Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. owns an iPad but says it destroys jobs. (Photo Credits: Jackson: CC BY-ND/Selmarkblog; CC BY-SA/John.Karakatsanis/Flickr)

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) was for the iPad before he was against it. Just one month ago, Jackson lauded Apple’s groundbreaking tablet as a revolutionary educational tool. On Friday, however, iPad owner Jackson turned around and exclaimed before Congress that the iPad is a dangerous device that is “probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs,” reports the Huffington Post.

The iPad will kill publishing, says Jackson

The recent bankruptcy of Borders Books and the sea change toward textbookless campuses has the junior congressman from Illinois up in arms today, and the iPad is the catalyst.

“What becomes of publishing companies and publishing company jobs?” Jackson asked the House. “What becomes of bookstores and librarians and all of the jobs associated with paper? Well, in the not-too-distant future, such jobs simply won’t exist.”

Jackson also objected to China being the primary production source of iPad parts.

“There is no protection for jobs here in America to ensure that the American people are being put to work.”

Biting the hand that feeds the US

Business Insider points out that Jackson is not considering the wealth the iPad has generated – not only for Apple, but a wide variety of industries. MarketCues suggests that the iPad will prove to be the nexus from which a number of billion-dollar industries could conceivably spring. E-readers and the iPad provide publishers with myriad opportunities to create interactive textbooks while greatly reducing the costs of producing frequent new editions, a boon for students.

Traditional publishing is an old technology in need of evolution, suggests @Craigmod. The lessened environmental impact of digital publishing coupled with convenience and immediacy that e-books provide translates into good will plus e-commerce transactions. More than 65 percent of iPad owners use the device to read e-books, and the iPad generates more than $2 billion in total revenue per quarter, according to Morgan Stanley.

The revolution will be tablet-televised

Publishers must adapt to the revolution and not flip-flop like Jesse Jackson Jr. Amazon already sells more e-books than print books (per late 2010 figures). Similarly, iPad users also support periodicals. According to YUDU Media, iPad users spend as much as 30 times more time on sites like GQ.com, VanityFair.com and Wired.com via iPad app compared to a desktop computer browser. In fact, sales of the Wired.com iPad app surpassed the Wired print edition in late 2010.

As the iPad TV ad says, “It’s already a revolution, and it’s only just begun.” Jesse Jackson Jr. may have lost his invitation.

Sources

@Craigmod

The Hill

Huffington Post

MarketCues

Nieman Journalism Blog

Publishing Perspectives

Real Clear Politics

TSTC Publishing’s Book Business Blog

YUDU Media

Economies evolve, pontificators pontificate

Will an ad-based Amazon Kindle ruin your reading experience? (Photo Credit: CC BY-SA/Graeme Douglas/Planning for Fun)

The traditional publishing industry has lost ground to e-readers, tablets and other mobile devices, and Amazon is sitting pretty with its Kindle platform. Industry studies indicate that the Kindle currently holds a 60 percent share in the e-reader market, a figure that will no doubt improve as the company introduces the $114 Amazon Kindle with Special Offers. Yet there’s a catch – those Special Offers are advertisements, a move that has many worried about the shape of the reading experience to come.

Is an ad-based Kindle worth $25 off standard price?

The price of the Amazon Kindle has fallen a few times since the first generation was introduced at $399 in 2007. This is the first time, however, that a price reduction will include the placement of ads on the popular e-reader, a move geared to capture ground from the iPad in the e-reader market. The Kindle with Special Offers is slated to ship May 3. Target and Best Buy will sell the ad-supported version of the Kindle 3 in stores at that time.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos sees the $114 Kindle with Special Offers as a “chicken in every pot” move:

“We’re working hard to make sure that anyone who wants a Kindle can afford one,” he said via a statement.

Reader response to a Christian Science Monitor article about the price cut seems to echo the fears most consumers have about an ad-based Kindle. One reader argues for a free ad-based Kindle with $0.99 books, but that reflects another thorny issue regarding the price of e-books. Another reader concurs that a $25 discount isn’t enough to make up for the presence of ads, but one thing experts believe Amazon has done right is to isolate the ads to the Kindle’s screensaver and the bottom of the home screen.

“It’s very important that we didn’t interfere with the reading experience,” Kindle director Jay Marine told the Associated Press.

What’s in a price?

TechCrunch predicts that the $114 Amazon Kindle with Special Features is an intermediary step toward a $99 Kindle for Christmas 2011. Traditional marketing psychology suggests that the “.99” price point is a magic number.

However, new research from New York’s Columbia Business School indicates that the advantage is more imagined than it is real anymore. The “dollar-minus” approach (down to 99 cents, for instance) was actually less effective than “dollar-plus” price points (like $4.01), according to the Columbia study. Sales of products that used the dollar-plus method increased by 3 percent, and consumers felt greater trust for dollar-plus brands because the prices were perceived as being less manipulative.

Sources

Christian Science Monitor

Columbia Business School

Knowing and Making

TechCrunch

Kindle sales tripled after last price drop

Salt Lake City, Utah, is going to be installing payment systems throughout the city that can take payment from customers using their smartphones. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Salt Lake City, Utah, will soon begin experimenting with a wireless payment system in conjunction with three wireless networks. The system, called Isis, is set to debut in 2012 and will use cellular phones to wire payments from a person’s credit or debit line with a bank.

Cell phone credit card technology takes another step forward

Several months ago, the iPhone was equipped with near field communication (NFC) technology to be used as a wireless payment system. A computer chip is installed in an iPhone that can be picked up by a reader system. The bank account or credit card account connected to the chip’s owner is then charged by merchants. One merely needs to wave their iPhone with the NFC chip, and a deduction is made from the appropriate account. Many believe this will be a great leap forward in financial technology. Because so many phones have internet access, people can already use a smartphone to do banking transfers, balance their checkbook or get online personal loans.

Wireless payment network to debut in Salt Lake

Salt Lake City, Utah, will be equipped with an NFC system, according to NPR. The public transportation system will have NFC readers and fares can be paid by waving a phone by the NFC reader. Three major wireless carriers — AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless — are forming a partnership venture with the city using Isis, the NFC system that those carriers are using.  Those carriers still have to come out with NFC equipped phones besides the iPhone. Sprint, according to BusinessWeek, is still developing its own NFC technology.

Tech not widespread enough

Critics have observed that NFC technology is not widespread enough to turn Salt Lake into the “place where you can leave your wallet at home,” as the ad campaign on the Isis company website contends. However, smartphones are beginning to become far cheaper to buy and payment technology is moving toward wireless systems.

Sources

NPR

BusinessWeek

Isis corporate site

Firefox 4 tripled the number of first day downloads logged by IE9, but was helped by Microsoft's decision not to support Windows XP. Image: CC tnarik/Flickr

The new web browsers Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9 were released within a week of each other. One day after Firefox 4 was launched, it had three times as many downloads as Internet Explorer 9 logged in the first 24 hours of its availability. While some point to further evidence of Microsoft’s decline, the fact that Internet Explorer 9 won’t work with Windows XP has skewed the numbers in favor of Mozilla Firefox 4.

Firefox 4 eats IE9′s lunch

Just 24 hours after it was launched Tuesday, Firefox 4 was downloaded almost 7 million times. One day after Internet Explorer 9 was launched, 2.4 million users had downloaded the upgrade. Firefox 4 is eating IE9′s lunch, but it couldn’t match Firefox 3.0, which scored 8 million first-day downloads thanks to a “Download Day” campaign by Mozilla that set a Guinness World Record. Most of the Firefox 4 downloads came from Europe, where Mozilla has a huge following. Users in Europe logged 44 percent of Firefox 4 first-day downloads. North American users logged 26 percent. Asian users followed with 20 percent. The remainder of the connected world accounted for the rest.

Microsoft ditches Windows XP users

Microsoft handed Firefox 4 an unbeatable advantage over IE9 in the first day download competition and perhaps beyond. Microsoft developed IE9 for Windows 7 and Windows Vista only, a strategy that could find company CEO Steve Ballmer in need of a personal loan. IE9 won’t support Windows XP, even though the 10-year-old operating system is used by more than 61 percent of Windows machines that went online in February, according to the Web metrics company Net Applications. Firefox engineering director Johnathan Nightingale told GeekWire that offering Windows XP users a high-quality experience with Firefox 4 was difficult, but the user group was too big to leave behind. In a statement about dumping Windows XP, Microsoft said it didn’t want to develop IE9 “to the lowest common denominator.” Analysts have said that Microsoft is trying to force Windows XP users to upgrade.

How Firefox makes Mozilla money

The stakes in the browser market for Mozilla are high. While Microsoft and Google make their money by tracking user information for advertisers, Mozilla gets money for sponsored links displayed by the built-in search bar of the Firefox browser. As users for Firefox multiply, Mozilla, a non-profit foundation, generates more revenue. In 2009, the foundation made $104 million — up 34 percent from 2008, when revenues were $78 million. Internet Explorer still leads the industry with a 56.8 percent market share, but that share has eroded from 68 percent in 2009. Due largely to Firefox 4 launch delays, Firefox has lost 2.5 percentage points in the last year and has a 21.7 percent market share. The big winner in the browser war is Google Chrome, which has grown from nothing to capture about 11 percent of the market in the same period.

Sources

MSNBC

Computerworld

TechCrunch

Google's project to digitize all the world's books was set back legally but the judge left open a window to eventual approval. Image: CC styler*/Flickr

Google’s ambitious plan to digitize the world’s books was derailed by a New York federal judge. A $125 million settlement reached between Google and groups representing authors and publishers was rejected, mainly because of copyright and antitrust issues raised by Google’s rivals. Authors and publishers, which have become allies of Google in the case, said the Google Books ruling made it clear as to what changes must be made to eventually get the settlement approved.

The Google Books settlement

Google Books is an effort to scan every book ever published and make them available to anyone with an Internet connection. The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers sued Google in 2005 over its book-scanning project. In 2008, Google agreed to pay $125 million up front and provide the means for authors and publishers to get paid any time their books are viewed online. The settlement has been mired in the legal system as opponents such as Amazon, Microsoft, the Justice Department, copyright experts and some foreign governments argued against it. On Tuesday, Manhattan federal court judge Denny Chin said the Google Books settlement would solidify the company’s search monopoly and give it the right to exploit published works without the permission of copyright holders.

The orphan works problem

Judge Chin’s main objection to Google Books was a provision in the Google Books settlement allowing the company to digitize any book unless the author and publisher specifically opt out of the agreement. Chin suggested that changing the provision to “opt in” could open the door to approval. The opt-out provision was written because of an issue with so-called “orphan works.” Orphan works are books for which the copyright holders are unknown or can’t be found. According to Google, requiring an opt in leaves millions of orphan works out of Google Books, out of print and unavailable — exactly the problem Google Books was created to solve. Opponents of the settlement said the availability of orphan works is a problem best addressed by Congress, not the settlement of a private lawsuit.

Antitrust concerns

Google defends its book-scanning project as an effort to “democratize knowledge” by offering every book ever written, which is about 130 million and counting, according to the company. But the settlement’s opponents also raise antitrust concerns, saying no other company is capable of building a library that can compete, freeing Google to gouge customers for access. Other critics of Google Books said offering exclusive access to millions of books would put Google in an unassailable position in Internet search. As the battle goes on, Google has scanned about 15 million books. Books with expired copyrights can be accessed via Google’s Book Search, as well as about 20 percent of copyrighted titles Google has licensed from publishers. Sample text can be accessed from copyrighted titles that haven’t been licensed to Google.

Sources

New York Times

Financial Times

PC World

The Amazon Appstore is open, despite pending lawsuits and a coming price war. Image: Flickr / MoneyBlogNewz / CC-BY

With great fanfare and a free Angry Birds download, Amazon opened its Appstore this morning. This is despite a cease-and-desist order and federal trademark lawsuit filed by Apple computer over the use of the name “Appstore.” This is one of multiple lawsuits over the use of the term “app,” all of which could be driving up cost to consumers.

Amazon Appstore opens

The Amazon Appstore, a store for Android applications, opened on Tuesday morning. The store currently provides about 3,200 applications for Android-based phones and tablet computer systems. The Amazon Appstore also offers most applications already available on the Android Marketplace, as well as a few exclusive applications. Most applications on the Amazon Appstore cost between 99 cents and $4.99. Unlike the Android Marketplace, where the developer sets the cost of their program and gets, at times, same day loans if their app does well, Amazon takes the suggestion of the developer into account, but ultimately sets the final price of the product.

Apple files lawsuit over Appstore

Just a few days before Amazon opened its Appstore, Apple filed a trademark infringement lawsuit. The allegation of the lawsuit is that Amazon is violating Apple’s trademark of “App Store.” The lawsuit originally claimed “unspecified damages” for the trademark violation. Amazon apparently ignored the cease-and-desist order by opening the Appstore anyway. This is not the only lawsuit over use of the term “App Store” — Microsoft currently has a pending trademark lawsuit against Apple Computers, claiming that the terms “App” and “App Store” are too generic to be trademarked. These lawsuits are likely to be in litigation for years.

The Appstore lawsuit cost to consumers

The federal trademark infringement lawsuits currently pending are expected to take years. These federal lawsuits are heard in courts that are paid for and operated by taxpayer money — bad credit loans not payday loans given by tax money to the courts and paid back with “court costs” charges. Beyond this “hidden” cost of the lawsuits, the trademark cases also increase the cost to the companies, which is passed on to consumers. The likelihood this will increase the cost of most apps, however, is low. App developers, private or as a part of a larger company, are often willing to develop and release apps for free or for very inexpensive prices. In hopes of garnering subscriptions, advertising views, or simply prestige, the army of app developers could mean that the “App Store” lawsuit could prove to be a financial tempest in a teapot.

Sources

Daily Tech
Fortune.com
MocoNews

Rupert Murdoch shakes his fist at news ninjas who avoid his paywall. (Photo Credit: CC BY-ND/Jason Wilson/New Matilda)

If you’re an online news addict with limited funds, the move toward news paywalls could be horrible news. Without information, you could end up choking in the digital dust. Thankfully, there are some tricks you can use to circumvent digital news paywalls and continue to enjoy your daily information fix.

Google News: A news aggregator escape from the paywall

Google News links to news websites across the Web. It’s a great place to get your daily news fix. As it is arranged in a clear, easy-to-digest format with top news, local news and news categories, it’s easy to take care of your digital news jones.

Newspapers app: An iOS portal to publications across the US

For $1.99 in the Apple Apps store, Newspapers is an app that provides users with a directory of links to literally every online newspaper website in the country. Read articles on your iPod, iPhone or iPad in Safari. If you prefer to download a story for later, send it to an app like Instapaper.

Reeder: A smarter RSS reader

RSS feeds are a great way to keep up with the news that’s important to you, and Reeder does it the clean and easy way. It has a newspaper-style interface, and the iOS app cuts the ads and reformats the page for optimal reading pleasure. Get it for your Apple device for only $2.99.

The Zite-geist of iPad news

The free iPad app Zite acts as a kind of “personalized magazine,” says Business Insider. It recommends news you may like, via connections to your Twitter and Google Reader accounts. However, simply picking articles to read from within the app can also drive your customization experience.

Free Associated Press and CNN apps

Mobile apps by the Associated Press and CNN are great iOS and Android options for world, national and local news. Users of the AP app can even choose their favorite local and national broadcasters and follow their stories in print and video. CNN’s app presents streaming video in a polished fashion, and allows users to submit their own photos of news events via the iReport feature.

Jobbing the system: How to obtain free access to NYT and The Daily

Twitter users have been able to create a list of each NYT Twitter feed. Clicking the links via Twitter or blog postings don’t count toward the 20 articles per month limit the Times has imposed, so this amounts to free access. A similar process work with The Daily, which is indexed by the blog The Daily: Indexed.

Peter Kafka of MediaMemo reports that the NYT will limit free referrals via Google to five per day, although using other search engines like Bing may not have the same restrictions – for now.

Why did the Times put up a speed bump for Google? Because users could simply Google an article headline and get into the article without going through the front door, so to speak.

Sources

AP Mobile app
Business Insider
CNN Mobile app (iPhone)
The Daily: Indexed

What to expect with the NYT paywall

AT&T has offered $39 billion for T-Mobile -- if regulators agree. Image: Flickr / mrvjtod / CC-BY-SA

In a deal valued at $39 billion, AT&T has made a bid to buy T-mobile. This deal must be approved by the Department of Justice and Federal Communication Commission, which may prove a challenge. If approved, this deal would prove to be both good and bad news for most consumers.

The basics of the AT&T / T-mobile merger

T-Mobile is currently the fourth largest wireless provider in the United States. Owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, T-mobile was entertaining offers from both AT&T and Sprint-Nextel. AT&T has offered $39 billion in cash and stock to purchase and merge with T-mobile. Combined, the two cell phone companies would have about 130 million customers, more than Verizon Wireless. Before the merger can go through, it must be approved by the Department of Justice and FCC. The DOJ must certify that the new business is not a monopoly. The FCC must certify that the AT&T / T-mobile merger would not violate communications law. These regulatory approvals could take a year or more.

Why the AT&T merger is good for your wallet

If the AT&T / T-mobile merger is eventually approved, there are some definite upsides for customers. Regulatory agencies will likely require that the new, merged company provide extended service to underserved areas. The merger will also reduce the strain on the spectrum of available wireless networks. The merger would also expand the availability of high-speed wireless broadband. In short, the new company would be able to provide expanded service to wireless customers.

How the AT&T merger could hurt your wallet

The proposed merger is expected to increase income by $3 billion per year, most of which will come from the short term loans of customers. Combined, the new AT&T and Verizon would serve 75 percent of wireless customers in the United States. This duopoly would reduce the downward pressure on prices, increasing the price paid for wireless service. The combined company would likely follow AT&T’s lead in limiting wireless data and charging higher prices for overages.

The increasing cost of wireless service

Outside the proposed merger of AT&T and T-mobile, the cost of wireless service is likely to continue increasing. Cities, states, and municipalities often charge taxes over and above the federal tax on cell phone service. The combined tax rate on cell phone service often ends up being very near the tax on cigarettes and alcohol. Nationwide, the average tax is 16 percent. This tax is regressive — individuals with lower income end up paying a higher percentage of their income for the same service, at times with no credit check payday loans. Landline telephone service, on the other hand, averages a three to five percent tax.

Sources

Bloomberg
A Growing Burden: Taxes and Fees on Wireless Service (PDF)

The crisis in Japan is sure to lead to further stalls in developing nuclear power in the United States. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The failing nuclear power station in Japan could be triggering a new era of nuclear paranoia. Incidents involving nuclear power plants and Congressional budget cuts make any new growth of the nuclear power industry unlikely. Nuclear energy can deliver a lot of electricity for less than other methods of power generation.

Japan nuclear reactor crisis likely to extend nuclear moratorium

The world has been watching in horror as three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power complex Japan are vicariously close to a total meltdown. Japan experienced an earthquake that reached 8.9 on the Richter scale, and the quake combined with the resulting tsunami has devastated the country. Four nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, or Fukushima One, have had a fire or explosion and are said to be leaking radioactive steam into the air, according to the Christian Science Monitor. The danger is not nearly the threat level of the Chernobyl incident in 1986, according to Bloomberg. Nuclear energy use has been waning in the United States for decades, and the incident is likely to hinder the nuclear industry from further growth.

Congress unlikely to back nuclear expansion

Besides public fears about the nuclear industry, one of the biggest hurdles to expanding the nuclear power industry is high startup costs. Nuclear reactors require an enormous amount of capital and time to build, and the 2011 Federal Budget from the Obama administration included $36 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear power plant construction, according to CNN. Those guarantees would not actually spend any money, but would pay the creditors of any company that started to build a power plant and defaulted on its loans. However, given that Congress is trying to cut spending levels, it is unlikely that many federal funds are going to be devoted to the construction of any new nuclear plants.

Cheaper source of power

Nuclear power currently generates 20 percent of U.S. power, which has been a constant since 1988, according to the Energy Information Administration. Electricity from a nuclear power plant costs about 2.17 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to 4.05 cents per hour for fossil steam (coal), and 5.75 cents per kilowatt hour for natural gas, wind power and solar energy. The average American household uses about 11,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, or kWe, per year. One kWe powers a 60-watt lightbulb for about 90 minutes. Currently, 60 percent of electricity in the U.S. is generated from coal, which EIA says is twice as expensive as nuclear power.

Sources

Christian Science Monitor

Bloomberg

CNN

Energy Information Administration on Power Generation

Energy Information Administration on energy consumption

Facebook is a huge, valuable company -- because of a lot of pennies. Image: Flickr / bfishadow / CC-BY-SA

The company Facebook has recently been valued at approximately $65 billion. While the actual worth of the company cannot be safely estimated until the company goes on the market, it can safely be said that Facebook is worth a large chunk of cash. The value of Facebook, however, comes from its users.

Facebook statistics

Facebook publicly releases some of its basic statistics on the aggregate usage of the service. As of March 2011, Facebook reports it has more than 500 million active users, who collectively spend more than 700 billion minutes per month on the service. Goldman Sachs estimates the number of users on Facebook as “approximately 600 million.” Those users share about 30 billion “pieces of content” each year. While Goldman Sachs has estimated the value of Facebook at $65 billion, other investment firms have estimated Facebook’s value, should it go on the market, at between $40 billion and $60 billion.

Doing the math of Facebook usage

Given the uncertainty of the statistics of Facebook usage, pinning down exact numbers can be tough. In order to pin down the value of each Facebook user, however, some generalizations must be made. Assuming that there are 550 million active users of Facebook and they spend approximately 700 billion minutes per month on the service, that works out to approximately 1,272 minutes per month spent on Facebook, per user. That is 69 minutes per week, 9.8 minutes per day, per user. If Facebook is worth approximately $50 billion with 550 million users, that puts the value of each Facebook user at about $91. Assuming that the 700 billion minutes per month takes into account every day of usage, that means that 365 days a year of 9.8 minutes use, average, equals a value of about 25 cents per day. That means every minute a person spends on Facebook is “worth” about2.5 cents. A minimum-wage job in the United States currently pays about 12 cents per minute.

Micropayments versus advertising

This back-of-the-envelope calculation on the value of each minute spent on Facebook reveals a few big things. Micropayments have long been discussed as the “future of the internet.” Micropayments are tiny payments made for individual uses of content or services. Micropayments are defined differently by different services, but they are usually understood to be anything less than $20. While Facebook is opening up its new currency system, Facebook Credits, the majority of the company’s income is from advertising. So the next time you log onto Facebook, keep in mind that everything you do and the advertising you see are adding up. The amounts may be small, but in aggregate, your Facebook usage makes big money for the company.

Sources

CNN
Business Insider
Facebook statistics

Big for consumers, big for big business – and perhaps not so big for small business. (Photo Credit: CC BY-ND/Liam Darmody/We Love D.C.)

Groupon, the deep discount coupon website with more than 60 million subscribers, has been a boon to shoppers who go wherever Groupon’s 50 to 90 percent off coupons lead them. High-margin businesses have also benefited handsomely from the increased patronage. However, Karen Klein of Bloomberg Businessweek suggests that small business may actually be taking a loss when it comes to discount sites like Groupon, LivingSocial and BuyWithMe.

Collegiate study calls Groupon a mixed bag

Dr. Utpal Dholakia, a Professor of Management at Rice University in Houston, Texas, conducted a survey of small businesses that participated in Groupon promotions from June 2009 to August 2010. Dholakia found that two-thirds of the participants derived profit from the venture and the remainder lost money – and 40 percent of businesses indicated no plans to use Groupon again.

Groupon fires back

Groupon responded almost immediately via its corporate blog. Company spokeswoman Julie Anne Mossler wrote:

“(Groupon) runs 900 deals a day, and we’ve repeatedly polled 30,000 merchants, which is everyone we’ve worked with to date. When we ask, ‘Would you want to be featured again or recommend us to another merchant?’ 95 to 96 percent say ‘yes’.”

Mossler suggested that the Rice study was undertaken before the small businesses had a chance to calculate total ROI for their deals. Also, the fact that the study used a small sample was problematic in Mossler’s estimation.

If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen

Many of the problems small businesses have with Groupon appear to relate to employees being unable to handle the rush of one-time customers. Such was the case for Big Ass Sandwiches in Portland, Ore., last spring, writes Klein. The food cart reportedly lost $16,000 when it budgeted for 400 half-off coupons but sold 2,000 in 48 hours.

“There were a couple days where we had 100 sandwiches go out the window and we grossed $150. I still have a nervous twitch from it,” said Big Ass Sandwiches co-owner Lisa Wood.

Weird Fish in the San Francisco Mission District had a problem with the level of publicity one Groupon-like service brought its way. Restaurant owner Timothy Holt told Bloomberg that a simple miscommunication with an employee left the restaurant unable to honor a Scoutmob coupon. This led to a string of one-star reviews on Yelp, a highly influential consumer review website.

“It was a little brutal,” Holt told Bloomberg.

A small business Groupon checklist

According to retail consultant Bob Phibbs (aka the “Retail Doctor”), small businesses must adjust to the viral phenomenon of deep discount coupon sites like Groupon, as the potential to attract new customers is tremendous. However, such coupon services should be approached with a plan in mind. Here are some things Phibbs suggested small businesses should consider before diving into Groupon and its competitors:

• Is it right for your business?
• Discount non-sale items only
• Make sure you’re well-staffed
• Negotiate for the best coupon deal
• Track redemption and ROI

Sources

Bloomberg Businessweek

Groupon corporate blog

Real Time Marketer

Rice University study

Low margin companies should use Groupon cautiously

Sick of sifting through e-mail spam? Make it stop!

Everyone who does business online needs to know how to keep e-mail inboxes from filling up with unwanted junk. Here are a few practical tips that can help.

Have more than one e-mail

Don’t use the e-mail you give out to friends and family for business. Keeping your business and personal affairs separate will save you a lot of grief. Have at least two e-mails: one to use for friends and family and the other to give out to businesses.

Don’t give out cell phone numbers

Use a land line when dealing with businesses, and make sure you register it on the National Do Not Call list. If solicitors call, tell them the first time they are not allowed to call that number. Violations of Do Not Call regulations can amount to hefty fines.

This also protects your cell phone from unwanted text messages. If you do get a text from a solicitor, reply “STOP.” Fines for SMS spam can be very high. Still, the best defense is to avoid giving out your cell number online.

What to do if you already gave out your e-mail to businesses

If your e-mail address is being bombarded by spammers, the best thing to do might be to abandon your e-mail and start over. This is a particularly good option if you only have one e-mail. Most new e-mail accounts allow you to announce to contacts from your old email that you have a new e-mail. Get a new e-mail address and notify only those who you wish to continue receiving mail from.

Want to keep your e-mail?

If you’re receiving too much e-mail spam but you want to keep your current e-mail address, there are a few things that can make life a little easier. First, if your e-mail provider provides the option, you can report e-mails as spam. However, sometimes this can up your spam folder and make it difficult to find and pull out good e-mails that accidentally made their way into it.

Filters are your friend

Learning how to create custom filters is a great way to clean up your e-mail account. Most major e-mail providers have a filtering system. Many let you create rules that will automatically delete specific incoming message.

Example:

Any email from @toomuchemail.com should go straight to spam and skip inbox.
or
Any email from @toomuchemail.com should be automatically deleted and reported as spam.
or
Any email with “THIS WORD” in it should be sent to spam or auto deleted.

There are plenty of filter combinations you can set up. Look for “Options” or “Settings” or a similar navigation link in your e-mail to find the right section of the account to create these filters. Many e-mail systems have help guides that show you how to make these types of filters.

Avoid the frustrations

There is nothing more frustrating than getting too many e-mails and wasting your time deleting them. Make those chores automatic if you  want to keep an e-mail account as your primary e-mail. Remember, if you do want to make a new e-mail account, you don’t have to abandon the other; keep it for future dealings you have with companies online.

Jeffrey Cox, recently fired for comments on Twitter, is further proof that social media has real consequences. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Jeffrey Cox, formerly a deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana, was recently fired for comments he made on social media sites. He said on Twitter that pro-union protesters in Wisconsin should be cleared from the capital with “live ammunition,” and the comment was relayed to his bosses. This is only the latest piece of evidence show that irresponsible use of social media can ruin a career.

Lawyer loses job with three malicious words

Recently, a controversy began on the social media site Twitter. The popular news opinion site Mother Jones was Tweeting updates concerning the ongoing union protests in Wisconsin. When Mother Jones tweeted that Wisconsin police might be used to corral unruly protesters, another user replied “use live ammunition.” The user further tried to justify his comment, saying use of force by police cannot be called “murder” because law enforcement officers have the right to use force, according to Mother Jones. The website did some digging and discovered Jeffrey Cox was the author of the comments. The entries on Twitter and his now-defunct personal blog were passed on to his superiors — thus ended his 10-year career as a lawyer.

Many before Cox have made that mistake

There are numerous tales of people losing their jobs because of gaffes on social media sites. In the case of a Twitter user who came to be called “Cisco Fatty,” a tweet destroyed the user’s chance at a job before she even took it. Cisco Fatty wrote “Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against … hating the work.” Cisco, being the computer savvy company it is, found out about it, discovered the person’s identity and promptly rescinded the job offer.

Deep web

Companies can find out a lot of information about potential and current employees, and it is remarkably easy to do. Using a website like Pipl.com or a program that searches the “deep web,” or the information that traditional search engines don’t always include in results, a company can see a person’s profile on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook or Myspace, any blogging activity and even voting history. Corporations and governments have an image to maintain, and employees are tied to those entities. What people do in their free time can certainly affect the company when it’s known who someone works for.

Sources

Mother Jones

Twitter and Facebook firings on Huffington Post

Pipl

Will early adoption of ThunderBolt kill USB 3.0 like Apple killed the floppy disc and marginalized the optical drive? Image: CC markopako/Flickr

Apple unveiled its MacBook Pro 2011 on Feb. 24, which happens to be Steve Jobs’ 56th birthday. The buzz surrounding the MacBook Pro 2011 is focused on a new I/O (input/output) technology by Intel called Light Peak. Apple is the first to adopt Light Peak and has rebranded the technology as ThunderBolt on the new MacBook Pro.

ThunderBolt is lightning fast

Apple’s new MacBook Pro looks identical to the previous model, except for ThunderBolt, an innovation that has captivated technology industry pundits. Formerly known as Intel’s Light Peak, ThunderBolt has dual channel transfer rates as high as 10 gigabits per second. It is seen by Apple as the I/O technology of the future that will eventually displace USB 3.0. ThunderBolt will allow MacBook Pro users to transfer an HD movie as large as 20 gigabytes from another source in less than 30 seconds, according to Intel. Apple’s MacBook Pro lineup includes two 13-inchers, two 15-inchers and a 17-inch model. Prices run $1,200 to $2,500 before options. All MacBooks feature Intel’s Core i5 or i7 processors in dual- and quad-core versions.

ThunderBolt makes FireWire seem slow

Thunderbolt technology offers the flexibility of FireWire with transfer speeds up to three times faster. Just as with FireWire, MacBook Pros need only one ThunderBolt port because all ThunderBolt devices (when they come on the market) can be interconnected. ThunderBolt also supplies power, eliminating the need for external power adapters for peripherals. As a single interface for multiple functions, ThunderBolt automatically figures out its intended use. The technology will work as an interface for everything from external hard drives to display monitors. Intel’s Light Peak prototypes featured optical cables, but Apple’s ThunderBolt runs on copper wires in order to support bus-powered peripherals.

Apple launches I/O paradigm shift

ThunderBolt devices are expected to start shipping this spring. Meanwhile, Apple’s ThunderBolt taps peripherals directly into the PCI interface, enabling it to support FireWire and USB adapters. The new MacBook Pro also comes with two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 800 port. Apple is coming out ahead of the curve again with ThunderBolt, just like it was the first to abandon the floppy drive in 1998 and create a laptop, the MacBook Air, without an optical drive in 2010. Other PC manufacturers are expected to catch up with Apple by adopting ThunderBolt in 2012.

Sources

New York Times

Engadget

Techland

Facebook has shut down an app that got 3 million users in just a few days. Image: Flickr / moneyblognewz / CC-BY

New apps are offered on Facebook each day with little fanfare. However, when Facebook shut down the breakup notifier app without explanation, millions noticed. Facebook has also broken up with creator Dan Loewenherz without explanation.

Facebook shuts down breakup notifier app

In less than a week, the breakup notifier app gained more than 3 million users. The Facebook breakup notifier app kept track of friends who users chose and provided a notification when their relationship status changed. The app didn’t provide any more information than Facebook’s “relationship status” function in the profile, but the breakup notifier app brought the information front-and-center. On Wednesday, two days after breakup notifier hit tech news circles, Facebook shut down the app.

Why the breakup notifier was shut down

Dan Loewenherz, the creator of the breakup notifier, says he is not sure why the app was shut down. He has shared the e-mail he received from Facebook, which said:

“To ensure positive user experiences on Platform, we run routine automated screens that take user feedback, machine learning and various algorithms into account and remove spammy applications.”

In short, Facebook believes that the breakup notifier app may have been taking too much memory and was triggered as spam. Loewenherz, however, was not offered any explanation for why his personal account was shut down.

Benefit to Facebook for shutting down app

Facebook is currently making money off of the development of Facebook Credits. The curious thing to most users of the breakup notifier app is that Facebook may have been able to make more money off of allowing the application to continue and use Facebook Credits rather than shutting down the app. Users who have responded angrily to Facebook for shutting down the app are saying the company “does not have the right,” but Facebook is currently a private company that has written its right to do so into the terms of service.

Source

Tech Crunch

A new study found that cell phone radiation artificially elevates glucose metabolism in brain cells. Image: CC Elvert Barnes

Cell phone radiation increases brain cell activity, according to a new study. The study found an increase in brain cell metabolism in regions of the brain closest to the cell phone antenna. Researchers confirmed that electromagnetic radiation from cell phones has an effect on brain cells but don’t yet know whether the effects are harmful.

The cell phone brain cell study

The first study undertaken to examining how electromagnetic radiation from cell phones affects brain cells was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday. The study focused on how cell phone use affects normal brain cell function, known as glucose metabolism. Researchers found that exposure to cell phones increases the rate of glucose metabolism in brain cells more than they expected. Brain activity is a result of cells using glucose to create energy. Brain cells normally produce glucose as needed. The study suggests that cell phone use stimulates glucose metabolism artificially, but further investigation is required to determine whether elevated levels of glucose metabolism damage brain cells.

Cell phones and brain cancer

Cell phone radiation from frequent calling has concerned medical experts for years. The results of previous tests have been inconclusive. The most famous cell phone radiation studies have been reported to establish a link with brain cancer. However, the research has been unable to prove that the brain cancer in cell phone users was actually caused by cell phone radiation. Scientists have tried to establish that cell phone radiation may cause DNA mutations or other changes in brain cells that result in cancer or dementia. The effect of cell phones on children’s brains has been a particular concern because children have thinner skulls, the radiation penetrates deeper and their brain cells metabolize glucose faster.

Researchers suggest using the speakerphone

In a statement responding to the cell phone brain cell study, the Wireless Association said scientific evidence proves that cell phones, used within limits established by the FCC, do not pose a public health risk. Authors of the study suggested that until more is known about the effects of cell phone radiation on brain cells, people should use the speaker phone function or a Bluetooth earpiece as often as possible.

Sources

CNN

WebMD

Wall Street Journal

Pharmaceutical companies have approached the new owner of sex.com, proposing partnerships. Image: Flickr / loauc / CC-BY-SA

Guinness World Records has officially announced that Sex.com sets the record as most expensive domain ever purchased. The owner of the website, however, has said he “does not have immediate plans for commercialization.”

Guinness recognizes most expensive domain

Guinness World Records certified today that sex.com is “the most expensive internet address domain name.” The domain was sold via domain-broker company Sedo, which has also sold other high-value domain names. Pizza.com, Vodka.com and Russia.com all sold for seven figures in the last few years. While these short, succinct dot-com domains are valued very highly, new domains such as .xxx are also being eyed by investors. Sex.com set the record with its $13 million price tag in January of this year.

Sex.com may have been an impulse buy

While the new owner of sex.com prefers to remain anonymous, he did grant an interview to TechCrunch. Right now, sex.com redirects to an advertising site with no content of its own. The owner of the website has said that he has “no immediate plans” to commercialize the website, though he does have a team “working on possibilities.” Escom, LLC, the previous owner of sex.com, had to file bankruptcy when it was not able to commercialize the website effectively. Reports are that the 125,000 visitors a day bring in “seven figures a year.”

Possibilities for commercializing sex.com

While advertising is bringing in seven figures for the most expensive domain in the world, the owners are considering other possibilities. Sex.com may eventually become a pharmaceutical website, technology website or the obvious — an adult website. The goal of the owner is to create a business model that would allow sex.com to become a publicly offered company. Having a business model focused on adult content would not prevent sex.com from creating a public company. Playboy and New Frontier Media are both publicly traded, adult-industry companies.

Sources

Forbes.com
TechCrunch

AT&T iPhones finished far ahead of Verizon in 3G network speed, but Verizon's 3G network was much more reliable. Image: CC Erik Van Leeuwen/Wikemedia Commons

AT&T has taken a lot of flack for its iPhone service, but AT&T’s 3G network was faster than Verizon’s 3G network in a head-to-head test. The average download speed on AT&T’s 3G network was about twice as fast as Verizon’s 3G network. While AT&T beat Verizon in 3G network speed, Verizon’s network provided a more reliable connection.

AT&T iPhone outruns Verizon

Dropped calls have become AT&T’s iPhone hallmark, but iPhone users who place a premium on network speed should think twice before switching to Verizon. Ookla, creators of the speedtest.net broadband test, crunched the numbers from AT&T and Verizon iPhone connecting to the Speedtest.net app. AT&T iPhone transfer rates came in at about two times faster than those calibrated for Verizon iPhones. Ookla compiled the speed test results from 42,000 AT&T iPhones  and 14,000 Verizon iPhones around the U.S. Most iPhone users ran the Speedtest.net app several times to total 106,000 AT&T iPhone tests and 40,000 Verizon iPhone tests.

Verizon iPhone wins reliability test

Speed test results for AT&T iPhone downloads averaged 1,769 kbps and uploads averaged 730 kbps. The Verizon iPhone averaged 846 kbps for downloads and 606 kbps for uploads. AT&T iPhones may have the speed advantage, but Verizon iPhones were much more reliable. Other independent reviewers reported that at times AT&T iPhones could not complete the test because they dropped the connection. The Verizon iPhone was noticeably slower but was able to maintain the connection through every test. The test results reflect the claims made by the separate networks in their advertising wars. AT&T touts “the nation’s fastest 3G network.” Verizon touts “America’s Largest and Most Reliable Wireless Network.”

Choosing an iPhone

Before choosing between AT&T and Verizon, iPhone users should think about how they will use their device. If media consumption is a priority, AT&T would be more satisfying. If reliability is at the top of the list, Verizon is the easy choice. The Speedtest.net app is the easiest and best way to test an iPhone’s 3G network speed. The Speedtest.net app is available free for the iPhone at the Apple App Store.

Sources

Wired

NPR

MSNBC

The GOP opposes net neutrality rules preventing major ISPs from discriminating against content providers and customers. Image: CC Camilo Sanchez/Wikimedia Commons

House Republicans voted to block new Federal Communications Commission net neutrality rules, calling them an example of an overreaching federal government. The FCC seeks to implement rules preventing Internet service providers from discriminating against content providers and customers via different fees and connection speeds. The House passed an amendment to a spending bill that would cut off money the FCC would spend to enforce net neutrality rules.

Net neutrality and the federal budget

In an attempt to keep the FCC from implementing new net neutrality rules, the Republican-controlled House approved an amendment to a budget bill needed to fund the federal government to the end of the 2011 fiscal year in June. The amendment to defund FCC net neutrality is one of the few means Republicans have to satisfy their constituents at companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon who control most U.S. Internet access. Political analysts doubt whether the net neutrality amendment, as well as other Republican measures to defund programs they don’t like, will survive the legislative process. But if the amendment becomes part of the budget bill needed to fund the government, it will be difficult for President Obama to veto.

Net neutrality becomes a political football

The FCC’s new net neutrality rules have strong support from Senate Democrats and President Obama. The rules passed the Democratic House in December, but Senate Republicans stalled the measure in anticipation of the GOP gaining control of the House in the new year. Senate Democrats, who still hold the majority, are adamant that they won’t address the Republican net neutrality defunding amendment. The current government funding bill expires at midnight on March 4. Congress must pass a new spending bill by then, or the federal government will be forced to shut down.

Net neutrality basics

New net neutrality rules are being considered because a few major companies control Internet access for most Americans. Some people suspect these companies of colluding with each other to keep rates high and the quality of service low. The FCC hopes to encourage more competition in the Internet service provider market by preventing major Internet service providers from charging websites for faster access and throttling Internet connections for content providers and customers who don’t pay extra.

Sources

Wall Street Journal

Politico

Daily Tech

Sure, solar flare 2011 may be shutting down communications across the world, but the Northern Lights are especially pretty. Image: Flickr / erlendaa / CC-BY-ND

The sun may be 93 million miles away, but when it has a bad day, Earth feels it. The first major 2011 solar flare storm is wreaking havoc across the world. Power grids, cell phone communications and GPS satellites are all at the mercy of this X-class solar flare.

The solar storm in 2011

The weather on the sun can get violent. On Feb. 13, 2011, there was a geomagnetic event — otherwise known as a solar storm — on sunspot 1158. The storm caused the magnetic fields around the sun to twist up so tightly that they snapped. This “snap” happened Feb. 14, when this storm caused the sun to release an X-class solar flare. X-class flares are the most powerful solar flares and contain radiation that covers most of the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays. The wave of radiation, called a coronal mass ejection (CME) cloud, started hitting Earth on Feb. 15. This first solar flare of 2011, NASA estimates, will bathe the Earth in electromagnetic radiation for a week or more.

Problems caused by 2011 solar flare

As Washington state astronomy expert Jaspenelle Stewart explains, the electromagnetic waves from the solar flare travel through space at close to the speed of light and increase the ionization — the electrical charge — in the atmosphere. Any technology that relies on electricity or radio waves can be affected by this X-class solar flare. In China, short-wave radio communications have already been heavily affected. NASA and the U.S. National Weather Service estimate that this solar flare could interfere with navigation systems, including GPS. The solar storm 2011 will also interfere with satellites and even power grids. Very few power grids in the world are shielded from such an event; the only real protection is shutting down the generators.

Solar flare 2011 Northern Lights

The extra-heavy charge in the atmosphere does come with a small bright side. While anything electromagnetic is freaking out on the planet’s surface, the aurora borealis fill the sky. Better known as the Northern Lights, this X-class solar flare in 2011 is causing the Northern Lights to light up the sky across most of North America. Your best bet for watching the Northern Lights during the first 2011 solar storm is between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., away from city lights, Thursday night and Friday.

Sources

Universe Today
Solar Dynamics Observatory at NASA