From my Blogging blog
Thursday, April 24, 2003
The bandwidth cost perils of a digital giveaway
Glenn Fleischman on the perils of giving away things for free on the Internet according to this New York Times article (registration required). While things didn't turn out so bad in his case it is a good example of what might happen when something you decide to give away for free -- in his case the electronic version of a book he wrote last year -- suddenly gets promoted by another site resulting in a huge spike in traffic.
How much is a gigabyte? In my case, 10,000 downloads of my 922-page book represented about 200 gigabytes. With my account, I am charged additional fees based on the sustained traffic rate after excluding the busiest hours each month. The fees begin when I cross one megabit per second, or about half a gigabyte per hour; for 36 hours, I was well over that number, transferring more than 100 gigabytes during two of the busiest hours.
According to the records we had and discussions with the service provider, Level 3 Communications, I estimated that I could owe as much as $15,000. Level 3 couldn't give me an exact number until the end of the month, but the bandwidth graphs and reports boded ill.
posted by Mihail at 3:57 PM Comments (1) (link)
Saturday, April 19, 2003
RealNetworks signs up almost 1M subscribers paying $9.95/month
One subscription model seems to be working extremely well according to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required) about RealNetworks that's benefited from content that people want to watch and increasing numbers of broadband connections that at least make that content somewhat bearable to watch online. It ain't TV yet, but it is much, much better than it used to be.
While the giants scramble, one smaller company has divined a formula that seems to work. Seattle-based RealNetworks, once known mainly as a developer of software for playing multimedia online, has quietly built an online broadband content service that has attracted more than 900,000 subscribers at $9.95 a month.
What is Real's secret? It's streaming video, probably the most maligned type of content on the Internet....But video is beginning to be real and reliable for broadband users. It's not TV-perfect, yet it usually works, with decent flow and resolution, as long as you don't try to view it in a really large window or at full-screen size.
posted by Mihail at 7:40 PM Comments (0) (link)
Monday, February 24, 2003
Questioning Google's acquisition of Pyra
While Google and Pyra have yet to figure out all the potential synergies of Google acquiring Pyra (the creators of Blogger) there's much buzz in the blogosphere about what this deal means for Google, Pyra and blogging according to this New York Times story (registration required):
Google's recent purchase of Pyra Labs, creators of the Blogger service for publishing the online soapboxes known as Weblogs, was a happy ending for a much-loved startup that at times seemed on the edge of collapse.
...The combination of Pyra and Google seems unlikely on the surface. Google helps people find information online, while Blogger helps them publish it.
posted by Mihail at 1:43 AM Comments (0) (link)
Friday, January 31, 2003
Internet more important than TV, radio, magazines to those online
Interesting stats from the latest survey of Americans according to this AP story in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required):
The Internet now exceeds television, radio and magazines in importance among online users, the third annual nationwide telephone survey of 2,000 households determined. Also, while the percentage of Americans who go online was essentially flat at 71% in 2002, Internet users are spending more time online, averaging 11 hours per week, up by more than an hour, or 10%, from a year earlier.
Only 53% of users believe most or all of what they read online, down from 58% a year earlier, according to the survey, which was to be released Friday by UCLA's Center for Communication Policy (ccp.ucla.edu). Further, nearly a quarter of those who expressed concern about using credit cards over the Internet say nothing can ease their fears.
posted by Mihail at 4:28 PM Comments (0) (link)
Profitability, stability comes to some Web publishers
While AOL Time Warner continues to struggle along with other technology-centric sites such as CNET, online contentn sites -- finananical and news in particular -- continue to thrive and are leading the online advertising turnaround according to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
Online publishing revenue at MarketWatch.com Inc., Washington Post Co., New York Times Co., Dow Jones & Co. and others marched higher in the fourth quarter. While cautious, many of the companies see online advertising continuing to pull out of a two-year slump.
"The breeze is at our backs now," said Christopher Schroeder, publisher and chief executive of Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive. Revenue at the Post's online division was up 45% in the fourth quarter to $10.6 million, from $7.3 million a year earlier. Revenue for the year increased 18% to $35.9 million from $30.4 million in 2001. The company doesn't disclose profitability.
posted by Mihail at 8:42 AM Comments (0) (link)
Thursday, January 16, 2003
Glenn Reynolds: "This really isn't normal"
A New York Times article (registration required) on Glenn Reynolds and his well-known InstaPundit blog which he has written since August 2001 includes this amusing quote:
"Today, I was in the gym, on the treadmill, watching CNN," he said. "And as I was watching it, I was composing a blog entry in my head. Then I thought, 'This really isn't normal.' "
Money doesn't seem to be a motivator, either. While another prominent blogger, Andrew Sullivan, recently held an online "pledge week" that he says brought in about $85,000 for his site, Mr. Reynolds says he will not make a similar move, although he does have an online tip jar that has netted $1,800 since InstaPundit's introduction. Money would turn the blog into a job, he said. He doesn't want to spoil the fun.
"The Internet's just a big playground for guys like me," he said. "I've got all these ideas, and now there's a way to act on them."
posted by Mihail at 12:33 PM Comments (0) (link)
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Mass media can't deliver unique blog content
Many articles today on Steve Case's departure from AOL Time Warner as Chairman with everyone trying to pin down what it means for the online revolution. Does it signal the end of an era? Does it prove the skeptic right. And so on. One article in the New York Times (registration required) has an interesting quote about what people are looking for online, which may not be what traditional media has to offer. And this is exactly why blogs are so important -- they provide unique content that people cannot get from "mass media".
"Most people don't go online to see Warner movies or read Time Life magazines or watch CNN," said Vin Crosbie, managing partner of Digital Deliverance, a consulting firm. "They go online to communicate with one another and find information and content of interest to them that they can't get from mass media."
posted by Mihail at 9:43 AM Comments (0) (link)
Sunday, January 12, 2003
Hacker Mitnick's ban on surfing ending; first thing he'll check out--a blog
According to this New York Times interview (registration required) with Kevin Mitnick at one time the FBI's most-wanted hacker in the country who went to jail and wasn't allowed to go online for several years:
The ban on your Net surfing ends later this month. What's the first Web site you'll visit?
Labmistress.com. That's a Web site run by my girlfriend, and she keeps a daily blog on my activities and her activities. I wonder what she's writing that I don't know about.