November 2009

World Running Out Of Web Addresses

An article out of the Telegraph today say that the Internet could run out of web addresses by the end of 2010.  A report released by the European Commission, found that only a small percentage of companies are prepared for the switch from Internet Protocol, IPv4 to IPv6.  Many experts have suggested that the world could run out of Internet addresses within the next year or two, however that could be avoided if more companies switch to the new platform.

Only 17% of 610 institutions surveyed throughout Europe, Asia & the Middle East have upgraded from the IPv4 protocol to IPv6. If the remaining 83% do not upgrade, the world wide web may be left in the dark as the Internet can only support somewhere between 4 and 4.5 billion unique IP addresses.  An IP address is the unique string of numbers associated with every website in existence. (more…)

Online Retailers Expected To Have Best Holiday Season

Forrester Research came out with a survey Monday, which said that online retailers will see an 8% increase in sales since last year while stationary retailers are expected to show no increase.  And with online advertising through the  use of social media, this is no surprise, since the world is trying to break out of the global economic crisis. 

The National Retail Federation has unfortunately forecasted a 1% decline in overall U.S. holiday sales this year. The Forrester survey which had polled more than 4,000 U.S. online consumers found that 94% of those who have shopped online within the past three months plan to shop online this holiday season. (more…)

Skype Founders vs. eBay Lawsuit May End Soon

eBay is being sued by the founders of the free online phone service, Skype for copyright infringement and claim damages are growing at a rate of at least $75 million a day.  Earlier this year, eBay announced they were looking to sell Skype, after they had purchased it in 2005 from founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom for over $2.6 billion. 

Although the site was sold to eBay, Friis & Zennstrom, who have since started Joltid, still own the source code and the actual rights to the software of Skype.  The two are accusing eBay of sharing the software’s code to third parties, interested in Skype, who have copied and altered it without permission. 

According to a New York Times article, the founders have shown interested and have tried raising money to purchase the service back.  However, eBay has since made a deal to sell 65% of Skype to Silver Lake, a private equity firm in Canada, while holding onto the remaining 35%. 

eBay said in a statemtent that Friis & Zennstrom’s “allegations and claims are without merit and are founded on fundamental legal and factual errors.”

Om Malik, reporter for Gigaom.com reported Sunday that the case may be coming to an end according to inside sources.  “The ongoing legal scuffle between Skype, a division of eBay, and its founders, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, may soon see a resolution, according to someone familiar with the situation. The parties are in discussions to resolve the various issues. The talks are described to be at a sensitive stage and can break down without any conclusion. If the founders and the company can come to an agreement, Skype will be able continue to use JoltID’s technology to power Skype and not disrupt the service that is currently used by hundreds of millions consumers.”

New Google Check Out Feature Debuts

Google Checkout has rolled out a new “Promotional Checkout” option, which will allow online US merchants to offer checkout promotions at anytime.  Effective as of late last week, users can sign into their into Checkout accounts, click on the ‘Tools’ tab where they’ll be able to use the Promotions link to create a promotion while checking out.  Google states the entire process takes less than a minute. 

Sellers will be able to choose a specific date and time, that they’d like the offer to run, and choose from a wide selection of discounts they want to offer potential buyers.  When it’s time for the promotion to go live, Google will immediately change the standard checkout icon, to display the discount amount, along with a cart minimum. 

(more…)

Spammer Looses $711 Million To Facebook

Late last week, a San Jose, California judge awarded Facebook $711 million.  This comes after Sanford Wallace, a spammer who had hacked into users profile,  posted phony wall post and messages to those users friends.  In March of this year, Wallace along with Adam Arzoomanian and Scott Shaw had all been sued and had been put on a restraining order by Facebook.  The restraining order was put into place, so that if any of three hacked into Facebook again, they will be thrown into jail immediately. (more…)

Facebook Gearing Up For New Policy’s

The first week of November is always a busy and important one in America.  With elections happening across the country, it can be an overwhelming week.  Although, this year we don’t have to make any important Presidential choices, Facebook is gearing to let users vote on a new set of policy’s. 

Earlier this year, Facebook had established the System Of Governance, after users were outraged by the new set of privacy policy’s were put into place.   Soon after, Facebook had allowed users to not only comment on how they would like the policy’s to be, but also vote on the proposed changes.  (more…)

Social Media Phones

There is a pretty good chance you know several people with an iPhone or Blackberry.  The iPhone, known for all the apps and being able to connect with anyone just about anywhere, is a great tool to use in the world of social media.  The Blackberry, a more business professional phone, also has apps and connects owners with their social networking sites.  Well there are 3 new phone devices expected to hit the market that will keep users even closer to their social networks more then they are now. (more…)