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November 30, 2006
re: IT Employees Aren’t Being Paid What They Used To, But at Least They’re Hiring
When I made my Learning Plan last semester, I listed "job stability" as one of my most important career aspects. Although I am not interested in an IT career, I still think it's unfortunate that there is little job stability in the IT job market. For contract workers, their wages are declining and the lengths of their contracts are decreasing. That makes it difficult for them to plan for the future. They can't be certain of what their income will be when they have to frequently seek out new jobs at varying rates. However, this scenario is not uncommon for contract workers in any field. I do agree with Dennis, though, that an IT career is not a suitable career for anyone who values job stability.
Posted by meb40 at 10:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Website that supports small business was outsourced
Madison, Wisconsin mayoral candidate Ray Allen's is under fire tonight. It was discovered that the management of the Politician's campaign website was outsourced to Indian web design firm, Anubavam Technologies.
Ironically, Allen's website proclaims his comittment to growing small business.
I do not find it surprising that a politician was exposed as a hypocrite and that his actions contradicted his words. However, in this case, I do not view it as a big deal. Sure he could have used a local web design firm, but that would have likely cost more, in which case the public would complain about him wasting tax dollars.
Posted by meb40 at 10:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google Stands Alone
Although Yahoo! offered Google backing in the Sitemap technology, opted not to offer any help in Google's book-scanning court case. Amazon.com, also received a subpoena in October. Neither Amazon.com nor Yahoo!, however, were interested in helping Google with its copyright infringement defense.
In regards to the subpoena Yahoo! accused Google of trying to "pry into [Yahoo's] trade secrets." Likewise, Amazon.com called the subpoena "overly broad and unduly burdensome."
Google court case is due to both the Association of American Publishers and and The Author's Guild suing Google for its book-scanning practices. Google does have and "opt-out policy" that requires copyright holders to ask Google not to scan or make any part of a copyrighted document available. Neither The Author's Guild nor the Association of American Publishers approve of this practice.
Another part of Google's defense is that scanning is the same as its indexing of websites. They also claim that providing blurbs of text in response to a search is accepted under standards of fair use.
I personally do not think Google should be sued. The internet is full of text and having to ask permission from every single copyright holder and verifying that every website has rights to its content is a task that could not be completed withing this lifetime.
Posted by meb40 at 09:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
re: iPhone???
Although Apple has been very secretive, it is pretty clear that they are working on an mp3 player/phone. In addition to the comments Dennis discussed in his post, recent news all but confirms the "iPhone." Earlier this morning a U.S. patent was granted to Apple. The patent refers to "a handheld computing device cellphone and media player combination with a radio-transparent shell that reflects a handset near the end of its development cycle"(http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/06/11/30/ipod.mini.phone.patent/).
Other features include input devices such as a keypad and a Blackberry Pearl style trackball. Although theres no word yet regarding a walkie talkie function (chirp chirp), theres has an iChat-style messaging interface has been mentioned.
Posted by meb40 at 09:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 29, 2006
Update on “My Second Life” (11/29/2006): My Second Life's First Millionaire!!!
Update on “My Second Life” (11/29/2006)
If you look at the October Archives, you can read about the virtual on-line world of “My Second Life.” In “My Second Life,” there is this woman, Anshe Chung, who owns acres and acres of land in the virtual world of the game. Her real-world persona, Ailin Graef, has become the first player in the game to actually become the first millionaire in the real world. In the game, she became a baroness who designed and developed a lot of appealing land and buildings, and made money that way.
Now, she actually has begun her own company called Anshe Chung Studios. Her achievement was developed over a period of two and a half years from an initial investment of $9.95 for a Second Life account by Anshe's creator, Ailin Graef. Anshe/Ailin achieved her fortune by beginning with small-scale purchases of virtual real estate which she then subdivided and developed with landscaping and themed architectural builds for rental and resale. Her operations have since grown to include the development and sale of properties for large scale real world corporations, and have led to a real life "spin off" corporation called Anshe Chung Studios, which develops immersive 3D environments for applications ranging from education to business conferencing and product prototyping. This is just another example of how anyone can potentially make money from virtual things on the internet, such as gamers who sell virtual “items” that are useful in games such as Diablo and World of Warcraft.
Posted by dww6 at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 24, 2006
IT Employees Aren’t Being Paid What They Used To, But at Least They’re Hiring (11/24/2006)
Contract IT workers are not being paid as much as they used to, indicating the decreasing need of IT contractors in the work force. This only applied to Contract IT workers, or freelance, consulting-type workers. However, IT employees with permanent positions are averaging a higher annual salary. Contractor salaries fell from $83,800 to $82,700, while permanent IT workers earned $64,300, up $1,700 from the previous year. Tech jobs have had generally high starting wages, but they tend to plateau earlier, while other occupations such as finance have a higher potential for growth in their salary.
In other related news, there has been a surprising rise in demand for IT worker, however, there is a catch. Apparently, Although there is a demand, the contracts that are being offered to IT workers have shorter terms than usual, and this limits the amount of permanence for individuals that are in this field of work. For example, many employees are taking three-month contracts in New York, but once that expires, the next available work would be in Silicon Valley. It can really hurt you relationships with friends and family. Personally, I am an accounting major, which is also a high-demand occupation, and there is a bigger sense of permanence because contracts generally span more than one year and the starting wages are decent while leaving room for moderate career advancement. It is clearly more stable than an IT position.
Posted by dww6 at 06:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 20, 2006
iPhone???
Everyone loves iPods, and everyone loves cell phones…so when are the two going to be combined in an appealing manner? According to CNN, this may happen as soon as January. There has been a lot of buzz lately regarding an iPhone that combines the interface and look of an iPod with a cellular phone. Some may be thinking “didn’t they release that already?” The answer is “kind of.” Motorola released the ROKR a couple years back that had an iTunes application on the phone, but it could only hold 100 songs at best, and resulted in lackluster reviews and sales. Numerous speculations are floating around, including one that says a Taiwanese manufacture is putting the iPhone together. Actual Apple spokespersons, however, are not commenting on it other than “We don’t think the phones available today make the best mp3 players,” and continue on to say “but we’re not sitting around doing nothing.” Obviously they are working on it, but I am guessing Apple has been holding off on the release for some time because they do not want bad reviews and intend on releasing a flawless product. Being a phone junkie myself, I am pumped if they release this. I just hope they include a walkie talkie on it as well. Bleep bleep.
Posted by dww6 at 02:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 19, 2006
Yahoo! Jobsite and Monster.com
In recent news, IBM has sued Amazon.com (Amazon) regarding a few software patents, including an on-line catalog and some of the user applications and such. IBM had been trying to iron out the issues with Amazon without taking them to court, but obviously, things did not turn out so great. The lawsuit is still pending, and the verdict has yet to be determined.
Along the lines of patents, IBM also released 500 software patents and made them available to developers. This is so that IBM could clear up space in their patent portfolio and make way for newer ideas that they can sue companies like Amazon over. In the world of technology, I suppose no information is more valuable than original intellectual property. For example, any new or unique ideas translate to revenue and progress. It gives companies an edge over others, and the computer industry has proven itself time and time again that it is a fast moving market that everyone is still trying to get into.
Posted by dww6 at 12:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft and Yahoo! back Google
Yahoo! and Microsoft have given their support to a new technology designed by Google that will provide webmasters with an easy way to notify search engines about their websites.
Although the three companies are rivals in the search engine business, they are all backing the Sitemaps 0.9 and will work together on future enhancements to the protocol.
I think it's good to see rival companies collaborating for the advancement of technology and industry standards. A lot of times, it seems as though companies are too stubborn to work with their rivals,even though it would be mutually beneficial. Although, they each want to take control of the market; Google, Yahoo!, an Microsoft are working together to better provide for the webmaster's needs.
Posted by meb40 at 08:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Amazon's Innovations
Amazon, the popular internet shopping website, recently announced three new innovations. These innovations are expected to help Amazon Associates integrate comprehensive storefronts, personalized product links, and convenient product windows into their websites within minutes. Website owners can earn referral fees of as much as 8.5 percent when visitors make purchases through the Amazon.com website.
The Amazon Associates program was launched in 1996. It's an affiliate marketing program that encompases hundreds of thousands of websites. Associate websites link to Amazon products and services. This is intended to add interesting content for visitors to enjoy and create more revenue for their business.
While I think this is a smart and effective marketing plan, I don't see why it is unique. Nearly any website you visit is cluttered with links to other websites where you can purchase items. I'm not sure why this is news worthy, as it's not really ground-breaking marketing. The only original aspect is that Amazon is providing links to specific products, but even that is not uncommon.
Posted by meb40 at 08:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 16, 2006
IBM sues Amazon.com
In recent news, IBM has sued Amazon.com (Amazon) regarding a few software patents, including an on-line catalog and some of the user applications and such. IBM had been trying to iron out the issues with Amazon without taking them to court, but obviously, things did not turn out so great. The lawsuit is still pending, and the verdict has yet to be determined.
Along the lines of patents, IBM also released 500 software patents and made them available to developers. This is so that IBM could clear up space in their patent portfolio and make way for newer ideas that they can sue companies like Amazon over. In the world of technology, I suppose no information is more valuable than original intellectual property. For example, any new or unique ideas translate to revenue and progress. It gives companies an edge over others, and the computer industry has proven itself time and time again that it is a fast moving market that everyone is still trying to get into.
Posted by dww6 at 05:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 08, 2006
Web 2.0 Companies
Venture capitalists (for those of you who don’t know what they are, these are investors with large funds, that invest in early companies with hopes of raking in a high return. In other words, high risk-high return) have found a new aspect of the internet to capitalize upon. This aspect s the video and social networking companies and they have been dubbed the name, Web 2.0 companies. Through the first three quarters of th year, Venture capitalists have poured $455.5 million into 79 of such companies. That number is twice as much as the amounts invested in the previous year. All of these venture capitalists are hoping to have hit the next Facebook, MySpace, or YouTube.
In my opinion, these investments are unnecessary, and it is only a matter of time before these Web 2.0 companies lose their novelty unless these 79 companies have innovative ideas that have something that differentiates itself from the rest of the competition. Some experts believe that this Web 2.0 frenzy is getting out of hand, but it is more of a race to get these companies’ names out to the public and it does take substantial capital to launch a nationwide campaign to promote these sites. These social networking and video websites are a market that is a lot like typical markets I learned in ECON 102. It is only a matter of time until the competition gets in with product differentiation, and once one of the big sites gets knocked out of popularity, there will be another to fill its place.
Posted by dww6 at 10:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack