week 8 article - podcasting

Podcasting: Ready for prime time?
Feb 13, 2006
When General Motors Corp. launched the 2006 Corvette Z06 last June, it supplemented its marketing with an audio interview with Corvette chief engineer Dave Hill. Posted online in the popular MP3 audio format, the experiment took off faster than, well, a Corvette. More than 70,000 people have downloaded the clip, which is called a podcast. "Podcasting is just beginning to realize its potential," said Michael Wiley, director of new media at GM. "It's going to be huge."
Podcasting--the word comes from Apple Computer's iPod music player--is taking marketing by storm. A podcast is an audio file that people can download from the Internet and play on a portable audio device, like TiVo for radio. Podcasting turns commuting time into an educational experience. Apple sold 14 million iPods in the fourth quarter alone, and an estimated 25 million people own MP3 players. Half have listened to at least one podcast, research has shown.
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B-to-c marketers are responding. Whirlpool USA launched The American Family podcast last summer. Host Audrey Reed-Granger, a Whirlpool publicist, says PR agencies now try to place clients on the show. "Last September, we became aware of a lot of online chatter about Whirlpool," she said. "We discovered it was mostly about American Family."
Acceptance of podcasting in the b-to-b market has dragged. While tech companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co. run b-to-b podcasts, the broader market has done little outside of investor-oriented programming.
That's surprising. With a Web server and less than $2,000 worth of equipment, anyone can produce a podcast. A vast network of enthusiast sites spread the word about new programming, while Web giants such as Apple are consolidating podcasts into super directories. "We've never spent a dollar on podcast promotion," said GM's Wiley.
Businesses are using podcasting to experiment with new promotions. Johnson & Johnson's Acuvue division has Download With Heather and Jonelle, where two girls chat about music, school and, of course, boys. Walt Disney Co. has podcast tours of its theme parks. Accor North American's Motel 6 features plain-talking spokesman Tom Bodett.
Venture-funded startup Podshow Inc. tracks 13,000 podcasts, most with no more than a few hundred regular listeners. Podcasting is all about focused audiences with similar interests, said Adam Curry, whose Daily Source Code is the most popular podcast on the Internet.
"I don't think we'll have a Howard Stern of podcasting; we'll have 1,000 Howard Sterns, each with 10,000 listeners," Curry said.
For b-to-b marketers, the field is wide open. Wiley foresees specialized podcasts for mechanics, suppliers and dealers. Products like Apple's new video iPod can be used for advertising and training.
Marketers should get on board. With portable audio players quickly moving into the mainstream, it won't be long before they're a core platform for business marketing.

week 8 review

In this class, we learned about mobile data devices, such as pagers, mobile phones, laptops, and mp3 players. We see the advantages and limitations of those devices.

Moreover, we also discuss about Podcast. A technology that enables us to listen on media player in "radio show" format without the computer.

The advantages of podcast are:
-we can listen the audio file while doing something else
-it has time-shifted content, alternative. and unregulated contents.
-detachable from computer

We also can use podcast for business purposes, such as for broadcasting corporate updates news, product-based contents, and customer-based contents.

week 6 article -broadband business

Business Broadband 02.01.06
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Total posts: 2
By Matthew D. Sarrel
Confused by all the high-speed Internet services vying for your business? Here's what you need to know.
No small business should be without a broadband Internet connection. It's the only way to go because it's always on, delivers unrivaled speed, lets remote workers connect to the office network via a virtual private network (VPN), and gives you the option of using Voice over IP (VoIP) to save money on long-distance phone calls. Broadband can also save you money over a dial-up connection. If you don't have broadband, drop and give me 20. When you get up, read the rest of this article and go get it.
The good (and bad) news is that you've got many options for broadband access. There's business cable, business DSL, leased lines such as a T1 or fractional T1, and wired or wireless metropolitan area networks (MANs) that are something like LANs on a citywide scale. Business DSL is the cheapest and most widely available option, available for as little as $15 a month, and comes in a variety of bandwidths, from 144 Kbps to 6 Mbps. Business cable is cheaper per unit of data transferred on average, but the minimum throughput is much higher, and you'll pay a correspondingly high price. The most reliable options, but also the most expensive, are leased T1 lines (which are widely available) and MANs (which aren't).
If you're a small business with 25 or fewer employees and need mostly e-mail, Web access, and occasional streaming media, business DSL is a good choice, due to its price and almost ubiquitous availability. On the other hand, business cable provides more download bandwidth and less upload bandwidth; if most of your traffic is downloading, business cable is a reasonable choice.
If you often upload large files or are likely to have ten or more concurrent remote access sessions, you need at least a 1.5-Mbps uplink, which eliminates both business cable and DSL. If reliability and availability are paramount concerns, then T1 is the way to go, but this is a costly option (see the table ).
If you're a bigger SMB (up to around 100 employees) or just need more throughput (at, say, a graphic design firm), a single business DSL circuit might not meet your needs. If so, get multiple DSL circuits and load-balance them. If you need even more throughput (at a radiologist's office, for example), wired or wireless MAN connections are fast and cost-effective but not available in every city. Even if MAN service is available in your city, it may not reach your building. You'll certainly want to be sure that you need the throughput before signing up for a MAN or multiple DSL circuits, and we'd recommend checking with a good consultant before committing to either sort of connection.

Business Broadband
Use Protection
Whichever broadband service you pick, you need a router/firewall to separate your LAN from the Internet. Don't muck around with security; hire a consultant if you're not sure what you're doing. Don't just hire some high-school kid either. Ask your ISP to recommend someone, or advertise on craigslist. Look for security certifications such as GIAC and CISSP. Fees vary widely, but expect to pay between $50 and $150 per hour for a high-quality network security consultant; try to negotiate a free vulnerability assessment.
It's critical that firewalls be configured properly. In addition, anti-virus software is essential. Many firewalls function as unified threat management (UTM) appliances, which have built-in antivirus, antispyware, and anti-malware filtering.
Finally, if you expose your LAN through VPN connections, you'll need end-point security so employees' computers can't be hacked. For advice, see "Protect Your Business".

week 6 review

We learned about competing platforms in technology. One of them is the wireless technology. We observed the challanges and opportunities of it.

We also had in-class exercise about technology and support for application. We analyzed the asian food safety initiative case, and we presented the display interface for the system.

week 5 article - weblog as disruptive technology

Blogs as Disruptive TechHow weblogs are flying under the radar of the Content Management Giantsby John Hiler
Going to the New York Internet World conference last December felt like visiting a morgue.
As a New York based software CEO, I felt obliged to show up. My company WebCrimson makes blogging software, so I stopped by to see if the competition was doing anything interesting. There weren't any other blogging vendors at the conference but there were a good number of Content Management Software (CMS) vendors there, selling software for anywhere between $10k - $500k a pop!
The convention center was practically empty - after the go-go years of the Internet bubble, it seemed crazy to see so much convention floor space go unfilled. I stopped by one of the CMS booths to pick up some brochures and see their demo. The sales guys instantly descended on me, anxious to make a pitch. I was at the conference with a client of mine, so I pointed them in his direction: after all, if he could get a better deal with someone else's software, I was more than happy to give him my blessing.
The head Sales Guy started grilling my client: how many pages did the site have (in the thousands!), how many users updated it (almost ten!). You could hear the Sales Guy's mental cash register ringing up dollars signs as he went straight for the close: "And what are your editors using to update all those pages: Dreamweaver or Frontpage? Or maybe you built your own homegrown CMS?"
My faithful client didn't miss a beat. "Actually, have you heard of weblogs?" he asked the Sales Guy. You shoulda seen this guy's face fall - it was like he'd been hit by a truck. "Yeah," he admitted, "So you use blogging software?"
"Yeah pretty much," came the answer. "It pretty does most of what I need. There are a couple things you described that I could use, but I can't justify that sort of outlay when blogware hits most of my specs."
That was really my eureka moment: my first realization that content management was screwed.
In more technical terms, I realized that Content Management was starting to wrestle with what Clayton Christensen calls The Innovator's Dilemma: the inability of successful companies to adapt to a new, disruptive technology.

WEBLOG SOFTWARE: THE LATEST DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Watching the Content Management Sales Guy on the convention floor, it was pretty clear that he'd faced this situation before: a potential client who was unwilling to pay full price for a mid-range CMS solution. So he did what most traditional companies do: he walked away from the revenue opportunity.
He was doing exactly what he'd been trained to do... which is exactly what convinced me that Weblog Software was a disruptive technology that would eventually end up putting his company out of business.
As a provider of weblog software, that's a self-serving prediction... but after reading Clayton Christensen's book, I'm more convinced than ever that we're onto something here. I'll map out my proof - but first, let's take a look at an industry where Disruptive Technologies have already run Big Companies out of business, and see if we can't draw some parallels to Weblogs and Content Management.

source: http://www.webcrimson.com/ourstories/blogsdisruptivetech.htm

week 5 review

In this class we learned:
-the supply of e-technology
-how new technology evolves. We see VOIP as the example.
-how the nature of technological convergence has evolved into the business arena.
-how e-technology change the behaviours of its users. e-technology will give convenience and freedom for the user. For example, they can do transaction at home by accessing online banking. They don't need to queue in the bank...
-how new technology become disruptive. We discuss what disruptive technology for education field. Internet technology affects a lot in education, especially the e-learning concept. Students don't need to come to conventional class to study...

week 4 article - how to suceed in the Internet economy

Thinking positively
Interviews with representatives from three companies, who have actively and largely with success been involved in digital marketplaces and private trading networks, help to suggest ways in which organizations can continue to thrive in the Internet economy.
The three were Aconex, which runs an online exchange for the construction industry; BOMweb, which operates an Australian Private Trading Network, and "Energy Corp" an energy market in the USA that wishes to remain anonymous. This marketplace operated for about two years before closing when creditors decided to discontinue additional funding.
Five factors have been identified as making important contributions to successful trading in digital markets:
1. Become a specialized service provider. This is an area in which BOMweb has succeeded, through provision of high value strategic materials. There is much to learn here from the financial services industry which has made the move into specialized services. If companies apply similar strategies to digital marketplaces they could gain a competitive advantage by providing services that focus on specific groups or areas.
2. Provide collaborative services. This is an in-built advantage that digital marketplaces can offer suppliers, referred to by Harvard Business Review as "sell side asset swaps." Sellers can make better use of their core key assets and buyers can tap into a broader supply chain.
3. Maintain a position of neutrality. Favor neither buyer nor seller. A position of neutrality, effectively sitting on the fence rather than working for or against anyone's interests, will gain far more participation. At the same time, a digital marketplace with a disproportionately large buyer ownership stake will alienate other participants. "Energy Corp" proved adept at achieving a neutral stance by, for example, offering equity to both buyers and sellers and having an autonomous company with its own governance structure independent of either side.
4. Target the right kind of buyers and sellers. Ranked as a league table, this would run: Small suppliers, small buyers, large buyers, large suppliers. Through digital marketplaces, small suppliers reach customers who would otherwise be too widely dispersed and large buyers with whom they could not otherwise have done business. Large buyers might find that participation exposes them to some new suppliers. However, large suppliers prop up this league table: their broad customer reach and efficient sale and distribution channels mean that digital marketing has little to offer them.
5. Focus on supplier participation. Some skepticism from suppliers is quite common. Many feel they may have to reduce prices in a marketplace which has an intrinsic advantage, as they see it, for the buyer. However, strategies can be used to entice suppliers. These might include making it easier for buyers to collaborate with suppliers, so that those suppliers can become more attractive business partners than their competitors. This is particularly important because sellers' inability to see digital marketplaces as offering value has been a major factor in the Internet economy falling out of favor.

source: http://www.managementfirst.com/e_business/articles/succeed.php?PHPSESSID=591cd1f29647b7294100743efe4da3a6

week 4 review

In this class we learned about business model especially electronic business. Most of e-business is highly related to internet, which give a lot of advantages for the seller and buyer. One of the important advantage is they can reduce the costs. Other advantages are: personalization, price transparency, market making, and network externalities.

Some of the internet properties are:
• Mediating technology
• Universality
• Network externalities
• Distribution channel
• Time moderator • Information asymmetry shrinker
• Infinite virtual capacity
• Low cost common standard
• Creative destroyer
• Transaction cost reducer

These properties are related to 5C in e-business which are: Coordination, Commerce, Community, Content , and Communication.

We also learned the business model elements, and how they are related to e-business.

Lastly, we saw the application in e-greeting business.

week 3 article - flash for business based website

Flash give benefits to business based website, it will make the website more attractive and interactive.

more informations from http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/Articles/Flash_5_-Shawn_Ry-637/index.php

week 3 review

We discussed about the project plan, what we should do for the business plan, the timelin, and samples of last year's projects.

We also saw some basic tools of flash which would help us doing the assignment. We will present the elevator pitch of our business plan with Flash...

week 2 article - CSS

CSS - Cascading Style Sheet has a lot of benefits which make it popular among webmasters.

Refer to this link to read about it: http://www.highdots.com/css-editor/articles/css_why.html

week 2 review

In this class, we analyzed our blogs, and share informations about how to upload the activity tables.

We also learned about markup languages: HTML, XML, and XHTML. We saw some of the basic codes of them, and observed the differences among those languages.

week 1 article - phone a friend over wi-fi

Technology of wi-fi has made the possibility to phone our friends over network connection. We just buy a phone which is similar with cell phone but it uses wi-fi techonology.Then we are ready to chit-chat with our friends as long as we are in the same wi-fi network. Wondering if we can implement it in our campus, we can call our friends in very low rate or even free of charge . It will be quite fun and save our money :)

For more details, can read through this interesting article :
http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/wtr_16122,258,p1.html

week 1 review

We learned about:
-disruptive technology-- the impact of new technology on industry structure, conduct and performance
-the heart of internet
-the development and growth of electronic commerce (the second wave). We see the role of e-commerce for businesses and individuals. We also observed the advantages and disadvantages of it.