV, changed its name last year in order to expand its audience base. She added that the station was also planning to set up news bureaus in several Asean nations from next year.
It is also hoping that more people, especially those living in foreign countries, will view the channel via its website, www.tannetwork.tv.
"Local viewers need to purchase an ASTV satellite dish or watch the channel via cable networks, which keeps the number of viewers limited. We hope more people would access the channel through the website," she said.
The channel is currently viewed by some 2 million people, 80 per cent of whom are foreigners, she said. TAN Network also hopes to tap audiences in the provinces through its website.
MICROSOFT, AMAZON, YAHOO! ATTACK GOOGLE BOOK MOVE
Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo! joined an alliance on Wednesday oppoing the legal settlement which would allow Google to digitise and sell millions of books in a move the Internet giant dismissed as "sour grapes".
The three technology heavy-weights are maong the members of a coalition called the Open Book Alliance which expressed concern about "serious legal, competitive, and policy issues" surrounding Google's book-scanning project.
In a statement, the alliance said its members, which include the nonprofit the Internet Archive, publishers and library associations, will counter the Google book settlement "in its current form".
Google reached a class action settlement in October of last year with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers to a copyright infringement suit they filed against the company in 2005.
Under the settlement, Google agreed to pay US$125 million (Bt4.3 billion) to resove outstanding claims and establish an independent "Book Rights Registry", which will provide revenue from sales and advertising to authors and publishers who agree to digitise their books.
Alliance co-chairs Peter Brantley and Gary Reback said in a blog post that the settlented monopoly and price fixing cartel".
Google, whose book project is already facing anti-trust scrutiny from the US Justice Department, a court review and privacy concerns, dismissed the move by the coalition.
"This sounds like the Sour Grapes Alliance," it said in a statement. "The Google Books settlement is injecting more competition into the digital books space, so it's understandable why our competitors might fight hard to prevent more competition."
The three technology heavy-weights are maong the members of a coalition called the Open Book Alliance which expressed concern about "serious legal, competitive, and policy issues" surrounding Google's book-scanning project.
In a statement, the alliance said its members, which include the nonprofit the Internet Archive, publishers and library associations, will counter the Google book settlement "in its current form".
Google reached a class action settlement in October of last year with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers to a copyright infringement suit they filed against the company in 2005.
Under the settlement, Google agreed to pay US$125 million (Bt4.3 billion) to resove outstanding claims and establish an independent "Book Rights Registry", which will provide revenue from sales and advertising to authors and publishers who agree to digitise their books.
Alliance co-chairs Peter Brantley and Gary Reback said in a blog post that the settlented monopoly and price fixing cartel".
Google, whose book project is already facing anti-trust scrutiny from the US Justice Department, a court review and privacy concerns, dismissed the move by the coalition.
"This sounds like the Sour Grapes Alliance," it said in a statement. "The Google Books settlement is injecting more competition into the digital books space, so it's understandable why our competitors might fight hard to prevent more competition."
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Terror police swoop on "Prince of Jihad"
The owner of a radical Islamist website who calls himself the "Prince of Jihad" in his blog postings has been arrested in connection with the Jakarta hotel bombings, police and a lawyer said yesterday.
Counter-terror squad officers arrested Muhamad Jibril Abdurahman, alias Muhamad Ricky Ardan bin Mohammad Iqbal, near Jakarta on Tuesday and also raided the office of his website, Arrahmah.com, a police spokesman said.
Police believe the Pakistan-educated suspect helped channel funds from abroad to finance the July 17 twin suicide bombings on the JW Marriott and RitzCarlton hotels that killed nine people.
The source of the funds are not known,but police are investigating the possibility the money came from al-Qaeda brokers in the Middle East, among others.
Muhamad Jibril is well-known in Indonesian radical circles as a publicist of extremist material, and is the son of a firebrand Islamist cleric who has been linked in the past to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network.
In addition to the website, he edited a publication called Jihadmagz which espoused jihad or "holy war" against the West.
"He chose his jihad path through working in the media. He felt that there were many Muslims who were being suppressed everywhere and there was a war of thoughts," Indonesian extremism analyst Noor Huda Ismail said.
"Through Arrahmah and Jihadmagz he felt that he could counter one-sided news on Islam. His media has been productive in its work."
Police said Muhamad Jibril was an accomplice of Saudi national Al Khalil Ali, who was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of smuggling money from abroad to pay for the attacks.
Muhamad Jibril, believed to be in his mid-20s, is the son of Indonesian cleric Abu Jibril who was arrested in Malaysia in 2001 on suspicion of being a JI member.
He now runs a website, Abujibriel.com,which also supports radical Islamist groups and spouts jihadist ideology.
"Jihad and terrorism are not something to be afraid of or avoided, because to cause terror to Allah's enemies is the instruction of Islam," said an article by the "Prince of Jihad" which appeared on both websites after the July 17 attacks.
Abu Jibril's lawyer, Yusuf Sembiring,confirmed Muhamad Jibril was the author of articles on Arrahmah.com and Abujibriel.com attributed to the "Prince of Jihad".
Counter-terror squad officers arrested Muhamad Jibril Abdurahman, alias Muhamad Ricky Ardan bin Mohammad Iqbal, near Jakarta on Tuesday and also raided the office of his website, Arrahmah.com, a police spokesman said.
Police believe the Pakistan-educated suspect helped channel funds from abroad to finance the July 17 twin suicide bombings on the JW Marriott and RitzCarlton hotels that killed nine people.
The source of the funds are not known,but police are investigating the possibility the money came from al-Qaeda brokers in the Middle East, among others.
Muhamad Jibril is well-known in Indonesian radical circles as a publicist of extremist material, and is the son of a firebrand Islamist cleric who has been linked in the past to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network.
In addition to the website, he edited a publication called Jihadmagz which espoused jihad or "holy war" against the West.
"He chose his jihad path through working in the media. He felt that there were many Muslims who were being suppressed everywhere and there was a war of thoughts," Indonesian extremism analyst Noor Huda Ismail said.
"Through Arrahmah and Jihadmagz he felt that he could counter one-sided news on Islam. His media has been productive in its work."
Police said Muhamad Jibril was an accomplice of Saudi national Al Khalil Ali, who was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of smuggling money from abroad to pay for the attacks.
Muhamad Jibril, believed to be in his mid-20s, is the son of Indonesian cleric Abu Jibril who was arrested in Malaysia in 2001 on suspicion of being a JI member.
He now runs a website, Abujibriel.com,which also supports radical Islamist groups and spouts jihadist ideology.
"Jihad and terrorism are not something to be afraid of or avoided, because to cause terror to Allah's enemies is the instruction of Islam," said an article by the "Prince of Jihad" which appeared on both websites after the July 17 attacks.
Abu Jibril's lawyer, Yusuf Sembiring,confirmed Muhamad Jibril was the author of articles on Arrahmah.com and Abujibriel.com attributed to the "Prince of Jihad".
Ill wind blows no good
Morakot was no Emerald; it was an ill wind that whipped up seas and cut or damaged six separated fibre-optic cables carrying Internet traffic to Thailand; the typhoon itself never hit Thailand, but while it killed an estimated 500 Taiwanese,Morakot caused deep-sea landslides that severed three cables and disrupted three others, including the SWM-3 (Southeast Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3)and both APCN (Asia Pacific Cable Network) that carry Internet and telephone traffic to and from Thailand; the Net slowed noticeably, but picked up after a couple of days when engineers managed to quickly repair the APCN2 cable between Singapore and Malaysia, while traffic was re-routed to other systems.
The top three yuppiephone networks announced a convoluted "solution" to SMS spam, now estimated at nine million annoyances a day; starting next Monday, if you get an unwanted commercial message on your mobile phone,call your network's anti-spam centre,explained what happened, and they will try to block any other calls from the spammer - the AIS number to call is 1175,DTAC is 1678 and True Move is1331, and the theory is that the 30-million-baht software they have installed and the highly trained staff they have hired will combine to block the spam across all three networks; Thana Thienachariya, chief commercial officer at DTAC, said blocking spam would cut revenue at all three yuppiephone firms, who have profited by selling SMS time in blocks to advertisers; in other words, he already knows where the calls are coming from.
Bangkok telephone provider True Corp and their yuppiephone subsidiary True Move began advertising "revolutionary" international phone rates of "only" three baht a minute to mostcalled countries; the rate, cheap at half the price, is about half what the telecoms duopoly of your TOT and your Cattelecom charge, but about twice the cost of the most popular long-distance specialists like DeeDial and ZayHi ; the True rates only will last until New Year's Eve.
If corporate diversification is a sign that the recession is ending, then we got good news from Delta Electronics (Thailand); president Henry Shieh said the Taiwan-based electronics firm is about to acquire solar-power equipment makers in the US and Europe to get out of traditional electric sources and into larger technology areas; he bragged that,"Our cash on hand of over 8 billion baht also supports our investments,"and while Thailand plants are running at only 65 percent capacity making fans and converters, profits in the second quarter were still a healthy 301 million baht.
Also upbeat: CEO Watchai Vilailuck ofSamart Corp , who said business was looking up, with revenues increasing by 17 percent year on year in the second quarter to 4.44 billion baht; although profit remained stagnant at just under 125 million, Mr Watchai said he sees clear economic skies ahead, and expects to introduce 20 new yuppiephone handsets before New Year's Eve to feed what he is certain is growing demand in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Cambodia, as well as Thailand.
Not everyone was bragging and sunny; No 1 yuppiephone firm Advanced Info Service of Shingapore announced major changes at the very top of the firm's food chain to try to adjust to negative growth and increased competition; AIS tried to spin the changes as restructuring, but in fact the major changes were personnel; Singaporean Hui Weng Cheong was promoted from deputy president to the newly created position of chief operating officer, where he will take over marketing, customer management and handset distribution;president Wichian Mektrakarn was moved to CEO and the president's position was dissolved; AIS has recently realistically changed its revenue target from 4 percent growth to minus-3 percent, bizarrely blaming oil prices and the flu pandemic; chairman Somprasong Boonyachai said you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking the changes at the top were because of poor operating results, it's just all part of a careful,long-planned succession plan.
The company formerly known as Shin Satellite insisted it will break out of its habit of losses and break even this year,thanks to higher bandwidth sales from its iPSTAR broadband satellite; it's not all rosy for Thaicom , however; Tanadit Charoenchan, executive president of vice, revealed that,"We expect iPSTAR's bandwidth usage to reach 15 percent this year, up from 10 percent currently."
Then there is Grammy Entertainment , which reported no harm, no foul in its first-half results, a profit of 314.2 million baht on slightly increased revenue of 3.95 billion, boosted almost exclusively by TV programming, while music sales fell four per cent.
Finally, consider the case of bank employee Nawanit Noichana,; he posted a message on the Sanook.com forums soliciting readers to have sex with a certain Ms Som, and providing her real phone number; it was all a prank or something worse, because Ms Som was certainly not that kind of woman; the Criminal Court judge found him guilty under the Computer Crime Act, but then sentenced him to just 12 hours of community service and a one-year suspended imprisonment.
The top three yuppiephone networks announced a convoluted "solution" to SMS spam, now estimated at nine million annoyances a day; starting next Monday, if you get an unwanted commercial message on your mobile phone,call your network's anti-spam centre,explained what happened, and they will try to block any other calls from the spammer - the AIS number to call is 1175,DTAC is 1678 and True Move is1331, and the theory is that the 30-million-baht software they have installed and the highly trained staff they have hired will combine to block the spam across all three networks; Thana Thienachariya, chief commercial officer at DTAC, said blocking spam would cut revenue at all three yuppiephone firms, who have profited by selling SMS time in blocks to advertisers; in other words, he already knows where the calls are coming from.
Bangkok telephone provider True Corp and their yuppiephone subsidiary True Move began advertising "revolutionary" international phone rates of "only" three baht a minute to mostcalled countries; the rate, cheap at half the price, is about half what the telecoms duopoly of your TOT and your Cattelecom charge, but about twice the cost of the most popular long-distance specialists like DeeDial and ZayHi ; the True rates only will last until New Year's Eve.
If corporate diversification is a sign that the recession is ending, then we got good news from Delta Electronics (Thailand); president Henry Shieh said the Taiwan-based electronics firm is about to acquire solar-power equipment makers in the US and Europe to get out of traditional electric sources and into larger technology areas; he bragged that,"Our cash on hand of over 8 billion baht also supports our investments,"and while Thailand plants are running at only 65 percent capacity making fans and converters, profits in the second quarter were still a healthy 301 million baht.
Also upbeat: CEO Watchai Vilailuck ofSamart Corp , who said business was looking up, with revenues increasing by 17 percent year on year in the second quarter to 4.44 billion baht; although profit remained stagnant at just under 125 million, Mr Watchai said he sees clear economic skies ahead, and expects to introduce 20 new yuppiephone handsets before New Year's Eve to feed what he is certain is growing demand in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Cambodia, as well as Thailand.
Not everyone was bragging and sunny; No 1 yuppiephone firm Advanced Info Service of Shingapore announced major changes at the very top of the firm's food chain to try to adjust to negative growth and increased competition; AIS tried to spin the changes as restructuring, but in fact the major changes were personnel; Singaporean Hui Weng Cheong was promoted from deputy president to the newly created position of chief operating officer, where he will take over marketing, customer management and handset distribution;president Wichian Mektrakarn was moved to CEO and the president's position was dissolved; AIS has recently realistically changed its revenue target from 4 percent growth to minus-3 percent, bizarrely blaming oil prices and the flu pandemic; chairman Somprasong Boonyachai said you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking the changes at the top were because of poor operating results, it's just all part of a careful,long-planned succession plan.
The company formerly known as Shin Satellite insisted it will break out of its habit of losses and break even this year,thanks to higher bandwidth sales from its iPSTAR broadband satellite; it's not all rosy for Thaicom , however; Tanadit Charoenchan, executive president of vice, revealed that,"We expect iPSTAR's bandwidth usage to reach 15 percent this year, up from 10 percent currently."
Then there is Grammy Entertainment , which reported no harm, no foul in its first-half results, a profit of 314.2 million baht on slightly increased revenue of 3.95 billion, boosted almost exclusively by TV programming, while music sales fell four per cent.
Finally, consider the case of bank employee Nawanit Noichana,; he posted a message on the Sanook.com forums soliciting readers to have sex with a certain Ms Som, and providing her real phone number; it was all a prank or something worse, because Ms Som was certainly not that kind of woman; the Criminal Court judge found him guilty under the Computer Crime Act, but then sentenced him to just 12 hours of community service and a one-year suspended imprisonment.
Game of denial
The Malaysian government announced then denied it intends to set up filters to block undesirable Internet content like its northern neighbour; on Friday morning, Information Minister Rais Yatim told newsmen he planned to put in filters to block all that "undesirable content";the following Thursday, after talking with Prime Minister, Najib Razak, Mr Yatim announced that existing laws were plenty strong enough to find and to prosecute actual sedition, fraud and child pornography, and he cancelled the country's calls for bids to supply an Internet filter system. China announced that it no longer planned to demand that all personal computers must have the flawed and official censorware program Green Dam ; Li Yizhong, minister of industry and information technology,said only schools and Internet cafes would be compelled to install the software; he actually said with a straight face it was only "to protect the children".
A week after fixing 18 security holes in Mac OS X,Apple Inc issued a security patch for the Bind Internet server standard, which allowed remote hackers to crash servers; Apple also issued a passel of security patches for the hackerfriendly Safari browser, Apple and Windows editions, including a nasty bug whereby a hacker could get Safari to list his malicious website as a Top Site.
Number 1 operating system peddlers Microsoft of America and No 1 yuppiephone tinkers Nokia of Finland announced a joint venture to port Microsoft Office to Nokia phones under the Symbian operating system; it's hard to imagine why anyone would want an office suite on a 2-inch screen, but apparently Nokia executives have convinced Microsoft they need the system to stomp and kick the nice BlackBerry maker Research In Motion .Microsoft announced that Office 2010 for the Apple Mac was on schedule,sort of, and should be ready for sale for the New Year's Eve shopping season next year ; well, that's 2010, right?A judge in Texas told Microsoft tostop selling editions of Word that use custom XML tagging technology; Microsoft lost a patent lawsuit over the XML format to the nice I4i firm, but it will appeal the ruling and won't stop selling Word for a day.Microsoft showed some photos of its new Zune HD, the music player that will certainly crush the Apple iPod; in a huge, shock surprise, the Zune prices will be held under iPod prices; it will have a web browser and the ability to copy high-def video to an HDTV (dock not included).
A British politician who would be prime minister wants to fine every person sharing a file illegally on the Internet to be find ฃ50,000, or 2.8 million baht in real money; Business Secretary Lord Mandelson of the Labour Party said he was "persuaded by the argument for tough laws" against all that piracy that's going on by seven million of his countrymen - after a dinner at the Greek island of Corfu, paid entirely by his close entertainment buddy David Geffen and the Rothschild bank.US President Barack Obama and his government ordered government-run Internet sites to resume dealing cookies to surfers, spurring major privacy concerns from serious civil liberties groups including the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Electronic Frontier Foundation; the groups also blamed private companies, principally Google ,for forcing government sites to use cookies in exchange for permission for the government to use its sites, such as posting videos on YouTube ; Vivek Kundra, the government's chief information officer, explained that the new policy is to improve customer service,but he was in such a hurry he forgot to explain what advantages the government was getting out of suddenly resuming its tracking of users.
Sara Morishige Williams, wife of Twitter CEO Evan Williams, provided graphic examples of "too much information"when she tweeted the birth of her child,minute by minute to 14,000 followers;things we didn't really have to know included "My water broke. It wasn't like Charlotte in Sex and the City . Now,timing contractions on an iPhone app"and "The Contraction Tracker was fun until the contractions got painful";thankfully her husband tweeted nothing.
The World Trade Organisation told China it had to stop censoring films,DVDs and books by funnelling all imports through state agencies; ruling on a suit brought by the United States, the WTO ordered China to open market access; the US claimed that by controlling such imports, China was increasing the demand for pirated goods.
In a report by OECD, the "developed"countries named and shamed the countries with the world's highest mobile phone charges: Canada, Spain and the United States, in that order; the lowest charges among the 30-member OECD were in Finland, with Holland and Sweden a tad higher.Toshiba moved to the dark side; after years spent inventing and championing the losing HD DVD format for high-density disks,Toshiba became a gracious loser and started making Blu-Ray players, now the standard but not yet fabulously popular.
A week after fixing 18 security holes in Mac OS X,Apple Inc issued a security patch for the Bind Internet server standard, which allowed remote hackers to crash servers; Apple also issued a passel of security patches for the hackerfriendly Safari browser, Apple and Windows editions, including a nasty bug whereby a hacker could get Safari to list his malicious website as a Top Site.
Number 1 operating system peddlers Microsoft of America and No 1 yuppiephone tinkers Nokia of Finland announced a joint venture to port Microsoft Office to Nokia phones under the Symbian operating system; it's hard to imagine why anyone would want an office suite on a 2-inch screen, but apparently Nokia executives have convinced Microsoft they need the system to stomp and kick the nice BlackBerry maker Research In Motion .Microsoft announced that Office 2010 for the Apple Mac was on schedule,sort of, and should be ready for sale for the New Year's Eve shopping season next year ; well, that's 2010, right?A judge in Texas told Microsoft tostop selling editions of Word that use custom XML tagging technology; Microsoft lost a patent lawsuit over the XML format to the nice I4i firm, but it will appeal the ruling and won't stop selling Word for a day.Microsoft showed some photos of its new Zune HD, the music player that will certainly crush the Apple iPod; in a huge, shock surprise, the Zune prices will be held under iPod prices; it will have a web browser and the ability to copy high-def video to an HDTV (dock not included).
A British politician who would be prime minister wants to fine every person sharing a file illegally on the Internet to be find ฃ50,000, or 2.8 million baht in real money; Business Secretary Lord Mandelson of the Labour Party said he was "persuaded by the argument for tough laws" against all that piracy that's going on by seven million of his countrymen - after a dinner at the Greek island of Corfu, paid entirely by his close entertainment buddy David Geffen and the Rothschild bank.US President Barack Obama and his government ordered government-run Internet sites to resume dealing cookies to surfers, spurring major privacy concerns from serious civil liberties groups including the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Electronic Frontier Foundation; the groups also blamed private companies, principally Google ,for forcing government sites to use cookies in exchange for permission for the government to use its sites, such as posting videos on YouTube ; Vivek Kundra, the government's chief information officer, explained that the new policy is to improve customer service,but he was in such a hurry he forgot to explain what advantages the government was getting out of suddenly resuming its tracking of users.
Sara Morishige Williams, wife of Twitter CEO Evan Williams, provided graphic examples of "too much information"when she tweeted the birth of her child,minute by minute to 14,000 followers;things we didn't really have to know included "My water broke. It wasn't like Charlotte in Sex and the City . Now,timing contractions on an iPhone app"and "The Contraction Tracker was fun until the contractions got painful";thankfully her husband tweeted nothing.
The World Trade Organisation told China it had to stop censoring films,DVDs and books by funnelling all imports through state agencies; ruling on a suit brought by the United States, the WTO ordered China to open market access; the US claimed that by controlling such imports, China was increasing the demand for pirated goods.
In a report by OECD, the "developed"countries named and shamed the countries with the world's highest mobile phone charges: Canada, Spain and the United States, in that order; the lowest charges among the 30-member OECD were in Finland, with Holland and Sweden a tad higher.Toshiba moved to the dark side; after years spent inventing and championing the losing HD DVD format for high-density disks,Toshiba became a gracious loser and started making Blu-Ray players, now the standard but not yet fabulously popular.
Nintendo updates DSi software
Nintendo said recently that it is updating DSi software to allow users to upload pictures from the camera-equipped handheld videogame devices to hot socialnetworking website Facebook.
The Facebook photo-sharing feature is now usable with a free system update to be available online.
"Facebook and Nintendo DSi build on the trend of personalisation that is so important to consumers," Nintendo of America executive vice president of sales and marketing Cammie Dunaway said in a statement.
"We're giving people the tools to express themselves in creative new ways and show off the results to their friends and family on Facebook."
DSi users will be able to tap an onscreen icon to send photos from DSi camera albums to Facebook profile pages by means of wireless broadband Internet connections, according to Nintendo.
The Japanese videogame titan has sold more than 1.7 million DSi devices in the United States since the thirdgeneration of the game system was launched here in April, according to figures from industry-tracker NPD Group.
Nintendo reported last week that sales of its Wii consoles have plunged, triggering a sharp drop in recent-quarter profits after years of spectacular growth.
The company had been riding high in recent years after trumping rivals Sony and Microsoft in the battle for dominance of the multi-billion dollar home videogame industry with its familyfriendly Wii. series.
The Facebook photo-sharing feature is now usable with a free system update to be available online.
"Facebook and Nintendo DSi build on the trend of personalisation that is so important to consumers," Nintendo of America executive vice president of sales and marketing Cammie Dunaway said in a statement.
"We're giving people the tools to express themselves in creative new ways and show off the results to their friends and family on Facebook."
DSi users will be able to tap an onscreen icon to send photos from DSi camera albums to Facebook profile pages by means of wireless broadband Internet connections, according to Nintendo.
The Japanese videogame titan has sold more than 1.7 million DSi devices in the United States since the thirdgeneration of the game system was launched here in April, according to figures from industry-tracker NPD Group.
Nintendo reported last week that sales of its Wii consoles have plunged, triggering a sharp drop in recent-quarter profits after years of spectacular growth.
The company had been riding high in recent years after trumping rivals Sony and Microsoft in the battle for dominance of the multi-billion dollar home videogame industry with its familyfriendly Wii. series.
Geographic system services open up
The world of Geographic Information System (GIS) is promisingly opening up so users can enjoy using a range of software products, as ESRI has announced free web service of ArcGIS.
It is somewhat a new dimension in the industry, with ArcGIS offering the web service opening as an alternative for GIS professionals so they can create programs and develop add-ons for existing data and applications, according to ESRI (Thailand) general manager Krairop Luanguthai.
Speaking at Thai GIS User Conference 2009 last week, Krairop said rich Internet applications are going to be a new trend. Platforms like Javascript and Silverlight are new technologies for creating these interesting mashups; intuitive lightweight applications. These rich Internet applications are also going to be free for non-commercial users, NGOs,education and government agencies.
This will boost the GIS society and encourage a number of users to further develop and share applications. The Thai version of ArcGis Online is scheduled to launch in October.
"This offers many opportunities for creativity with this new media environment, with creative carto-graphy, spreading geographic knowledge everywhere," said Krairop.
"Many creative people can take those APIs and create interesting new approaches to create maps that are prolific on the Web."
He added that the result of Web APIs in Thailand would be more apparent a year from now.
ArcGIS Online, which is so far known only for content services, introduced a facility to have users share their layer packages and services in an integrated,free, online storage site in the cloud.They can take their data and define how it belongs to their group. Or they can choose to share it over the open Internet.
Krairop added that the ArcGIS online will probably not affect Google Earth because the user groups are distinct.Google does not concentrate GIS and users just view the map, while GIS online will evolve the GIS society leading the users and professionals to be GIS creators as they can thoroughly deal with the data. Those professionals can develop such programs as land management, natural resource management, goods delivery, and so forth, for free on the Web.
Krairop added that the GIS market continues to expand, with 20 percent growth this year. The company has a target this year of 12 billion baht, with GIS database system services being the major revenue generator. So far ESRI Thailand has developed GIS database for the public sector. Most customers -70 percent - are government agencies.
Having dealt with GIS systems in the public sector for 20 years, Krairop noted that they are often "on and off",leading to a problem of data accuracy.The policy has always changed in accordance with the shift of heads of organisations. Consequently, the operation lacks continuity."Databases are the most important of GIS systems and they need to be updated all the time so that data remains accurate,"he said.
ESRI Thailand, meanwhile, will file a lawsuit against two companies at MBK shopping centre who violated the company's software copyright.
It is somewhat a new dimension in the industry, with ArcGIS offering the web service opening as an alternative for GIS professionals so they can create programs and develop add-ons for existing data and applications, according to ESRI (Thailand) general manager Krairop Luanguthai.
Speaking at Thai GIS User Conference 2009 last week, Krairop said rich Internet applications are going to be a new trend. Platforms like Javascript and Silverlight are new technologies for creating these interesting mashups; intuitive lightweight applications. These rich Internet applications are also going to be free for non-commercial users, NGOs,education and government agencies.
This will boost the GIS society and encourage a number of users to further develop and share applications. The Thai version of ArcGis Online is scheduled to launch in October.
"This offers many opportunities for creativity with this new media environment, with creative carto-graphy, spreading geographic knowledge everywhere," said Krairop.
"Many creative people can take those APIs and create interesting new approaches to create maps that are prolific on the Web."
He added that the result of Web APIs in Thailand would be more apparent a year from now.
ArcGIS Online, which is so far known only for content services, introduced a facility to have users share their layer packages and services in an integrated,free, online storage site in the cloud.They can take their data and define how it belongs to their group. Or they can choose to share it over the open Internet.
Krairop added that the ArcGIS online will probably not affect Google Earth because the user groups are distinct.Google does not concentrate GIS and users just view the map, while GIS online will evolve the GIS society leading the users and professionals to be GIS creators as they can thoroughly deal with the data. Those professionals can develop such programs as land management, natural resource management, goods delivery, and so forth, for free on the Web.
Krairop added that the GIS market continues to expand, with 20 percent growth this year. The company has a target this year of 12 billion baht, with GIS database system services being the major revenue generator. So far ESRI Thailand has developed GIS database for the public sector. Most customers -70 percent - are government agencies.
Having dealt with GIS systems in the public sector for 20 years, Krairop noted that they are often "on and off",leading to a problem of data accuracy.The policy has always changed in accordance with the shift of heads of organisations. Consequently, the operation lacks continuity."Databases are the most important of GIS systems and they need to be updated all the time so that data remains accurate,"he said.
ESRI Thailand, meanwhile, will file a lawsuit against two companies at MBK shopping centre who violated the company's software copyright.
"Worst of the worst" sites identified
Symantec last week unveiled a list of 100"worst of the worst"websites, nearly half of which used porn to lure people to pages booby trapped with viruses.
The US computer security titan's list of "Dirtiest Web Sites" discovered in recent months included names such as firstsexyteen,schoolbad,and cheatsarchive.
Videogame players sometimes search online for "cheats," software secrets that let them change game play.
While 48 percent of the websites on the list featured adult content, the remaining tainted locales ran a gamut of topics including deer hunting, catering,figure skating, legal services, and retail electronics.
People visiting the websites face risks of having their computers infected with malicious software that could mine personal data or give cybercriminals control of machines, according to Symantec.
"There has been exponential growth in the number of online threats that are constantly evolving as cybercriminals look for new ways to target your money,identity or assets," said Symantec consumer business unit senior vice president Rowan Trollope.
"Armed with this information, consumers are empowered to make informed decisions about which sites to visit."
Websites that made Symantec's "dirtiest" list were crammed with "staggering" numbers of virus threats, according to Trollope.
The US computer security titan's list of "Dirtiest Web Sites" discovered in recent months included names such as firstsexyteen,schoolbad,and cheatsarchive.
Videogame players sometimes search online for "cheats," software secrets that let them change game play.
While 48 percent of the websites on the list featured adult content, the remaining tainted locales ran a gamut of topics including deer hunting, catering,figure skating, legal services, and retail electronics.
People visiting the websites face risks of having their computers infected with malicious software that could mine personal data or give cybercriminals control of machines, according to Symantec.
"There has been exponential growth in the number of online threats that are constantly evolving as cybercriminals look for new ways to target your money,identity or assets," said Symantec consumer business unit senior vice president Rowan Trollope.
"Armed with this information, consumers are empowered to make informed decisions about which sites to visit."
Websites that made Symantec's "dirtiest" list were crammed with "staggering" numbers of virus threats, according to Trollope.
Yahoo extends its reach to Mideast
Yahoo! Inc, owner of the second- most popular US Internet search engine, has agreed to buy Arabiclanguage Internet venture Maktoob.com Inc as it seeks to enter the Middle East market.
The company, which announced the acquisition in a press conference in Dubai on Monday, did not disclose the value of the agreement.
Yahoo!, which agreed to join forces with Microsoft Corp last month to challenge Google Inc, is investing in its own Internet-search service and the purchase of Maktoob provides it with an entry point to a market that includes 22 countries.
"Maktoob is the ultimate Web-based company of the Middle East region because it started before the dot-com boom of the 1990s and survived the crash,"Maktoob co-founder Fadi Ghandour said in an interview.
Founded in 2000, Maktoob is the largest portal in the Arab world and owns on-line auction, search, entertainment and matrimonial websites, and sells on-line payment cards.
In 2007, Abraaj Capital Ltd, the Dubai-based buyout company managing more than $6 billion, sold its 40% stake in the Amman-based Maktoob.com to Tiger Global Management LLC, a US-based investment company.
Maktoob is ranked as the 156 most popular website in the world over the past three months with about 0.47% of global Internet users visiting the site,according to Alexa Internet Inc, a Web traffic-monitoring company owned by Amazon.com Inc.
There were about 37 million Internet users in the Arab world at the end of 2008, according to Arab Advisers Group,a research, analysis and consulting company focused on communications and media.
"An acquisition by Yahoo may make sense because it would add a large base of Internet Arab users to whom it can sell ads and tailor services to further cement its leadership in the region,"said Jawad Abassi, founder and general manager of Arab Advisers Group.
"Yahoo may even help solve Maktoobs ongoing problem of not being a leader in any of the segments its involved in."
The company, which announced the acquisition in a press conference in Dubai on Monday, did not disclose the value of the agreement.
Yahoo!, which agreed to join forces with Microsoft Corp last month to challenge Google Inc, is investing in its own Internet-search service and the purchase of Maktoob provides it with an entry point to a market that includes 22 countries.
"Maktoob is the ultimate Web-based company of the Middle East region because it started before the dot-com boom of the 1990s and survived the crash,"Maktoob co-founder Fadi Ghandour said in an interview.
Founded in 2000, Maktoob is the largest portal in the Arab world and owns on-line auction, search, entertainment and matrimonial websites, and sells on-line payment cards.
In 2007, Abraaj Capital Ltd, the Dubai-based buyout company managing more than $6 billion, sold its 40% stake in the Amman-based Maktoob.com to Tiger Global Management LLC, a US-based investment company.
Maktoob is ranked as the 156 most popular website in the world over the past three months with about 0.47% of global Internet users visiting the site,according to Alexa Internet Inc, a Web traffic-monitoring company owned by Amazon.com Inc.
There were about 37 million Internet users in the Arab world at the end of 2008, according to Arab Advisers Group,a research, analysis and consulting company focused on communications and media.
"An acquisition by Yahoo may make sense because it would add a large base of Internet Arab users to whom it can sell ads and tailor services to further cement its leadership in the region,"said Jawad Abassi, founder and general manager of Arab Advisers Group.
"Yahoo may even help solve Maktoobs ongoing problem of not being a leader in any of the segments its involved in."
Teen answers online
A web site is now up and running with an ultimate goal of tackling teenagers' problems.
Developed by Assoc Prof Somthawin Thanasopon, www.woundwhy.com offers online games through which visitors will learn about the dangers of drugs, liquor, sexually transmitted diseases, etc, and also how to avoid them.
"We use the games to attract teenagers' attention. Learning from the games won't be boring," Somthawin said.
After playing the games, the visitors will also be asked to fill questionnaires.
"We will collect the information for researching purposes. The information will also be used to develop the web site's content," she added.
She said the web site targeted children aged between 12 and 15 years old.
However, she said the web site would also prove useful to children from different age groups or even parents.
"Our web site teaches about sex education and adolescent emotion as well," Somthawin added.
She believed the web site would be able to reach out to a large number of teenagers because Internet was now popular.
Her web site offers prizes like flash drives, pens and Tshirts for visitors who have played all the games and filled all the questionnaires.
www.woundwhy.com was launched yesterday.
Present at the launch event were Basic Education Commission secretary general Khunying Kasama Varawarn, National Research Council secretary general Dr Anond Bunyaratavej and Kasetsart University president Vudtechai Kapilakanchana.
Kasama hailed the web site as a good medium for youths.
Developed by Assoc Prof Somthawin Thanasopon, www.woundwhy.com offers online games through which visitors will learn about the dangers of drugs, liquor, sexually transmitted diseases, etc, and also how to avoid them.
"We use the games to attract teenagers' attention. Learning from the games won't be boring," Somthawin said.
After playing the games, the visitors will also be asked to fill questionnaires.
"We will collect the information for researching purposes. The information will also be used to develop the web site's content," she added.
She said the web site targeted children aged between 12 and 15 years old.
However, she said the web site would also prove useful to children from different age groups or even parents.
"Our web site teaches about sex education and adolescent emotion as well," Somthawin added.
She believed the web site would be able to reach out to a large number of teenagers because Internet was now popular.
Her web site offers prizes like flash drives, pens and Tshirts for visitors who have played all the games and filled all the questionnaires.
www.woundwhy.com was launched yesterday.
Present at the launch event were Basic Education Commission secretary general Khunying Kasama Varawarn, National Research Council secretary general Dr Anond Bunyaratavej and Kasetsart University president Vudtechai Kapilakanchana.
Kasama hailed the web site as a good medium for youths.
Monday, August 24, 2009
MYSPACE BUYS ONLINES MUSIC SENSATION ILIKE IN US$20-MILLION DEAL
MySpace has announced it is buying online music discovery hotspot iLike and plans to expand the service to other forms of entertainment such as games and films.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but technology blogs said inside sources had valued the deal at about US$20 million (Bt683 million).
"The iLike acquisition advances our relentless pursuit of innovation and the need to create new distributed social experiences in music and beyond," said MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta.
Since being founded two years ago by brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi, iLike has become a favourite way for people to find new music, live performances and concert tickets.
"MySpace is trying to recapture relevance from Facebook and attempting to use iLike to broaden its potential customer base and create a more viable future," said Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle in Silicon Valley, California.
"It isn't a bad idea. iLike is a well-regarded property, and catching Facebook organically is likely not in the cards."
It appears iLike was under pressure from investors eager to reap profit, said Michael Gartenberg, vice president for strategy and analysis at market-research firm Interpret.
"It was a way for them to get out," Gartenberg said of iLike's backers.
"These guys were the high-flying Web 2.0 company, and they sold for a lot less than their perceived valuation not long ago."
The value of iLike had recently been pegged at more than $50 million. People can visit iLike's website or install the start-up's applications at Apple's online iTunes shop or social networks, including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, hi5 and Orkut.
iLike says it has 55 million users.
Gartenberg believes iLike's dependence on other websites as stages for its applications proved to be a weakness.
"It's a problem any time you are totally dependent on someone for your core platform," Gartneberg said. "The dependence on Facebook really was an issue."
MySpace expects to close the iLike deal quickly land said there were no plans to yank the service from archrival Facebook.
"iLike is a great application across many social networks, and we expect to extend that," Van Natta said.
iLike will remain based in Seattle, Washington. MySpace indicated it was eager to apply iLike discovery and sharing technology to other entertainment areas, such as video grames and film.
"It's humbling moment for Ali and me," iLike's founding brothers said.
"Having built the most popular music services on the other social networks, we never imagined that we'd someday team up with MySpace, and we're excited to see what we can accomplish as one team."
The iLike.com website and applications will continue to operate as they always have "except that we'll be working to make them even better," the brothers wrote.
iLike said it would continue testting a service selling digital music downloads and that its goal was eventually to enable people to "impulse buy in-page" from anywhere they could access the Internet.
"Launching another store is going to be challenging in a universe that is so dominated by Apple and iTunes," Gartenberg said. "But we are still in the early stages, where no one is willing to roll over and concede the market to anyone." News Corp-owned MySpace has focused on connecting music-makers and song lovers since being eclipsed last year by Facebook as the world's most popular social-networking service.
"By itself, this donesn't do what MySpace needs done, but as par;t of a larger acquisition strategy and blended with targeted inprovements, this could eventually work," Enderle said. "I worry, however, that this may be less a part of a broader strategy, which hasn't been articulated, and more of a Hail Mary pass to make it look like they are doing something strategic. If it is the latter, this won't end well at all."
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but technology blogs said inside sources had valued the deal at about US$20 million (Bt683 million).
"The iLike acquisition advances our relentless pursuit of innovation and the need to create new distributed social experiences in music and beyond," said MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta.
Since being founded two years ago by brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi, iLike has become a favourite way for people to find new music, live performances and concert tickets.
"MySpace is trying to recapture relevance from Facebook and attempting to use iLike to broaden its potential customer base and create a more viable future," said Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle in Silicon Valley, California.
"It isn't a bad idea. iLike is a well-regarded property, and catching Facebook organically is likely not in the cards."
It appears iLike was under pressure from investors eager to reap profit, said Michael Gartenberg, vice president for strategy and analysis at market-research firm Interpret.
"It was a way for them to get out," Gartenberg said of iLike's backers.
"These guys were the high-flying Web 2.0 company, and they sold for a lot less than their perceived valuation not long ago."
The value of iLike had recently been pegged at more than $50 million. People can visit iLike's website or install the start-up's applications at Apple's online iTunes shop or social networks, including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, hi5 and Orkut.
iLike says it has 55 million users.
Gartenberg believes iLike's dependence on other websites as stages for its applications proved to be a weakness.
"It's a problem any time you are totally dependent on someone for your core platform," Gartneberg said. "The dependence on Facebook really was an issue."
MySpace expects to close the iLike deal quickly land said there were no plans to yank the service from archrival Facebook.
"iLike is a great application across many social networks, and we expect to extend that," Van Natta said.
iLike will remain based in Seattle, Washington. MySpace indicated it was eager to apply iLike discovery and sharing technology to other entertainment areas, such as video grames and film.
"It's humbling moment for Ali and me," iLike's founding brothers said.
"Having built the most popular music services on the other social networks, we never imagined that we'd someday team up with MySpace, and we're excited to see what we can accomplish as one team."
The iLike.com website and applications will continue to operate as they always have "except that we'll be working to make them even better," the brothers wrote.
iLike said it would continue testting a service selling digital music downloads and that its goal was eventually to enable people to "impulse buy in-page" from anywhere they could access the Internet.
"Launching another store is going to be challenging in a universe that is so dominated by Apple and iTunes," Gartenberg said. "But we are still in the early stages, where no one is willing to roll over and concede the market to anyone." News Corp-owned MySpace has focused on connecting music-makers and song lovers since being eclipsed last year by Facebook as the world's most popular social-networking service.
"By itself, this donesn't do what MySpace needs done, but as par;t of a larger acquisition strategy and blended with targeted inprovements, this could eventually work," Enderle said. "I worry, however, that this may be less a part of a broader strategy, which hasn't been articulated, and more of a Hail Mary pass to make it look like they are doing something strategic. If it is the latter, this won't end well at all."
THE HACKER WHO STOLE THE DETAILS OF 130 MILLION CREDIT CARDS
The man who agreed to help nail his accomplices is now accused of the greatest identity theft spree in history By Mark Hughes
He is handsome, he is rich hereportedly splurged US$75,000 on his own birthday one year - and has the kind of charm that could dazzle the hardest of men,says a US federal secret service agent. But it's not your daughters you need to be locking up - it's your credit cards.
We have all known for some time that the electronic identity-theft business is burgeoning. The US Treasury Department says it knows of 55,000 cases in only 10 years. But as of now, it has its official poster boy. He is 28-year-old Albert Gonzalez, a man who allegedly has a special talent in this particular line.
That, at least, is the contention of the authorities in New Jersey, who late last Monday unveiled criminal charges against Mr Gonzalez identifying him as the leader of a three-man ring which, between October,2006,and May,2008, successfully siphoned off the data from no fewer than 130 million credit and debit cards in the US by hacking into the networks of several retail and financial giants,including the 7-Eleven corner-shop chain.
The charges against Mr Gonzalez and two other unidentified men apparently working out of or close to Russia are causing considerable consternation for a multitude of reasons. For one, this may be the biggest criminal case involving the theft of credit card data ever uncovered. Second, some of the details of the alleged criminal career of Mr Gonzalez are raising eyebrows. For example - why didn't the Feds cotton on to all of this before?
It turns out that Mr Gonzalez was first detained in 2003 in connection with alleged nefarious hacking operations, but was not prosecuted after he agreed to assist the secret service in trying to nail some of his accomplices. The authorities also agreed to allow him to move from the New York area to Miami.
Since May last year, Mr Gonzalez has been a resident of a jail in Brooklyn awaiting trial on charges of hacking into the computer system of Dave & Buster's, a national restaurant chain based in Miami. He was allegedly trying to steal card numbers.
But later last year, the police were pointing to Mr Gonzalez again. In a separate case now pending in Boston, he was accused of being the ringleader of yet another data breach involving a series of companies, but most notably TJ Maxx retail in Massachusetts. On that occasion, prosecutors said, the ring had successfully purloined the details of 40 million cards and their activities had cost TJX which owns TJ Maxx - about $200 million.
The new set of charges eclipses all that came before, however.
It also opens the window on a netherworld of electronic crime that will set off new alarm bells in capitals around the world. If one man can be responsible for this number of breaches, the problem may be bigger than anyone imagined.
If Mr Gonzalez is guilty it is also his chutzpah that shocks. He is "a very important player in a sophisticated ring that has real results at the street level of bank, retail, debit and credit card fraud", acknowledged Seth Kosto,an Assistant US Attorney in New Jersey who specialises in computer fraud.
According to court documents filed in the TJX case in Boston, Mr Gonzalez instigated what he called an "operation to get rich or die tryin"', which involved identifying some of the biggest companies in the US and setting about assessing how vulnerable their payment systems were to being hacked.
It is alleged that once Mr Gonzalez and his team had successfully penetrated a particular company's system, an electronic "back door"would be installed that in theory would allow them to return at any time to harvest even more credit card numbers.
The value of data from stolen credit cards depends on the market. But, according to the latest documents filed in the case, once the information was stolen it was immediately relayed to computers controlled by the ring in different parts of the world, including California and Ukraine.
Of course those least happy to hear details of Mr Gonzalez's alleged capers are the companies whose names feature in the latest charges, including a supermarket chain called Hannaford."We're pleased that the authorities have aggressively pursued this case to be in a position to bring an indictment against the alleged perpetrators," said Michael Norton,a spokesman for Hannaford.7-Eleven declined to comment.The Independent
The technique
Gonzalez allegedly used a technique known as a "SQL injection attack", a form of computer hacking which is designed to exploit security vulnerabilities in databases. This type of attack is said to have started in Russia, China and North Korea, but has become increasingly popular in the US. So much so that computer giant IBM will later this month publish a report that shows that instances of SQL injection attacks have increased by 50% in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the final quarter of 2008.SQL injection requires the hackers to gain access to the computer networks they wish to hack. The hacker would do this by somehow breaching the computer's firewall and then "injecting" software into the database, using SQL (Structured Query Language), which is a database programming language. What type of software is not known, but it would search for PINs or passwords or transaction records. The stolen data is then sent to computer servers to sell on.
He is handsome, he is rich hereportedly splurged US$75,000 on his own birthday one year - and has the kind of charm that could dazzle the hardest of men,says a US federal secret service agent. But it's not your daughters you need to be locking up - it's your credit cards.
We have all known for some time that the electronic identity-theft business is burgeoning. The US Treasury Department says it knows of 55,000 cases in only 10 years. But as of now, it has its official poster boy. He is 28-year-old Albert Gonzalez, a man who allegedly has a special talent in this particular line.
That, at least, is the contention of the authorities in New Jersey, who late last Monday unveiled criminal charges against Mr Gonzalez identifying him as the leader of a three-man ring which, between October,2006,and May,2008, successfully siphoned off the data from no fewer than 130 million credit and debit cards in the US by hacking into the networks of several retail and financial giants,including the 7-Eleven corner-shop chain.
The charges against Mr Gonzalez and two other unidentified men apparently working out of or close to Russia are causing considerable consternation for a multitude of reasons. For one, this may be the biggest criminal case involving the theft of credit card data ever uncovered. Second, some of the details of the alleged criminal career of Mr Gonzalez are raising eyebrows. For example - why didn't the Feds cotton on to all of this before?
It turns out that Mr Gonzalez was first detained in 2003 in connection with alleged nefarious hacking operations, but was not prosecuted after he agreed to assist the secret service in trying to nail some of his accomplices. The authorities also agreed to allow him to move from the New York area to Miami.
Since May last year, Mr Gonzalez has been a resident of a jail in Brooklyn awaiting trial on charges of hacking into the computer system of Dave & Buster's, a national restaurant chain based in Miami. He was allegedly trying to steal card numbers.
But later last year, the police were pointing to Mr Gonzalez again. In a separate case now pending in Boston, he was accused of being the ringleader of yet another data breach involving a series of companies, but most notably TJ Maxx retail in Massachusetts. On that occasion, prosecutors said, the ring had successfully purloined the details of 40 million cards and their activities had cost TJX which owns TJ Maxx - about $200 million.
The new set of charges eclipses all that came before, however.
It also opens the window on a netherworld of electronic crime that will set off new alarm bells in capitals around the world. If one man can be responsible for this number of breaches, the problem may be bigger than anyone imagined.
If Mr Gonzalez is guilty it is also his chutzpah that shocks. He is "a very important player in a sophisticated ring that has real results at the street level of bank, retail, debit and credit card fraud", acknowledged Seth Kosto,an Assistant US Attorney in New Jersey who specialises in computer fraud.
According to court documents filed in the TJX case in Boston, Mr Gonzalez instigated what he called an "operation to get rich or die tryin"', which involved identifying some of the biggest companies in the US and setting about assessing how vulnerable their payment systems were to being hacked.
It is alleged that once Mr Gonzalez and his team had successfully penetrated a particular company's system, an electronic "back door"would be installed that in theory would allow them to return at any time to harvest even more credit card numbers.
The value of data from stolen credit cards depends on the market. But, according to the latest documents filed in the case, once the information was stolen it was immediately relayed to computers controlled by the ring in different parts of the world, including California and Ukraine.
Of course those least happy to hear details of Mr Gonzalez's alleged capers are the companies whose names feature in the latest charges, including a supermarket chain called Hannaford."We're pleased that the authorities have aggressively pursued this case to be in a position to bring an indictment against the alleged perpetrators," said Michael Norton,a spokesman for Hannaford.7-Eleven declined to comment.The Independent
The technique
Gonzalez allegedly used a technique known as a "SQL injection attack", a form of computer hacking which is designed to exploit security vulnerabilities in databases. This type of attack is said to have started in Russia, China and North Korea, but has become increasingly popular in the US. So much so that computer giant IBM will later this month publish a report that shows that instances of SQL injection attacks have increased by 50% in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the final quarter of 2008.SQL injection requires the hackers to gain access to the computer networks they wish to hack. The hacker would do this by somehow breaching the computer's firewall and then "injecting" software into the database, using SQL (Structured Query Language), which is a database programming language. What type of software is not known, but it would search for PINs or passwords or transaction records. The stolen data is then sent to computer servers to sell on.
THE HACKER WHO STOLE THE DETAILS OF 130 MILLION CREDIT CARDS
The man who agreed to help nail his accomplices is now accused of the greatest identity theft spree in history By Mark Hughes
He is handsome, he is rich hereportedly splurged US$75,000 on his own birthday one year - and has the kind of charm that could dazzle the hardest of men,says a US federal secret service agent. But it's not your daughters you need to be locking up - it's your credit cards.
We have all known for some time that the electronic identity-theft business is burgeoning. The US Treasury Department says it knows of 55,000 cases in only 10 years. But as of now, it has its official poster boy. He is 28-year-old Albert Gonzalez, a man who allegedly has a special talent in this particular line.
That, at least, is the contention of the authorities in New Jersey, who late last Monday unveiled criminal charges against Mr Gonzalez identifying him as the leader of a three-man ring which, between October,2006,and May,2008, successfully siphoned off the data from no fewer than 130 million credit and debit cards in the US by hacking into the networks of several retail and financial giants,including the 7-Eleven corner-shop chain.
The charges against Mr Gonzalez and two other unidentified men apparently working out of or close to Russia are causing considerable consternation for a multitude of reasons. For one, this may be the biggest criminal case involving the theft of credit card data ever uncovered. Second, some of the details of the alleged criminal career of Mr Gonzalez are raising eyebrows. For example - why didn't the Feds cotton on to all of this before?
It turns out that Mr Gonzalez was first detained in 2003 in connection with alleged nefarious hacking operations, but was not prosecuted after he agreed to assist the secret service in trying to nail some of his accomplices. The authorities also agreed to allow him to move from the New York area to Miami.
Since May last year, Mr Gonzalez has been a resident of a jail in Brooklyn awaiting trial on charges of hacking into the computer system of Dave & Buster's, a national restaurant chain based in Miami. He was allegedly trying to steal card numbers.
But later last year, the police were pointing to Mr Gonzalez again. In a separate case now pending in Boston, he was accused of being the ringleader of yet another data breach involving a series of companies, but most notably TJ Maxx retail in Massachusetts. On that occasion, prosecutors said, the ring had successfully purloined the details of 40 million cards and their activities had cost TJX which owns TJ Maxx - about $200 million.
The new set of charges eclipses all that came before, however.
It also opens the window on a netherworld of electronic crime that will set off new alarm bells in capitals around the world. If one man can be responsible for this number of breaches, the problem may be bigger than anyone imagined.
If Mr Gonzalez is guilty it is also his chutzpah that shocks. He is "a very important player in a sophisticated ring that has real results at the street level of bank, retail, debit and credit card fraud", acknowledged Seth Kosto,an Assistant US Attorney in New Jersey who specialises in computer fraud.
According to court documents filed in the TJX case in Boston, Mr Gonzalez instigated what he called an "operation to get rich or die tryin"', which involved identifying some of the biggest companies in the US and setting about assessing how vulnerable their payment systems were to being hacked.
It is alleged that once Mr Gonzalez and his team had successfully penetrated a particular company's system, an electronic "back door"would be installed that in theory would allow them to return at any time to harvest even more credit card numbers.
The value of data from stolen credit cards depends on the market. But, according to the latest documents filed in the case, once the information was stolen it was immediately relayed to computers controlled by the ring in different parts of the world, including California and Ukraine.
Of course those least happy to hear details of Mr Gonzalez's alleged capers are the companies whose names feature in the latest charges, including a supermarket chain called Hannaford."We're pleased that the authorities have aggressively pursued this case to be in a position to bring an indictment against the alleged perpetrators," said Michael Norton,a spokesman for Hannaford.7-Eleven declined to comment.The Independent
The technique
Gonzalez allegedly used a technique known as a "SQL injection attack", a form of computer hacking which is designed to exploit security vulnerabilities in databases. This type of attack is said to have started in Russia, China and North Korea, but has become increasingly popular in the US. So much so that computer giant IBM will later this month publish a report that shows that instances of SQL injection attacks have increased by 50% in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the final quarter of 2008.SQL injection requires the hackers to gain access to the computer networks they wish to hack. The hacker would do this by somehow breaching the computer's firewall and then "injecting" software into the database, using SQL (Structured Query Language), which is a database programming language. What type of software is not known, but it would search for PINs or passwords or transaction records. The stolen data is then sent to computer servers to sell on.
He is handsome, he is rich hereportedly splurged US$75,000 on his own birthday one year - and has the kind of charm that could dazzle the hardest of men,says a US federal secret service agent. But it's not your daughters you need to be locking up - it's your credit cards.
We have all known for some time that the electronic identity-theft business is burgeoning. The US Treasury Department says it knows of 55,000 cases in only 10 years. But as of now, it has its official poster boy. He is 28-year-old Albert Gonzalez, a man who allegedly has a special talent in this particular line.
That, at least, is the contention of the authorities in New Jersey, who late last Monday unveiled criminal charges against Mr Gonzalez identifying him as the leader of a three-man ring which, between October,2006,and May,2008, successfully siphoned off the data from no fewer than 130 million credit and debit cards in the US by hacking into the networks of several retail and financial giants,including the 7-Eleven corner-shop chain.
The charges against Mr Gonzalez and two other unidentified men apparently working out of or close to Russia are causing considerable consternation for a multitude of reasons. For one, this may be the biggest criminal case involving the theft of credit card data ever uncovered. Second, some of the details of the alleged criminal career of Mr Gonzalez are raising eyebrows. For example - why didn't the Feds cotton on to all of this before?
It turns out that Mr Gonzalez was first detained in 2003 in connection with alleged nefarious hacking operations, but was not prosecuted after he agreed to assist the secret service in trying to nail some of his accomplices. The authorities also agreed to allow him to move from the New York area to Miami.
Since May last year, Mr Gonzalez has been a resident of a jail in Brooklyn awaiting trial on charges of hacking into the computer system of Dave & Buster's, a national restaurant chain based in Miami. He was allegedly trying to steal card numbers.
But later last year, the police were pointing to Mr Gonzalez again. In a separate case now pending in Boston, he was accused of being the ringleader of yet another data breach involving a series of companies, but most notably TJ Maxx retail in Massachusetts. On that occasion, prosecutors said, the ring had successfully purloined the details of 40 million cards and their activities had cost TJX which owns TJ Maxx - about $200 million.
The new set of charges eclipses all that came before, however.
It also opens the window on a netherworld of electronic crime that will set off new alarm bells in capitals around the world. If one man can be responsible for this number of breaches, the problem may be bigger than anyone imagined.
If Mr Gonzalez is guilty it is also his chutzpah that shocks. He is "a very important player in a sophisticated ring that has real results at the street level of bank, retail, debit and credit card fraud", acknowledged Seth Kosto,an Assistant US Attorney in New Jersey who specialises in computer fraud.
According to court documents filed in the TJX case in Boston, Mr Gonzalez instigated what he called an "operation to get rich or die tryin"', which involved identifying some of the biggest companies in the US and setting about assessing how vulnerable their payment systems were to being hacked.
It is alleged that once Mr Gonzalez and his team had successfully penetrated a particular company's system, an electronic "back door"would be installed that in theory would allow them to return at any time to harvest even more credit card numbers.
The value of data from stolen credit cards depends on the market. But, according to the latest documents filed in the case, once the information was stolen it was immediately relayed to computers controlled by the ring in different parts of the world, including California and Ukraine.
Of course those least happy to hear details of Mr Gonzalez's alleged capers are the companies whose names feature in the latest charges, including a supermarket chain called Hannaford."We're pleased that the authorities have aggressively pursued this case to be in a position to bring an indictment against the alleged perpetrators," said Michael Norton,a spokesman for Hannaford.7-Eleven declined to comment.The Independent
The technique
Gonzalez allegedly used a technique known as a "SQL injection attack", a form of computer hacking which is designed to exploit security vulnerabilities in databases. This type of attack is said to have started in Russia, China and North Korea, but has become increasingly popular in the US. So much so that computer giant IBM will later this month publish a report that shows that instances of SQL injection attacks have increased by 50% in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the final quarter of 2008.SQL injection requires the hackers to gain access to the computer networks they wish to hack. The hacker would do this by somehow breaching the computer's firewall and then "injecting" software into the database, using SQL (Structured Query Language), which is a database programming language. What type of software is not known, but it would search for PINs or passwords or transaction records. The stolen data is then sent to computer servers to sell on.
www.hellofromearth.net
In the early days the Internet was believed to be the ultimate equaliser - the information super highway that would revolutionise the way we live. Because of the net,15-year-old boys no longer need to sneakily raid their father's secret Playboy collection anymore; instead they can get their pornographic fix electronically.
Likewise, lame 16-year-old girls all have the chance to get their 15 minutes by singing away on YouTube.
And now, any idiot with access to the Internet can project their messages to Gliese 581d, the nearest Earth-like planet outside our solar system.
Simply log on to www.hellofromearth.net , register, and you're one step closer to to pissing off aliens!
The deadline to submit messages is 2pm on Aug 24. Don't count on getting a reply any time soon though. Gliese 581d is 20.3 light years away and last time we checked, that's pretty far, even for troll/prima donna transmissions.
Likewise, lame 16-year-old girls all have the chance to get their 15 minutes by singing away on YouTube.
And now, any idiot with access to the Internet can project their messages to Gliese 581d, the nearest Earth-like planet outside our solar system.
Simply log on to www.hellofromearth.net , register, and you're one step closer to to pissing off aliens!
The deadline to submit messages is 2pm on Aug 24. Don't count on getting a reply any time soon though. Gliese 581d is 20.3 light years away and last time we checked, that's pretty far, even for troll/prima donna transmissions.
ARE WE SOLVING PROBLEMS OR JUST CREATING NEW ONES?
A FEW weeks ago, our Ministry of Culture delivered a piece of bad news to our teenagers - again.
This time it's a new regulation on the time per day that each teenager in Thailand is allowed to access online games, both from home computers and at Internet cafes, and the authorities can verify this by asking them to key in their national ID number before having fun.
At the moment, another online activity is under close surveillance - namely a few local websites that offer sex services by a membership system. Clients can even pay a monthly fee for a certain amount of "dates".
What the authorities may have overlooked, though, is the fact that our teenagers, apart from online games, still spend too many hours in the cyberworld, without really taking advantage of this worldwide web of information. At the top of the current list is Facebook, which some have used as their secret photo album, and others as the space for their daily statement issued to the world. Then, of course, there are many time-consuming computer games that are neither online nor restricted.
As far as I understand it, culture can also refer to ways in which people live and enjoy their lives. And apart from shouting, "No, you can't do this," our cultural authorities could perhaps also promote "Do you want to try this?" as well.
However, it seems that most of our tax money, in this cultural management matter, is going to the preservation of our national heritage and the prevention of certain modern lifestyles that are deemed improper for this eight-century-old country.
Instead of working closely with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in this matter, maybe Ministry of Culture officials should sit down with their Ministry of Education counterparts in order to better understand how teenagers spend their days, and come up with better alternatives than staring at computer screens for six hours a day.
Despite my age, I can still recall secondary school days when I spent most of my school evenings on basketball courts, football fields, and in movie theatres. It was the pre-Internet, pre-O-NET, A-NET, GAT, PAT, and pre-Ministry of Culture era. I'm not even sure what it's called now, thanks to its frequent changes. Back then, my friends did not feel that it was a must to go to tuition schools in the evenings - we had had seven or eight hours of class already, and our teachers made sure that they were enough to get us into good universities.
I can also remember that often our teachers loaded us into buses to go to watch films or performance art outside the school. Interestingly enough, most of these were not programmes that were deemed traditional (and thus highly recommended by any cultural authority). Rather, they were what the teachers - who repeated to us that we could gain knowledge and experience not only in classrooms - found relevant to the content of some classes. The school administrators believed in this extra effort to organise such activities.
By working together, and perhaps combining their budgets, maybe the ministries of Culture and Education could devise a master plan to promote cultural extra-curricular activities for our teenagers, so that they have more activities to choose from, in addition to the online ones.
Let's look at an example here. In many countries, including a few in our region, schools receive extra funding from their ministries when they organise such extra-curricular activities. Meanwhile, arts companies also receive more funding from their relevant ministries when they host afternoon or evening activities for students. But of course, the Ministry of Education and schools must prove first that students do not need to attend tuition schools in order to be admitted to good universities. After all, we want the next generation in the work force to not only know how to work efficiently, but also to enjoy arts and culture.
This issue of problem-solution reminds me of a memorable experience at Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre last Thursday. Entering the playhouse, I was happy to see that there were four lines, instead of the previous two, for the audience to pass through the security check - in other words, metal detectors to make sure that we didn't bring in cameras to take still or moving images of the performance. I was shocked, though, that each member of the audience was asked to have their body temperature checked with an ear thermometer, which would be cleaned after each check. The theatre management team claims in the programme booklet that this is a precautionary measure for type-A(H1N1) flu. Well, I think they forget about ear infections. My job requires me to watch many live performances in different countries in the region, Since the breakout of swine flu, I've never seen such a precautionary measure anywhere else.
At the intermission, when nature called, I found that the gentlemen's restroom was also available for women. This innovative measure was to make sure that all female audience members could return to their seats in time for the curtain of the second act.
Twelve years ago, when I first visited the Stratford Festival of Canada, a volunteer staff member informed me that the main playhouse, called the Festival Theatre, had three times the number of women's restrooms than men's, to make sure that there'd be no long queues for women. That Canadian playhouse is more than a decade old, while our Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre is a little over two years old. So what's happening here? Did our Thai investors hire the wrong architects and interior designers - if I'm not mistaken, foreign ones - and now they have to solve these problems Thai style?
If they can spend scores of millions to bring over an international touring musical production, why can't they spend a few hundred thousand on temperature scanners, like those we see in some airports, and a few hundred thousand to rebuild toilets for more privacy?
Let's look at these problems carefully and thoroughly, and wisely solve them; otherwise, more relevant problems may arise and, now that our heads and hands are full, we will never be able to deal with them.
This time it's a new regulation on the time per day that each teenager in Thailand is allowed to access online games, both from home computers and at Internet cafes, and the authorities can verify this by asking them to key in their national ID number before having fun.
At the moment, another online activity is under close surveillance - namely a few local websites that offer sex services by a membership system. Clients can even pay a monthly fee for a certain amount of "dates".
What the authorities may have overlooked, though, is the fact that our teenagers, apart from online games, still spend too many hours in the cyberworld, without really taking advantage of this worldwide web of information. At the top of the current list is Facebook, which some have used as their secret photo album, and others as the space for their daily statement issued to the world. Then, of course, there are many time-consuming computer games that are neither online nor restricted.
As far as I understand it, culture can also refer to ways in which people live and enjoy their lives. And apart from shouting, "No, you can't do this," our cultural authorities could perhaps also promote "Do you want to try this?" as well.
However, it seems that most of our tax money, in this cultural management matter, is going to the preservation of our national heritage and the prevention of certain modern lifestyles that are deemed improper for this eight-century-old country.
Instead of working closely with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in this matter, maybe Ministry of Culture officials should sit down with their Ministry of Education counterparts in order to better understand how teenagers spend their days, and come up with better alternatives than staring at computer screens for six hours a day.
Despite my age, I can still recall secondary school days when I spent most of my school evenings on basketball courts, football fields, and in movie theatres. It was the pre-Internet, pre-O-NET, A-NET, GAT, PAT, and pre-Ministry of Culture era. I'm not even sure what it's called now, thanks to its frequent changes. Back then, my friends did not feel that it was a must to go to tuition schools in the evenings - we had had seven or eight hours of class already, and our teachers made sure that they were enough to get us into good universities.
I can also remember that often our teachers loaded us into buses to go to watch films or performance art outside the school. Interestingly enough, most of these were not programmes that were deemed traditional (and thus highly recommended by any cultural authority). Rather, they were what the teachers - who repeated to us that we could gain knowledge and experience not only in classrooms - found relevant to the content of some classes. The school administrators believed in this extra effort to organise such activities.
By working together, and perhaps combining their budgets, maybe the ministries of Culture and Education could devise a master plan to promote cultural extra-curricular activities for our teenagers, so that they have more activities to choose from, in addition to the online ones.
Let's look at an example here. In many countries, including a few in our region, schools receive extra funding from their ministries when they organise such extra-curricular activities. Meanwhile, arts companies also receive more funding from their relevant ministries when they host afternoon or evening activities for students. But of course, the Ministry of Education and schools must prove first that students do not need to attend tuition schools in order to be admitted to good universities. After all, we want the next generation in the work force to not only know how to work efficiently, but also to enjoy arts and culture.
This issue of problem-solution reminds me of a memorable experience at Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre last Thursday. Entering the playhouse, I was happy to see that there were four lines, instead of the previous two, for the audience to pass through the security check - in other words, metal detectors to make sure that we didn't bring in cameras to take still or moving images of the performance. I was shocked, though, that each member of the audience was asked to have their body temperature checked with an ear thermometer, which would be cleaned after each check. The theatre management team claims in the programme booklet that this is a precautionary measure for type-A(H1N1) flu. Well, I think they forget about ear infections. My job requires me to watch many live performances in different countries in the region, Since the breakout of swine flu, I've never seen such a precautionary measure anywhere else.
At the intermission, when nature called, I found that the gentlemen's restroom was also available for women. This innovative measure was to make sure that all female audience members could return to their seats in time for the curtain of the second act.
Twelve years ago, when I first visited the Stratford Festival of Canada, a volunteer staff member informed me that the main playhouse, called the Festival Theatre, had three times the number of women's restrooms than men's, to make sure that there'd be no long queues for women. That Canadian playhouse is more than a decade old, while our Muangthai Rachadalai Theatre is a little over two years old. So what's happening here? Did our Thai investors hire the wrong architects and interior designers - if I'm not mistaken, foreign ones - and now they have to solve these problems Thai style?
If they can spend scores of millions to bring over an international touring musical production, why can't they spend a few hundred thousand on temperature scanners, like those we see in some airports, and a few hundred thousand to rebuild toilets for more privacy?
Let's look at these problems carefully and thoroughly, and wisely solve them; otherwise, more relevant problems may arise and, now that our heads and hands are full, we will never be able to deal with them.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
MySpace snaps up iLike
News Corp's MySpace said on Wednesday it had agreed to buy music recommendation service iLike,as the once-hot social networking site tries to reinvent itself as an entertainment portal.
MySpace declined to disclose financial terms of an acquisition that brings iLike's twin brother founders Ali and Hadi Partovi and Nat Brown into the MySpace fold.
The site was backed by venture capital funds and Ticketmaster Entertainment.Several blogs, including AllThingsDigital,reported earlier in the week that iLike would be bought by MySpace for around $20 million.
iLike is best known as a popular social music discovery service on Facebook,the social networking site that has overtaken MySpace as the top Web destination for friends and family to share photos, messages, video clips and other media.
MySpace, which was once the most popular and fastest growing social networking site just two years ago, has lost ground with users who have moved onto Facebook or other sites.
"We think that integration of iLike should help drive stickier traffic and ultimately improve monetisation of MySpace user base," said JP Morgan analyst Imran Khan.
The acquisition comes as News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch has pressed to reinvent MySpace as an entertainment portal, taking advantage of its continued strength in areas like music and movies.
While it is still one of the most popular video and music sites, data from Nielsen shows time spent by users on MySpace fell by 31% between April 2008 and April 2009. In the same period, user time on Facebook grew 700%.
MySpace chief executive Owen Van Natta said on a conference call that iLike's social discovery technology could be extended to other areas for MySpace users beyond music - areas such as entertainment, video and games.
He explained this is why MySpace,rather than MySpace Music, made the acquisition. MySpace Music, which launched last September, is a joint venture between MySpace and the four major music companies EMI Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.
MySpace declined to disclose financial terms of an acquisition that brings iLike's twin brother founders Ali and Hadi Partovi and Nat Brown into the MySpace fold.
The site was backed by venture capital funds and Ticketmaster Entertainment.Several blogs, including AllThingsDigital,reported earlier in the week that iLike would be bought by MySpace for around $20 million.
iLike is best known as a popular social music discovery service on Facebook,the social networking site that has overtaken MySpace as the top Web destination for friends and family to share photos, messages, video clips and other media.
MySpace, which was once the most popular and fastest growing social networking site just two years ago, has lost ground with users who have moved onto Facebook or other sites.
"We think that integration of iLike should help drive stickier traffic and ultimately improve monetisation of MySpace user base," said JP Morgan analyst Imran Khan.
The acquisition comes as News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch has pressed to reinvent MySpace as an entertainment portal, taking advantage of its continued strength in areas like music and movies.
While it is still one of the most popular video and music sites, data from Nielsen shows time spent by users on MySpace fell by 31% between April 2008 and April 2009. In the same period, user time on Facebook grew 700%.
MySpace chief executive Owen Van Natta said on a conference call that iLike's social discovery technology could be extended to other areas for MySpace users beyond music - areas such as entertainment, video and games.
He explained this is why MySpace,rather than MySpace Music, made the acquisition. MySpace Music, which launched last September, is a joint venture between MySpace and the four major music companies EMI Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.
AIS warms your heart with its latest Personalbutler on-line service
Mr. Somchai Lertsutiwong, Executive Vice President-Marketing, Advanced Info Service Plc. (AIS), recently announced the luanch of AIS newest service called "อุ่นใจช่วยได (Aun-Jai-Chouy-Dai)" that takes a role of personal assistant 24 hours a day. AIS customers simply access the website www.ais.co.th/personalbutler to find any information needed such as handset setting, promotion assistant, job search, travel, health and many more.
"อุ่นใจช่วยได้ (Aun-Jai-Chouy-Dai)" is accessible from anywhere in the country and also available on mobile phone. To show the company's continual effort and dedication to providing the highest standard of quality service to its customers, this project is therefore introduced to effectively serve AIS customers and enhance customers comfort and convenient. AIS works in close cooperation with a many experienced web partners including www.Tourismthailand. org (travel) www.Guitarthai.com (entertainment-guitar) www.Dhamma4u.com (Dhama), www.Taklong.com (Photography), www.ejobeasy.com (job search), www.cheewajit.com (health) and wwwvcharkam.com (tutors) to ensure a variety of services for AIS customers.
"อุ่นใจช่วยได้ (Aun-Jai-Chouy-Dai)" is accessible from anywhere in the country and also available on mobile phone. To show the company's continual effort and dedication to providing the highest standard of quality service to its customers, this project is therefore introduced to effectively serve AIS customers and enhance customers comfort and convenient. AIS works in close cooperation with a many experienced web partners including www.Tourismthailand. org (travel) www.Guitarthai.com (entertainment-guitar) www.Dhamma4u.com (Dhama), www.Taklong.com (Photography), www.ejobeasy.com (job search), www.cheewajit.com (health) and wwwvcharkam.com (tutors) to ensure a variety of services for AIS customers.
Google gadgets
Google last week added socialnetworking features to its customisable homepages by adding software "gadgets" that enable people to play and stay in tune with friends.
The Internet giant announced the US debuts on iGoogle of 19 communityoriented mini-programs including chess and trivia game play and firing off updates about one's life.
"Social gadgets let you share, collaborate and play games with your friends on top of all the things you can already do on your homepage," Google vice president of search products and user experience Marissa Mayer and iGoogle product manager Rose Yao said in a joint message posted online.
"Your friends are able to see what you share or do in your social gadgets either by having the same gadgets on their homepages, or through a new feed called Updates."
People using iGoogle can create a "Friends" group to designate who they want to share digital data with.
The iGoogle social gadgets were launched recently in Australia and are being rolled out in the United States,according to Mayer and Yao.
"We hope these social gadgets make iGoogle even more fun and personal,"the executives said in their message.
There are more than 60,000 miniapplications in a gadget directory that can be used to customise iGoogle homepages with hip, playful, or functional programs, according to the California-based Internet goliath.
The addition of social gadgets comes as Google competes for people's online time with social-networking services Facebook and MySpace and microblogging sensation Twitter.
The Internet giant announced the US debuts on iGoogle of 19 communityoriented mini-programs including chess and trivia game play and firing off updates about one's life.
"Social gadgets let you share, collaborate and play games with your friends on top of all the things you can already do on your homepage," Google vice president of search products and user experience Marissa Mayer and iGoogle product manager Rose Yao said in a joint message posted online.
"Your friends are able to see what you share or do in your social gadgets either by having the same gadgets on their homepages, or through a new feed called Updates."
People using iGoogle can create a "Friends" group to designate who they want to share digital data with.
The iGoogle social gadgets were launched recently in Australia and are being rolled out in the United States,according to Mayer and Yao.
"We hope these social gadgets make iGoogle even more fun and personal,"the executives said in their message.
There are more than 60,000 miniapplications in a gadget directory that can be used to customise iGoogle homepages with hip, playful, or functional programs, according to the California-based Internet goliath.
The addition of social gadgets comes as Google competes for people's online time with social-networking services Facebook and MySpace and microblogging sensation Twitter.
United against spam
The three biggest mobile phone networks agreed to work together on a common goal - to reduce,and then to remove entirely the estimated nine million SMS spam messages sent to yuppiephone owners every day out of the total of 270 million texts;luckily for subscribers, almost all the spam they get is from the mobile phone companies, so this campaign should be a raging success within minutes;operators AIS of Shingapore,DTAC ofNorway and True Move of Thailand promised to spend 30 million baht on anti-spam software for the systems, and to try to block unsolicited messages across networks; special phone lines have been set up so subscribers can call the three companies whenever they want to block a certain spam.
The decidedly discourteous Nawanit Noichana,31, posted a message on Sanook.com forums suggesting that men might want to call a certain Ms Som for free sex, and provided her actual number; Ms Som in fact was totally unavailable and never knew about the message until she started getting nasty messages, courtesy of her old "friend";the judge was quite understanding about it all, and sentenced Nawanit to 12 hours of community service under threat of a one-year suspended jail sentence.
CEO Adisak Sukumvitaya of Jay Mart predicted his firm would quadruple its market share with a new marketing emphasis on its JFone house brand,from 8.5 percent in March to 40 percent by year's end; he claimed that JFones match the leading brands in functionality including 3G compatibility. Electronics manufacturer Stars Microelectronics (Thailand), prospering thanks to global sales of its keypads, announced plans to launch an IPO on the Stock Exchange of Thailand before the end of September.
World No 1 yuppiephone firm Nokia of Finland warned of "rampant counterfeiting" which might confuse consumers into buying a non-Nokia phone.
Whoa, dood, where's my recession?The Software Industry Promotion Agency reported that the Thai software industry looks likely to grow by six percent this year, outperforming virtually every economic sector; the big reason,said SIPA president Rungruang Limchoopatipa, is heavy demand from neighbouring countries for quality software, digital content and video animation sectors.
Manager Radio , the audio version of ASTV and voice of the yellow shirts and their People's Alliance for Democracy, stuck a sharp stick in the eye of the National Telecommunications Commission; there is no way, said the station's director Kongkiat Buddhalikit,that Manager Radio will pre-register as a community station as the NTC has demanded of every information radio service in the country; Mr Kongkiat told the media that Manager Radio is not a community station according to the NTC's own definition, and will not submit to the commission's authority; according to official figures, Manager was among an estimated 1,000 radio stations holding out on the registration demand,while more than 4,000 stations had succumbed to the demand to register, in return for a temporary one-year broadcast licence; under the licence terms,the NTC can suggest programming to radio stations.
GMM Grammy and RShave found recently that community radio is a great new channel for promoting their music;Soopachai Nillawan, managing director of the RS subsidiary Rsiam, said community radio is especially effective at promoting Luk Thung music, as local disk jockeys become influential with listeners; luckily there is absolutely no chance that any segment of the recording industry would stoop to paying DJs to play their music over that of rivals.
The government announced billions in subsidies to encourage Thais to drive more, and to use more electricity. The government tried to press ahead with promotion of so-called flex-fuel vehicles able to use 85-percent ethanol, but reviving automakers and oil companies said it was far too early to promote alternative energy, since there are almost no vehicles able to use it; Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul asked for lower import duties so that Thais can bring in foreign-made cars instead of buying locally made autos. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand said the government still owes 20 billion baht it has given in fuel subsidies, but Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his cabinet went ahead with new subsidies which will further add to the Egat debt by decreasing the cost of fuel tariffs (Ft)on the monthly electricity bills.
The decidedly discourteous Nawanit Noichana,31, posted a message on Sanook.com forums suggesting that men might want to call a certain Ms Som for free sex, and provided her actual number; Ms Som in fact was totally unavailable and never knew about the message until she started getting nasty messages, courtesy of her old "friend";the judge was quite understanding about it all, and sentenced Nawanit to 12 hours of community service under threat of a one-year suspended jail sentence.
CEO Adisak Sukumvitaya of Jay Mart predicted his firm would quadruple its market share with a new marketing emphasis on its JFone house brand,from 8.5 percent in March to 40 percent by year's end; he claimed that JFones match the leading brands in functionality including 3G compatibility. Electronics manufacturer Stars Microelectronics (Thailand), prospering thanks to global sales of its keypads, announced plans to launch an IPO on the Stock Exchange of Thailand before the end of September.
World No 1 yuppiephone firm Nokia of Finland warned of "rampant counterfeiting" which might confuse consumers into buying a non-Nokia phone.
Whoa, dood, where's my recession?The Software Industry Promotion Agency reported that the Thai software industry looks likely to grow by six percent this year, outperforming virtually every economic sector; the big reason,said SIPA president Rungruang Limchoopatipa, is heavy demand from neighbouring countries for quality software, digital content and video animation sectors.
Manager Radio , the audio version of ASTV and voice of the yellow shirts and their People's Alliance for Democracy, stuck a sharp stick in the eye of the National Telecommunications Commission; there is no way, said the station's director Kongkiat Buddhalikit,that Manager Radio will pre-register as a community station as the NTC has demanded of every information radio service in the country; Mr Kongkiat told the media that Manager Radio is not a community station according to the NTC's own definition, and will not submit to the commission's authority; according to official figures, Manager was among an estimated 1,000 radio stations holding out on the registration demand,while more than 4,000 stations had succumbed to the demand to register, in return for a temporary one-year broadcast licence; under the licence terms,the NTC can suggest programming to radio stations.
GMM Grammy and RShave found recently that community radio is a great new channel for promoting their music;Soopachai Nillawan, managing director of the RS subsidiary Rsiam, said community radio is especially effective at promoting Luk Thung music, as local disk jockeys become influential with listeners; luckily there is absolutely no chance that any segment of the recording industry would stoop to paying DJs to play their music over that of rivals.
The government announced billions in subsidies to encourage Thais to drive more, and to use more electricity. The government tried to press ahead with promotion of so-called flex-fuel vehicles able to use 85-percent ethanol, but reviving automakers and oil companies said it was far too early to promote alternative energy, since there are almost no vehicles able to use it; Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul asked for lower import duties so that Thais can bring in foreign-made cars instead of buying locally made autos. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand said the government still owes 20 billion baht it has given in fuel subsidies, but Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his cabinet went ahead with new subsidies which will further add to the Egat debt by decreasing the cost of fuel tariffs (Ft)on the monthly electricity bills.
Social security
Whoever called them "social networks" must be having a second and third thought after a week of decidedly un-social activity around them; Russians... well, all right people at machines that seemed to be in Russia launched sustained denialof-service attacks that literally knocked Twitter off the air entirely for several hours, and almost did the same to Facebook and the blogging site Live Journal ,which become so slow they were almost unuseable; Georgian blogger Cyxymu said credibly it was all about him- the Russians hate that he tells the truth about the Russian-Georgian spats and war so much, that their e-vigilantes tried to close down all his platforms;the hackers used botnets to launch the attacks; those are machines (possibly yours) that have been hijacked by hackers by a variety of methods including fake email and malicious websites; used typically to mail billions of spam, they are so powerful that they only can be used for good, for evil or for being decidedly unsocial.
Then there are the US Marines, not known as a group to be all that sociable anyhow; their officers ordered all Marines off Twitter and Facebook ; in their typically diplomatic manner, the Marine commanders explained:"These Internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user-generated content, and targeting by adversaries."
That could be why the National Football League , comprising the major US gridiron clubs, ordered all US professional football players not to use Twitter ;the multi-millionaire sportsmen will be fined $1,701, or 58,054 baht,(it's the NFL's maximum) per Tweet; or maybe NFL officials simply want to flaunt their control of content. The same could be said for the international sports network ESPN , which informed its employees they are banned from sending any sports-related news over Twitter and Facebook without written permission;violators can be fired on the spot.
Apple Inc has done a lot to make the name iPhone a synonym for phone,but the spiffy appliance actually only has an 8 percent share of the smartphone market; just as impressive as the propaganda machine, however, is the accounting office; Bernstein Research reported that in the second quarter of the year, the iPhone and its 65,000 apps (1.5 billion downloaded) had accumulated 32 percent of all profits in the smartphone niche. Google CEO Eric "I Know Jack" Schmidt resigned as a director of Apple Inc ; US regulators said they might well sue Schmidt and Apple for a conflict of interest and attempted monopoly anyhow.
Google announced yet another microscopic upgrade to its quick but faltering Google Chrome web browser;this time, Chrome comes with 29 skins to compete with the 20,000 for Firefox .Apple Inc released Mac OS X 10.5.8,which marginally increased security for Appleholics and makes the AirPort networks work.
Google bought the Internet video specialists On2 Technologies for $106.5 million; the purpose of the deal is to use On2's technology which allow better quality video, all part of the Google hope it can improve YouTube enough to make money from it. US media tycoon Rupert Murdoch of News Corp said he was just kidding about how news wants to be free; beginning almost immediately, you will pay to see the Times (of London) online, or you won't see it;Murdoch said he also will add charges to websites for his other newspapers;it's hard to figure why anyone would pay to see news on the Internet, and not as hard as it is to figure why Murdoch and others believe we will.
Microsoft paid enough money to feed all the world's orphans for weeks in order to make Patrick De Schutter and French friends at Office.com go away and move their website to ContactOffice.com, because Microsoft needs Office.com more than the orphans; in fact Microsoft wouldn't say what it paid for the domain name, and pretended there was some sort of mystery over what product it might promote there;hint: Office 2010 will be partly based on the web, and is in final development at the moment.
Publicis Groupe of France, one of the world's largest advertising companies, paid Microsoft $530 million in cash and stock for Razorfish , Microsoft's "preferred provider" for Internet advertising; the purchase, however, was more significantly an advertising deal,where Publicis agreed to spend grazillions on advertising through Microsoft over the next five years.
Microsoft held its chin up and its upper lip stiff as it came to Asia to promote the abysmally unpopular hosted messaging and small-business aid Business Productivity Online Suite,which some argue does not need the "B" in the initials BPOS; Allison Watson,corporate vice president for Microsoft's worldwide partner group, said in Singapore than Asians will be much faster than farangs in seeing the greatness of BPOS and joining on; the service actually offers free domain names, websites and more for small and medium businesses,and it will likely be a key part of Microsoft's plans to offer more online services like Microsoft Office.
Florida resident Keith R. Griffin told the judge that he did not download 1,000 images of child pornography; he said his cat would jump on the keyboard and by accident hit the keys to download the photos; the detectives knew he was lying, wrote a Wall Street Journal columnist, because cats never use the keyboard commands - they prefer the mouse.
Then there are the US Marines, not known as a group to be all that sociable anyhow; their officers ordered all Marines off Twitter and Facebook ; in their typically diplomatic manner, the Marine commanders explained:"These Internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user-generated content, and targeting by adversaries."
That could be why the National Football League , comprising the major US gridiron clubs, ordered all US professional football players not to use Twitter ;the multi-millionaire sportsmen will be fined $1,701, or 58,054 baht,(it's the NFL's maximum) per Tweet; or maybe NFL officials simply want to flaunt their control of content. The same could be said for the international sports network ESPN , which informed its employees they are banned from sending any sports-related news over Twitter and Facebook without written permission;violators can be fired on the spot.
Apple Inc has done a lot to make the name iPhone a synonym for phone,but the spiffy appliance actually only has an 8 percent share of the smartphone market; just as impressive as the propaganda machine, however, is the accounting office; Bernstein Research reported that in the second quarter of the year, the iPhone and its 65,000 apps (1.5 billion downloaded) had accumulated 32 percent of all profits in the smartphone niche. Google CEO Eric "I Know Jack" Schmidt resigned as a director of Apple Inc ; US regulators said they might well sue Schmidt and Apple for a conflict of interest and attempted monopoly anyhow.
Google announced yet another microscopic upgrade to its quick but faltering Google Chrome web browser;this time, Chrome comes with 29 skins to compete with the 20,000 for Firefox .Apple Inc released Mac OS X 10.5.8,which marginally increased security for Appleholics and makes the AirPort networks work.
Google bought the Internet video specialists On2 Technologies for $106.5 million; the purpose of the deal is to use On2's technology which allow better quality video, all part of the Google hope it can improve YouTube enough to make money from it. US media tycoon Rupert Murdoch of News Corp said he was just kidding about how news wants to be free; beginning almost immediately, you will pay to see the Times (of London) online, or you won't see it;Murdoch said he also will add charges to websites for his other newspapers;it's hard to figure why anyone would pay to see news on the Internet, and not as hard as it is to figure why Murdoch and others believe we will.
Microsoft paid enough money to feed all the world's orphans for weeks in order to make Patrick De Schutter and French friends at Office.com go away and move their website to ContactOffice.com, because Microsoft needs Office.com more than the orphans; in fact Microsoft wouldn't say what it paid for the domain name, and pretended there was some sort of mystery over what product it might promote there;hint: Office 2010 will be partly based on the web, and is in final development at the moment.
Publicis Groupe of France, one of the world's largest advertising companies, paid Microsoft $530 million in cash and stock for Razorfish , Microsoft's "preferred provider" for Internet advertising; the purchase, however, was more significantly an advertising deal,where Publicis agreed to spend grazillions on advertising through Microsoft over the next five years.
Microsoft held its chin up and its upper lip stiff as it came to Asia to promote the abysmally unpopular hosted messaging and small-business aid Business Productivity Online Suite,which some argue does not need the "B" in the initials BPOS; Allison Watson,corporate vice president for Microsoft's worldwide partner group, said in Singapore than Asians will be much faster than farangs in seeing the greatness of BPOS and joining on; the service actually offers free domain names, websites and more for small and medium businesses,and it will likely be a key part of Microsoft's plans to offer more online services like Microsoft Office.
Florida resident Keith R. Griffin told the judge that he did not download 1,000 images of child pornography; he said his cat would jump on the keyboard and by accident hit the keys to download the photos; the detectives knew he was lying, wrote a Wall Street Journal columnist, because cats never use the keyboard commands - they prefer the mouse.
Google appoints ReadyPlanet
In a bid to strengthen its AdWords search engine marketing, Google recently appointed ReadyPlanet, the ready-made website provider, the authorised reseller in Thailand.
"We expect to have a fast growth of customers here as Thailand is one of the fastest growing markets for Google,"said Charif El Ansari, head of online and reseller sales, Google Southeast Asia.
Citing the ITU's report of 14 million Internet users in Thailand, he said the kingdom is a very exciting market for Google. Only 100,000 of the 850,000 SMEs here have websites, he said.
Out of a total advertising expenditure of 90,000 million baht, the budget they allocated for online media is only one percent, or 900 million baht.
A few months ago the company addressed its 3P strategy (platform, promotion and partnership) calling for the economic value to SMEs. The platform of AdWords has been improved together with the payment system. El Ansari added that Google has completed the jigsaw of strategy through the partnership with ReadyPlanet.
Having worked together for six months, ReadyPlanet last week was officially appointed the first authorised Google AdWords reseller in Thailand and is the first in Southeast Asia to provide a 24-7 call centre service to its customers.
El Ansari added that existing AdWords clients can either manage their own campaigns or do so through ReadyPlanet.
For the agencies, Google has continued to support them as usual including online training, while the relationship with ReadyPlanet will focus more on in-depth knowledge. ReadyPlanet will offer a com-prehensive search engine marketing strategy and planning, create and manage Google AdWords campaigns, campaign performance analysis and email and phone support.
According to Pornthip Kongchun,Google Thailand marketing manager,the online search engine marketing AdWords is a relevant, cost-effective, measurable and flexible program that enables businesses to attract highly qualified sales leads to their websites.
AdWords are the brief, four line text ads which show up as "Sponsored Links"at the top or right side of the results page when users conduct a Google search. Businesses choose the keywords they want their ads to appear next to and pay if a user clicks on their ad.Prices are determined through a keyword auction and can range from a 0.35 baht to a few hundred baht, depending on the keyword.
Grand Planet Enterprise CEO, Songyot Kanthamanon, who provides total website solutions called ReadyPlanet said the collaboration between Google and ReadyPlanet will help uplift the service quality of online marketing and will also be beneficial to the industry as a whole.
ReadyPlanet today has more than 8,000 customers and initially they will be the primary target group of Google AdWords marketing tool of which the company expects that some 300-500 of them to adopt the AdWords by this year.
COO Burin Kledmanee explained that customers need to pay for two parts:first to Google with cost per click which starts at 0.35 baht a click and the latter to ReadyPlanet for campaign management at a charge of 2,000 baht a month.Customers can choose to run the campaign for 3 or 6 or 12 months.
"We expect to have a fast growth of customers here as Thailand is one of the fastest growing markets for Google,"said Charif El Ansari, head of online and reseller sales, Google Southeast Asia.
Citing the ITU's report of 14 million Internet users in Thailand, he said the kingdom is a very exciting market for Google. Only 100,000 of the 850,000 SMEs here have websites, he said.
Out of a total advertising expenditure of 90,000 million baht, the budget they allocated for online media is only one percent, or 900 million baht.
A few months ago the company addressed its 3P strategy (platform, promotion and partnership) calling for the economic value to SMEs. The platform of AdWords has been improved together with the payment system. El Ansari added that Google has completed the jigsaw of strategy through the partnership with ReadyPlanet.
Having worked together for six months, ReadyPlanet last week was officially appointed the first authorised Google AdWords reseller in Thailand and is the first in Southeast Asia to provide a 24-7 call centre service to its customers.
El Ansari added that existing AdWords clients can either manage their own campaigns or do so through ReadyPlanet.
For the agencies, Google has continued to support them as usual including online training, while the relationship with ReadyPlanet will focus more on in-depth knowledge. ReadyPlanet will offer a com-prehensive search engine marketing strategy and planning, create and manage Google AdWords campaigns, campaign performance analysis and email and phone support.
According to Pornthip Kongchun,Google Thailand marketing manager,the online search engine marketing AdWords is a relevant, cost-effective, measurable and flexible program that enables businesses to attract highly qualified sales leads to their websites.
AdWords are the brief, four line text ads which show up as "Sponsored Links"at the top or right side of the results page when users conduct a Google search. Businesses choose the keywords they want their ads to appear next to and pay if a user clicks on their ad.Prices are determined through a keyword auction and can range from a 0.35 baht to a few hundred baht, depending on the keyword.
Grand Planet Enterprise CEO, Songyot Kanthamanon, who provides total website solutions called ReadyPlanet said the collaboration between Google and ReadyPlanet will help uplift the service quality of online marketing and will also be beneficial to the industry as a whole.
ReadyPlanet today has more than 8,000 customers and initially they will be the primary target group of Google AdWords marketing tool of which the company expects that some 300-500 of them to adopt the AdWords by this year.
COO Burin Kledmanee explained that customers need to pay for two parts:first to Google with cost per click which starts at 0.35 baht a click and the latter to ReadyPlanet for campaign management at a charge of 2,000 baht a month.Customers can choose to run the campaign for 3 or 6 or 12 months.
Facebook challenges Twitter
The Internet was buzzing last week with talk of Facebook testing a streamlined "Lite" version of the social-networking service that could challenge microblogging sensation Twitter.
"We are currently testing a simplified alternative to Facebook.com that loads a specific set of features quickly and efficiently," the Internet star said in reply to an AFP inquiry.
"Similar to the Facebook experience you get on your mobile phones, Facebook Lite is a fast-loading, simplified version of Facebook that enables people to make comments, accept Friend requests, write on people's Walls, and look at photos and Status updates."
Facebook Lite is being tested in India and other countries where new users flooding to the service "are looking to start off with a more simple experience,"according to the Palo Alto, Californiabased firm.
A test website at lite.facebook.com was accidently opened to an expanded audience on Tuesday night, but the slip was caught and traffic routed to standard Facebook pages.
Invitations to take part in a private test of "Facebook Lite" evidently reached a variety of US bloggers only to have the enclosed links vanish a short time later.
"Lite" screen shots captured and posted online revealed a Facebook page devoted to fresh comments and updates from friends in a style that could challenge the real-time interplay at Twitter.
Facebook announced on Monday that it has acquired FriendFeed, a Silicon Valley start-up which allows members to see what their friends are doing online and share content.
Facebook said that the 12 employees of the Mountain View, California-based FriendFeed will join Facebook and its four founders will hold senior roles on Facebook's engineering and product teams.
The acquisition of FriendFeed and testing of "Facebook Lite" follows socialnetworking star's failed attempt last year to buy Twitter.
FriendFeed has been described as a potential rival to Twitter in its ability to conduct real-time search, an area where Facebook has been seeking to expand.
Facebook is the fastest growing social network on the Internet.
"We are currently testing a simplified alternative to Facebook.com that loads a specific set of features quickly and efficiently," the Internet star said in reply to an AFP inquiry.
"Similar to the Facebook experience you get on your mobile phones, Facebook Lite is a fast-loading, simplified version of Facebook that enables people to make comments, accept Friend requests, write on people's Walls, and look at photos and Status updates."
Facebook Lite is being tested in India and other countries where new users flooding to the service "are looking to start off with a more simple experience,"according to the Palo Alto, Californiabased firm.
A test website at lite.facebook.com was accidently opened to an expanded audience on Tuesday night, but the slip was caught and traffic routed to standard Facebook pages.
Invitations to take part in a private test of "Facebook Lite" evidently reached a variety of US bloggers only to have the enclosed links vanish a short time later.
"Lite" screen shots captured and posted online revealed a Facebook page devoted to fresh comments and updates from friends in a style that could challenge the real-time interplay at Twitter.
Facebook announced on Monday that it has acquired FriendFeed, a Silicon Valley start-up which allows members to see what their friends are doing online and share content.
Facebook said that the 12 employees of the Mountain View, California-based FriendFeed will join Facebook and its four founders will hold senior roles on Facebook's engineering and product teams.
The acquisition of FriendFeed and testing of "Facebook Lite" follows socialnetworking star's failed attempt last year to buy Twitter.
FriendFeed has been described as a potential rival to Twitter in its ability to conduct real-time search, an area where Facebook has been seeking to expand.
Facebook is the fastest growing social network on the Internet.
Site snaps and shames bad drivers
Are you bad driver? If so, then beware you may appear on www.drivedd.com,a new site which allows users to share pictures of less-disciplined driving.
Drivedd.com, representative Anirut Titiyangkul said the aim of the site is to encourage more responsible driving behaviour and habits.
The website is open to everybody to register and upload pictures. Members will have their own personal page, on which visitors will be able to leave picture comment.
Using web 2.0 technologies already employed by blogs, RSS, Google Maps and social networking sites such as Twitter, Exif Module will be used on DriveDD to recognise where the pictures were taken. The site will also soon support iPhone, allowing users to upload pictures from their handsets.
Pictures posted on the site should increase road safety, responsibility and awareness. DriveDD expects that its contribution the problem within three years.
The site has been open just over a month and attracted 20,000 visitors in its first week. This was above expectations but the site owners are ready to upgrade the system to support more traffic.
Currently, the site has more than 200 registered users and already hosts some 40,000 pictures showing interesting areas and incidents.
The site also helps traffic officers and others who may have a vested interest in problem areas to gain a better understanding of the regions and thus handle problems better.
In the future, Anirut expects this website will encourage further development of Government 2.0 through its role in providing information and evidence for traffic management and transportation system issues.
"We are doing this as a social service,"he said,"so we hope to receive sponsorship in order to run a sustainable operation."
Drivedd.com, representative Anirut Titiyangkul said the aim of the site is to encourage more responsible driving behaviour and habits.
The website is open to everybody to register and upload pictures. Members will have their own personal page, on which visitors will be able to leave picture comment.
Using web 2.0 technologies already employed by blogs, RSS, Google Maps and social networking sites such as Twitter, Exif Module will be used on DriveDD to recognise where the pictures were taken. The site will also soon support iPhone, allowing users to upload pictures from their handsets.
Pictures posted on the site should increase road safety, responsibility and awareness. DriveDD expects that its contribution the problem within three years.
The site has been open just over a month and attracted 20,000 visitors in its first week. This was above expectations but the site owners are ready to upgrade the system to support more traffic.
Currently, the site has more than 200 registered users and already hosts some 40,000 pictures showing interesting areas and incidents.
The site also helps traffic officers and others who may have a vested interest in problem areas to gain a better understanding of the regions and thus handle problems better.
In the future, Anirut expects this website will encourage further development of Government 2.0 through its role in providing information and evidence for traffic management and transportation system issues.
"We are doing this as a social service,"he said,"so we hope to receive sponsorship in order to run a sustainable operation."
Teamwork as government embraces PKI
In an attempt to boost awareness of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology, a key factor to secure online commerce, the public and private sector has teamed up to form the Thailand PKI Association.
The association has been formed by those who are providing certification authority (known as CA), application development companies, government agencies and other concerned parties.
PKI is the essential infrastructure for electronic commerce as it minimises the risk of fraud, according to Sak Segkhoonthod Director of Government Information Technology.
As the chairman of the association,Sak noted that the group's mission is to build PKI awareness in Thailand and strengthen technical assistance for those who deal with e-commerce.
The establishment of the association is the first step of Thailand's readiness in providing CA to international standard.
Members include those who run e-commerce businesses such as banks,stock exchanged listed companies, and government agencies.
Bank of Thailand has been developing infrastructure to serve CA and every commercial bank must comply with the same standard.
The components, including infrastructure network, operation and security system of e-commerce, has already been completed. The association will now encourage those public and private sectors to partake in e-commerce while the association acts as the centre of technical knowledge and PKI operations.
According to National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec)legal expert Surangkana Wayuparb, PKI is a strategy to ensure the trust of online trading of Thailand.
Besides encouraging awareness, it also proves the readiness in self-regulation of CA and PKI application developers.
Currently, there are some 10,000 digital certificates and it is expected that at least 100,000 more will be issued within one year, especially those in logistics and import/export companies, Surangkana said.
The association recently has invited PKI experts from Taiwan, both of public and private sector, to share their experience and success factors in addressing PKI to build security and lessen risk in e-commerce."Taiwan has been very successful in the field by which today there are 2 million electronic certificates,"Sak said.
Meanwhile, Nectec has been working with organisations in Taiwan in knowhow transferring."Taiwan will disclose the source code or algorithm to Thailand," the association chairman said.
According to National Statistical Office (NSO), the value of e-commerce of Thailand in 2007, mostly B2G, was recorded at 427 million baht.
About 50 percent of internet surfers in Thailand have reportedly engaged in online trading, but the survey conducted by the NSO on people at six years old upward found that 97 percent said they never booked or purchased goods online because they did not trust the online traders, and also because they had not physically seen the products.
The association has been formed by those who are providing certification authority (known as CA), application development companies, government agencies and other concerned parties.
PKI is the essential infrastructure for electronic commerce as it minimises the risk of fraud, according to Sak Segkhoonthod Director of Government Information Technology.
As the chairman of the association,Sak noted that the group's mission is to build PKI awareness in Thailand and strengthen technical assistance for those who deal with e-commerce.
The establishment of the association is the first step of Thailand's readiness in providing CA to international standard.
Members include those who run e-commerce businesses such as banks,stock exchanged listed companies, and government agencies.
Bank of Thailand has been developing infrastructure to serve CA and every commercial bank must comply with the same standard.
The components, including infrastructure network, operation and security system of e-commerce, has already been completed. The association will now encourage those public and private sectors to partake in e-commerce while the association acts as the centre of technical knowledge and PKI operations.
According to National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec)legal expert Surangkana Wayuparb, PKI is a strategy to ensure the trust of online trading of Thailand.
Besides encouraging awareness, it also proves the readiness in self-regulation of CA and PKI application developers.
Currently, there are some 10,000 digital certificates and it is expected that at least 100,000 more will be issued within one year, especially those in logistics and import/export companies, Surangkana said.
The association recently has invited PKI experts from Taiwan, both of public and private sector, to share their experience and success factors in addressing PKI to build security and lessen risk in e-commerce."Taiwan has been very successful in the field by which today there are 2 million electronic certificates,"Sak said.
Meanwhile, Nectec has been working with organisations in Taiwan in knowhow transferring."Taiwan will disclose the source code or algorithm to Thailand," the association chairman said.
According to National Statistical Office (NSO), the value of e-commerce of Thailand in 2007, mostly B2G, was recorded at 427 million baht.
About 50 percent of internet surfers in Thailand have reportedly engaged in online trading, but the survey conducted by the NSO on people at six years old upward found that 97 percent said they never booked or purchased goods online because they did not trust the online traders, and also because they had not physically seen the products.
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