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Would you like to receive regular email updates of my ecommerce and marketing research, plus news of additions to the site? Subscribe today for free via the form in the right hand column of this page! April 30 Google IPO - the speculation is overAfter over a year of intense speculation of when it would happen, Google has registered for a $2.7 billion initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission! Learn more about the offering and some very interesting financial stats relating to the search engine giant in this article on CNN and also an excellent in-depth study by Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch. April 29 Outsourcing - jobs coming back homeOutsourcing, depending on the side of the fence that you're on, has been a specter hanging over Western developers and programmers for a few years now. The "will code for food" jokes that used to do the rounds are no longer a laughing matter. When I was training people in a classroom environment regarding online business some years ago, I would would warn aspiring developers that they faced tough times ahead. I suggested they they needed to be more creative in their career approach and act as a middleman, coordinating projects, rather than in a hands-on role as I could see that cheap labor costs in other countries would take work away from them. Not many listened unfortunately, and most of them are either unemployed or now working in non-IT related fields. However, an interesting trend has begun to emerge according to this article from Express India; suggesting that some IT jobs are finding their way back to the West, due to a "lack of creativity" in Indian programmers and IT professionals. The very interesting point is that the executives claiming this are Indians themselves. I don't agree with all the points made, although I totally agree that elements of a project that require a knowledge of Western business practices and psychology (marketing aspects) are better left to local contractors. Outsourcing overseas can be a very economical alternative and there's some truly brilliant talent to be utilized in places like India and Eastern Europe. It's been my experience working with a number of overseas developers, that when things go wrong in projects, it's usually due to the project not being properly scoped out and communicated, or cultural/language differences throwing a spanner in the works. It can be very frustrating for all parties. Learn more about outsourcing development work.
April 26 Company sues over JPEG related patentForgent Networks has announced that it intends suing companies including Adobe, Agfa, Apple, Canon, Creative Labs, Dell, Kodak, Fuji, Gateway, HP, IBM, JVC, Macromedia, Palm One, Panasonic, Toshiba, Xerox and 13 other companies over what it claims to be an infringement of its 1986 patent on image compression technology. The affected companies claim that they use JPEG compression technology that does not infringe on the patented methods. Phishing increases dramaticallyAccording to studies carried out by MessageLabs, "phishing" has increased around 1,200 percent in the past six months. While it it is difficult to estimate the number of people that fall for phishing schemes, analysts are stating that up to to five percent of phishing emails are successful in obtaining sensitive data. What is phishing?Phishing (pronounced "fishing") is a "social engineering" strategy used to trick people into revealing passwords. An email is sent to a person claiming to be from their bank or other legitimate organization stating that they need to take urgent action to prevent their account being closed or similar calls to action that instill fear into the person. The email usually directs a person to an online form that is branded to look exactly like the organization web site. The form will usually ask for sensitive details such as passwords, social security numbers, credit card details etc. While many attempts at phishing last year were very easy to spot due to poor grammar in emails and poorly designed sites; fraudsters are becoming increasingly skilled in mimicking style and language of communications. Fraudsters use "drive-by" tactics in their mailout by using lists containing millions of email addresses in the hope of snaring a small percentage of people that have a relationship with the organization they are imitating. Based on the 5 percent success rate, a mailout to 30 million people where only 20% of the mail is successfully delivered and only 1% of those people have accounts with the organization; a fraudster can expect to obtain the details of 600 people. Frightening stuff. The cost of phishing isn't just to the consumer and the organization being targeted. It creates an air of distrust amongst users that affects all of us involve with online business. Credibility is becoming an even more critical component of a successful ecommerce site. April 18 Amazon launches A9 search engineIn amongst the fanfare and new feature frenzy of the big 2, Google and Yahoo, Amazon has quietly launched their own search engine; A9.com. A9 mixes Google powered results along with relevant products from Amazons own inventory and partners. Web results from Google with product search results from Amazon. One of the interesting features of the search results is that if you move your mouse over the "site info" button, it pops a window that shows Alexa ranking information. I don't think this will benefit Joe Surfer, but it is an interesting tool when hunting reciprocal link partners or just noseying around the competition :). One usual feature for surfers is the search history function. And is Amazon offering a search browser toolbar - of course they are; isn't everyone these days? :). I'm getting to the stage of having a browser screen area occupied more by toolbars than content..
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In Loving Memory - Mignon Ann Bloch
copyright (c) 1999-2007 Taming the Beast Adelaide - South Australia
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