MaxMind - GeoIP Free Country: "GeoIP Free Country is a free version of our MaxMind GeoIP Country database. GeoIP Free Country enables you to test out our products, and the MaxMind GeoIP Country database is a [paid] drop-in replacement for GeoIP Free Country, should you require greater accuracy." [Ken Novak's Weblog]
6:31:59 PM    

Visualize M-Commerce:

Amazon A9 has photo yellow pages:  Very cool: search for a service near a zip code, get a map that shows where things are, then see photos of the storefront and neighboring strees.  "A9's so-called block view allows users to see storefronts and virtually stroll the streets of 10 cities, including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, where the company has collected more than 20 million photographs. It took a few days in each city to gather the images using trucks equipped with digital cameras, global positioning system receivers and proprietary software. "You can virtually go to an area, see the business and walk around the block," A9.com Chief Executive Udi Manber said of the service in an interview. "You get a feel for the neighborhood."  ..

(Ken Novak's weblog)

 

5:51:19 PM    

The hundred-buck PC:   

"The founder and chairman of the MIT Media Lab wants to create a $100 portable computer for the developing world. Nicholas Negroponte, author of Being Digital and the Wiesner Professor of Media Technology at MIT, says he has obtained promises of support from a number of major companies, including Advanced Micro Devices, Google, Motorola, Samsung, and News Corp. The low-cost computer will have a 14-inch color screen, AMD chips, and will run Linux software ..

An engineering prototype is nearly ready, with alpha units expected by year’s end and real production around 18 months from now, he said. The portable PCs will be shipped directly to education ministries, with China first on the list. Only orders of 1 million or more units will be accepted.

Mr. Negroponte’s idea is to develop educational software and have the portable personal computer replace textbooks in schools in much the same way that France’s Minitel videotext terminal, which was developed by France Telecom in the 1980s, became a substitute for phone books."

(Ken Novak's WebLog)

5:46:55 PM    

ComTechReview: Winter 2004-2005.  Interesting journal of digital divide articles, with recent addition of an international section.  This edition includes a profile of the Owerri Digital Village, a project of a recent Reuters Digital Vision Fellow.  (The fellowship is accepting applications this year until March 15, 2005)..  10:11:43 AM    

(Ken Novak's WebLog)

5:45:27 PM    

Wifi-beats-3G redux

Apparently the controversy is not over. Someone still believes that wi-fi belongs in cell phones, enough to develop a $8 chip for handsets. And, surprisingly, mobile network operators are buying into it. "Mobile-network operators, Collier said, were at first wary about working with his company to spread Wi-Fi. However, the company is now getting requests for quotations from major cell-phone vendors, which are engaged in a delicate dance with mobile-network operators over who owns the customer. "

5:11:07 PM    

Broadband penetration to reach 15% worldwide by end of 2005

With 150M users, 15% of Internet users worldwide will be connecting at high speed by the end of 2005. DSL continues dominate the broadband market by a ratio of about 2 to 1. "That disparity is based on the relative ease of converting existing telephone networks into digital subscriber lines in countries that, unlike the U.S., do not have sophisticated cable networks in place."

4:43:46 PM    

Gobal Internet Population to pass the 1B threshold in 2005

This means that about 14 out of every 100 persons use the Internet in the world by the end of the year.

Asia continues to lead in the number of surfers with  32% of the world total. Europe comes next with 28% of the total. Northern America is third with  27% of the total.

Internet growth to date since the year 2000 has been 125.2%, or about 25% per year.

4:33:28 PM