In the recent Nielsen//NetRatings of top internet brand for the year 2005, I was really shocked to find out that the great Google brand, was in the 4th position.
|
Top Internet brands in
June 2005 |
| Brand |
Unique visitors |
Average time |
| Yahoo! |
99,137 |
3:06:06 |
| Microsoft |
93,550 |
0:42:51 |
| MSN |
90,662 |
1:43:43 |
| Google |
76,931 |
0:39:56 |
| AOL |
74,460 |
6:22:00 |
| eBay |
51,098 |
1:58:07 |
| MapQuest |
40,238 |
0:12:47 |
| Real |
35,450 |
0:36:28 |
| Amazon |
35,086 |
0:21:55 |
| Weather Channel |
30,325 |
0:27:06 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings |
Well i guess, our angle of seeing things are not actually the way the are in reality. I was thinking Google was the top brand on the net. But i guess i was wrong. Keep it up Yahoo !
The number of online frauds vary by country. Below is a breakdown of the countries from where the most fraud originates as well as the least. According to ClearCommerce, approximately 6% of all online transactions from such countries as Malaysia and Israel (who are
actually on the bottom of the dirty dozen show below) are fraudulent.
| Countries from where the most online
fraud originate. |
Countries from where the least online
fraud originate. |
When the fraud is perpetrated from
within the U.S., these are the states with the largest percentage of
fraudulent people |
1) Ukraine
2) Indonesia
3) Yugoslavia
4) Lithuania
5) Egypt
6) Romania
7) Bulgaria
8 ) Turkey
9) Russia
10) Pakistan
11) Malaysia
12) Israel |
1) Austria
2) New Zealand
3) Taiwan
4) Norway
5) Spain
6) Japan
7) Switzerland
8 ) South Africa
9) Hong Kong
10) United Kingdom
11) France
12) Australia
13) United States |
1) California – 21%
2) Florida – 10.1%
3) New York – 8.3%
4) Texas – 6.0%
5) Penn. – 4.5%
6) Illinois – 3.9%
7) New Jersey – 3.7%
8 ) Michigan – 2.8%
9) North Car. – 2.6%
10) Virginia – 2.5% |
I would add Nigeria to the international dirty dozen, with the help me get my money out of here email scam. It is also known to be one of the major players in the shipping the goods to a freight forwarder to circumvent the international shipping scrutiny. By the way, most of the victims of this scam pay through account debits and wire services.
Top Internet Frauds
| Jan.-Oct. 2001 Top 10 Frauds |
Percentage of total fraud |
Average Loss Per Person |
| Online Auctions |
63% |
$478 |
| General Merchandise Sales |
11% |
$845 |
| Nigerian Money Offers |
9% |
$6,542 |
| Internet Access Services |
3% |
$568 |
| Information Adult Services |
3% |
$234 |
| Computer Equipment/Soft. |
2% |
$1,102 |
| Work-At-Home |
2% |
$120 |
| Advance Fee Loans |
1% |
No Data |
| Credit Card Issuing |
.6% |
No Data |
| Business Opportunities/franchises |
.4% |
No Data |
| 2001 Top 5 Methods of Payment |
Payment used in general merchandise fraud |
| Money Order – 29% |
Credit Card – 41% |
| Credit Card – 28% |
Money Order – 21% |
| Check – 18% |
Check – 16% |
| Bank Account Debit – 6% |
Debit Card – 6% |
| Debit Card – 5% |
Wire – 4% |
Source: Internet Fraud Watch
Google Inc’s expansion has been phenomenal. And as it explores more solutions, its rapid expansion is prompting concerns that the company may know too much..
Google is at once a powerful search engine and a growing e-mail provider. It runs a blogging service, makes software to speed Web traffic and has ambitions to become a digital library. And it is developing a payments service.
Although many Internet users eagerly await each new technology from Google Inc., its rapid expansion is also prompting concerns that the company may know too much: what you read, where you surf and travel, whom you write. “This is a lot of personal information in a single basket,” said Chris Hoofnagle, senior counsel with the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Google is becoming one of the largest privacy risks on the Internet.” Not that Hoofnagle is suggesting that Google has strayed from its mantra of making money “without doing evil.”
Rather, some privacy advocates worry about the potential: The data’s very existence—conveniently all under a single digital roof—makes Google a prime target for abuse by overzealous law enforcers and criminals alike.
Through hacking or with the assistance of rogue employees, they say, criminals could steal data for blackmail or identity theft. Recent high-profile privacy breaches elsewhere underscore the vulnerability of even those systems where thoughtful security measures are taken.
This is very true. Google Inc just knows too much, and this is really scary. Especially when it comes to hypothesizing a possible security breach.
Source: Hackinthebox
I am a regular reader of Dane Carlson’s Business Opportunities Blog and today, my attention was caught by one specific topic titled “Get Into Motion“. The first thing that struck my mind was, “This is what people need to know”. Starting a business does not require a huge business plan, or even a huge ammount of capital to begin with.
And here is a quote of the post based on the actual content that was from Mashal Brains Blog. This was in response to a reader of his blog, stating his problem which was his inability to deal with the fears/motivations of starting a business.
Well his response is worth reading, and here it goes…........
Start small. Do something very simple in the business sense to get some positive momentum going. How simple? I might go down to a local flea market that has a lot of people flowing through on a Saturday, spend $10 of $50 or whatever it costs to rent a space, and try selling something. Anything. Go buy bananas and bottles of water at a local wholesale club and try selling them at the flea market. Sell hot wheel cars that you buy at Wal-Mart. Sell motor oil. It doesn’t really matter at the start, and it is quite likely that your first idea will not work. Spend a day walking around and see what other people are selling if you have no idea what to sell.
One of two things may happen: 1) No one buys anything, or 2) Some people actually do buy things. In either case, try playing with your prices and see what happens. Try selling different products. Try giving away certificates with the hot wheel cars and instructions with the motor oil. Just have fun with it and learn from it.
What you have done is profound: You have just started a business. Try to make it successful in the sense that, after all your expenses, you make a profit and you get paid for your time. Work at it over a couple of months. See what happens.
Now that you have started one business, try to take the lessons you have learned and start one that is a little more complicated. And just keep moving up the scale.
[If you have kids, I would suggest that you let them try a flea market business now, while they are young. They will be ahead of the game when they get older.]
{For Futher Reading}
Even before the ink has dried on proposals to relieve poor countries’ debts to international lenders, the deal agreed by the G8 at Gleneagles is under threat. [For Futher Reading…......]
What am i reading? Does this mean that there would be the likelihood of ammendment of the agreement?
This i say because
In a document that has been leaked to the activist group Jubilee Debt Campaign, Belgian IMF representative Willy Kierkens is quoted as telling the IMF executive board that “rather than giving full, irrevocable and unconditional debt relief… countries would receive grants”.
The IMF would then be able to withdraw the grants if countries failed to meet IMF conditions such as implementing the Poverty Growth Reduction Strategy which is a pre-requisite for receiving debt relief.
Well just like me,
The proposals have also alarmed African officials at the IMF, if the leaks are accurate.
The three African directors representing sub-Saharan Africa say any change to the G8 debt deal “would delay benefits” and that it “does not seem appropriate that debt cancellation would reintroduce conditionality”.
If the do really want to help, the should just do it. Otherwise what is all this nonesense?
When it comes to features, the lightweight Kensington® PocketMouse Optical Micro Wireless mouse is a real heavyweight performer. We’ve packed this ultra-compact mouse full of leading-edge capabilities. It is wireless so you never have to hassle with cords. Its simple, plug-in USB receiver tucks right inside so you’re never left without a receiver and, when stowed, it automatically shuts off the mouse to save batteries. And the PocketMouse’s programmable buttons and scroll wheel make fast work of navigation. All this in an ultra-compact and comfortable chassis that takes up virtually no room in your computer bag.
Features and Benefits
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Ultra-compact chassis is big on features but takes up very little room in your bag. Receiver stows inside chassis so it’s always ready.
Stow the receiver and mouse automatically shuts off—saving your batteries.
DiamondEye™ optical technology tracks smoothly on virtually any surface.
Two programmable buttons and scroll wheel make fast work of navigation.
Besides the heavy price tag of $49.99 (approx RM194), Whatelse would you want in a mouse?
Source: Kensington
Please can someone tell me what the Googles URL is? Now do i sound stupid? I really do not think so. Actually that is the kind of questions we are supposed to be answering gladly.
When someone ask me this kind of question, i really would be very glad to answer . This not only because its an obvious answerable question, but its really simple and specific. But when someone goes into the extreme of asking technical questions, such as “What is entreprenuership? or even How do I start a blog?” and expects me to have an answer to such a question. Then I would say that, thats really a stupid question and such a question does not deserve any answer at all. I am not a walking technical dictionary for goodness sake, and it is really, very irritating and a total wastage of bandwidth and time to be answering such a question. Rather than answering irritating questions like this one, I would just scream out the two words “GOOGLE IT”.
I might sound mean, yes, but isnt those kind of questions irritating? The inability to do a little research on a subject of interest, has become a very disturbing attitude common amongst supposedly literate people online nowadays.
And suprisingly this irritating attitude, keeps on repeating itself because of the willingness of the responder to research on behalf of the questionier, and thus the questionier thinks that every person online happens to be a walking dictionary. And with that kind of attitude, we dont really learn much about that subject of interest. I think its about time, that people just start learning to say No to stupid questions, that deserve broad researches.
We do really need to encourage our friends and colleagues to start doing their own research for their own good, before thinking of asking any question in that relation. It does really helps them in learning broadly, and also thus save you the time and bandwidth you are suppose to use in doing something more reasonable and important.
Wouldnt you love to see your friend or colleagues talking and sharing about the technicalities of their subject of interests rather than asking? I guess we all do. And thats really what learning, sharing and contributing ideas of interest is all about, not spoon feeding.
Picture a world without Google, without eBay or Amazon or broadband, where few people have even heard of IPOs. That was reality just a decade ago. The company that changed it—bringing us into the Internet age—was a brilliant flash in the pan called Netscape. For the tenth anniversary of its IPO, FORTUNE recruited dozens of players to tell the story of the startup in their own words. [Futher Reading…]
Can you picture one? Well i really cant 
Yes to get people to share ideas would be really wonderful. Using the opensource approach to achieve business ideas, is really a new dimension of business. The title was, Can The Business Blogosphere Build and Run a Real Business? . The post went on to explain how the authour plans to achieve a system of implementing a business idea contributed by a member of a system using a democratic process of voting, and dropping based on contributed ideas of choice by the members. This is what he is planning to develop and well i must confess that the concept is beautiful, but then again there is a question that is still yet unanswered.
If I am a contributing member of such a system. How secure is my ideas, especially if it is an idea, i totally believe in, safe from exposure and replication outside the system, especially if its voted out during the process?
Well its a worth read,
Can The Business Blogosphere Build and Run a Real Business?
Do you ever have an idea that drives you crazy? Ever since I read “Wisdom of Crowds” a while back I keep wondering if it’s true. I think about it all the time. A few months ago, I decided there was no reason not to test it. So I’ve built a new site called The Business Experiment
where I propose we do just that.
Yes, you heard correctly. Business bloggers and readers will test their cumulative business knowledge by collectively starting and running a business – out in the open.
Can we do it? I don’t know. It seems crazy, and counterintuitive to everything that we think about business, but that is why I want to do it.
How will it work?
Interested in reading more?
Well yes your Amazon wish list can be all fulfilled. It’s Amazon’s 10th year anniversary!! , hurray! Amazon is celebrating this anniversary by rewarding everybody on the net, with the chance to win their wish list.
How do you get that dream fulfilled?
All you have to do is create a new Amazon.com Wish List anytime between July 7 and July 16, and you will be automatically entered to win one of the following prizes.
Yes its crazy and i am getting really excited, and if you ask me was i a little bit of greedy in choosing, hehehe, no comment, anywayz check my wish list out, and get one for yourself too.
Check My Wishlist out .