Posts tagged Internet
Poll: Is There a Right To Privacy Online?
Feb 25th
Today, our Information Thought of the Day (ITTOD) is a poll subject.
I find that most Information Technology (IT) organizations are either privacy protection obsessed or challenged. I wonder where yours is on the scale. I also find that most Information Technology Professionals vary widely on their opinions on this topic, too.
Hence today’s poll topic:
Loading ...I will be sure to share the results. Feel free to add a comment below to add other thoughts that should have shown up on the list.
Do you like polls as a daily topic? Do you have a recommended one for another week? Please let me know.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for February 25, 2010 ©Scott Coughlin.
Image credit: easyhealth.org.uk
News Commentary: Google’s High Speed Internet Service Provider
Feb 21st
On Sundays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.
Last week, Google announced a pilot program to roll out a 1GBPs internet service to select homes and businesses within the USA. This is an aggressive push to rectify one of the horrible wonders of the Internet Age – The fact that the country that invented The Internet, has some of the slowest commercially available connections to it. The article that I have chosen to feature is from the BBC. Please give it a read here –
BBC News- Google to offer ‘ultra high-speed’ broadband in US
“[Google] plans to build a fibre-optic network offering speeds of up to 1Gbps (gigabit per second) to up to 500,000 homes.
It said it would compete on price with other broadband providers offering much slower speeds.
Google said the trial was about promoting killer apps that would take advantage of fast speeds.”
While this move can be seen as being completely self-serving since Google makes more money the more people use the Internet, I think that there is more here. Google has a corporate history of moving into products that they feel “someone” should be providing. There is a clear corporate culture here that takes initiative in areas that others should be, but are not. Some examples of this behavior are:
- Gmail. Providing Gmail with the idea that it would become the universal email provider.
- Electric Cars. When no one else would fund, use, and push electric cars, Google did.
- Book Scanning. No matter what you think of Google’s scanning of every book in the world project and its copyright implications, you have to admit that someone needed to start doing it.
Google’s famous “Do No Evil” policy is at work here. My opinion, is that I am glad that a corporate citizen is moving us forward in so many Information Age vectors. In many of these focus areas, I honestly wish that others were leading, but since none are, I am thankful that Google is. I know that I would welcome a 1 GBPs Internet connection from any provider!
What do you think about this topic? Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for February 14, 2010 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: Bay Ring Communications
Sex(.com) on Sale
Mar 7th
Posted by Scott Coughlin in Business of IT
2 comments
On Sundays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.
Today’s tale is all about how the virtual world of the Internet continues to become more and more similar to our “real world”. I am sure that all of you can look out your car windows on the way to work and see that the housing market, though improving, continues to be in the doldrums here in the USA. It is sad, but most homes around me are now suddenly worth 10-25% less than they were just two years ago. Do you think that the online world is immune from this? Think that there is still scarcity in the virtual real estate market? Think again and read this story…
CNBC – Things Aren’t Worth What They Used To Be
There was so much written about this topic that there is no single news story to cover all bases. I recommend that you review Google News’ aggregation site for this topic. You can find all angles, opinions, and levels of engagement there.
For those of you who are not aware, registering a new domain name can cost as little as about $10 from a reputable registrar. The fact that people pay so much at auction for “good ones” is really no different than having a good location in the real estate market. Domains like pizza.com, sales.com, and news.com have all gone for small fortunes, but were once bought by speculators at less than $20. That is surely a bubble waiting to burst and when sex(.com) gets cheap you know that we are near the bottom of the cycle!
I firmly believe that our virtual world will continue to evolve, ever faster, to completely mimic our real world and eventually become indistinguishable. This story and its topic are just one more sign that this belief is a true one.
What do you think about this topic? Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for March 7, 2010 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: Philadelphia Reflections