Posts Tagged ‘Internet’

photo credit: fdecomite

In today’s outstanding technology based world, many businesses especially small businesses are crossing over to the virtual world of business. With so many web based applications and free or low cost web based programs it is now possible to work wherever you want via the Internet.

The virtual office presents two opportunities: first, it promises huge cost efficiencies for small businesses in terms of computer systems, virtual server space and even employee resources. Second, it gives rise to exciting new enterprises that provide physical real estate and attendant computing facilities for as little or as long as required – by the week, or even by the hour, recently stated on Open Forum.

Several well known companies such as Amazon.com, Ebay.com, Netflix and more have set themselves up as a virtual business and they’re making great profits because of their online community.

Think about all of the money that could be saved if your business made the switch to it’s own virtual office. With all the costs of rent, supplies, taxes on your space, setting up your office and more, this can add to quite a bit not to mention all of the extra ongoing costs to keep it up and running. Cut out a large proportion of your yearly costs by making the switch to your virtual office.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

TechFlash:

Looks like nothing is safe from becoming an advertisement these days. A newly surfaced Microsoft patent application proposes to create ads out of human interactive proofs, also known as CAPTCHAs, those lines of fuzzy or distorted text or images used by websites to confirm that submissions are coming from real human beings, not automated online bots.

Microsoft’s idea, as depicted in the accompanying diagram, is to present users with a product image, slogan, or some other form of advertisement — then require them to type in the name of the product or related text to complete the human proof.

Microsoft says in its patent filing that the approach creates “an effective way for advertisers to deliver their message to a captive audience. Unlike so much web-based advertising that accompanies popular web portals such as search and news sites that users can easily ignore, here the user must actively engage in reading and understanding the content in the advertisement in the HIP (human interactive proof) challenge in order to identify the solution to the challenge.”

Photo by USPTO.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Fast Company:

Ah, summertime. There’s no better time of year to shutter oneself indoors and watch videos on the Web–at least that’s what the latest numbers released by comScore would suggest.

In July, 158 million U.S. Internet users watched a record-setting 21.4 billion online videos, a full 88% more than they watched during the same month last year. We can call the spike a trend at this point, as June saw record-breaking viewership numbers as well.

Hulu scored its best month to date, notching 457 million views of its online content, which includes offerings from NBC, Fox, Disney, and others. On average, Hulu viewers watched 12 videos, totaling an hour and 13 minutes per viewer. Google remained in the top spot, however, as viewers watched 8.9 billion videos, or 42% of all videos watched, via the search giant. Viacom digital came in second with 812.3 million views, with Microsoft’s properties ranking a strong third delivering 630.6 million views.

So who was watching all these hours of video? Apparently, 81% of the American Web audience was. The average viewer watched 500 minutes of total video, or 8.3 hours, in July, with each video averaging 3.7 minutes. That’s an average of 135 videos per viewer.

Photo by HULU.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.