Internet usage in India is on the rise. A whopping 71 million claim to have used the internet during last year in the Indian subcontinent. Even though 71 million is a rather small number compared to the 1.2 billion people that live in the country, increasing usage of the Internet is surely a very positive sign.

Three major privacy groups have urged federal regulators to investigate ad networks that track web surfers and sell targeted ads. According to these groups, two emerging trends in online advertising pose growing threats to user privacy. These two trends include auctioning of individual Internet users for targeted advertising opportunities and the combining of online and other sources of data about Internet users.

The World Privacy Forum, the Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Groups) asked the Federal Trade Commission to open an inquiry into whether these networks, including Google and Yahoo!, are unfairly tracking Americans and profiting from their data. They believe that online marketers are secretly combining online data with offline data and using that to run real-time ad auctions.

"This massive and stealth data collection apparatus threa ... Read more »

The tablet market that was quite nascent for some time now has been bursting with impressive new entrants lately one of the most popular and awaited one being the iPad. From JooJoo to HP Slate, the new internet tablets have made their mark in the gadget industry and their popularity has been quite overwhelming. As all popular manufacturers are trying to cash in on the tablet popularity, Nokia too is said to be having talks about bringing out a rival for the iPad.

Tiger Woods is making his return to the PGA Tour as well as the ad world at the same time. This is the first time he is appearing in either after his cheating scandal broke out. Now, on the eve of the PGA Tour, ESPN and Golf Channel aired a 33 second new Nike commercial starring Tiger Woods.

In the black and white commercial, Woods is seen wearing a hat and a vest bearing Nike's swoosh logo to compliment his humbled facial expression. In the background, you hear his father Earl Woods’ voice saying to his son, "Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are. Did you learn anything?" Tiger remains silent as the camera zooms in on his face before Nike's trademark ‘Swoosh’ flashes against a black screen.

Earl Woods, who started coaching his son when he was a toddler, died in May ... Read more »

The internet has become one of the most powerful income generators of the recent years. Information technology companies are some of the richest in the world and this tells us how much revenue can be generated on the internet. Online advertising world wide revenues have jumped from a meagre $8.1 billion in 2000 to a mind blowing $21 billion in 2009. This is proof enough for the CEO’s of any company to tap into this vast potential. Online advertising is a money minting business and has seen rapid changes within the systems, procedures and methods that are adopted. World economy went through a tough phase in the 2008-09. It was not classified as a full-fledged depression but it came dangerously close. Many multi-billion dollar companies and specifically banks went bankrupt. This was seen to have a rippling effect on the advertising expenditure.

Online advertising saw its worst performance in the beginning of 2009. T ... Read more »

Internet has grown with leaps and bounds over the years. It has in fact become a very large and important part of the business structure of many companies and world economies. Millions of people use Internet for various reasons ranging from its initial use of collection of information to more complex duties of designing machines and creating and sharing various ideas. E-commerce is a very high volume market now, with billions of dollars transferred all over the world.

ISP or internet service providers provide their users with the connection to access the internet. In the developed countries these are very large companies that control a major chunk of the traffic volume.

In 2008 Comcast, one of the major ISPs was forced into litigation against controlling the flow of traffic. This was seen as a land mark case because there are certain rules and features of the Internet which c ... Read more »

A lot of copyrighted material is available over the Internet today. Copyrighted material is distributed under a copyright license and no one has the right to use it without the written permission of the author. One of the downsides of the Internet, according to the copyright industry, is that it allows for quick access to and sharing of copyrighted materials, guaranteeing a tide of copyright infringements. The law makers in the UK have come with a solution to stem this issue at the root. Almost 90% of illegal downloading is done through private internet connections. The bill that has been passed makes it legal to penalize the person caught downloading copyrighted material with a lifetime ban on usage of the Internet. This bill is called the "digital economy bill” and it was passed in recent days.

There are many pros and cons of this bill. It essentially gives the copyright industry a Card Blanche protection agains ... Read more »

Windows XP has been and continues to be the most dominant operating system for personal computers. Vista launch in 2006 has failed to dethrone Windows XP as a primary OS for Intel-based workstations. Market penetration of Windows Vista has peaked at around 30% in 2009, compared to an almost 60% user base of its predecessor. That came as troubling news for Microsoft to swallow, considering the fact that virtually every new PC has shipped with Windows Vista pre-installed for full 3 years. Vista's commercial failure was compared by some to a Windows ME fiasco.

One of the most essential things that we need to learn on the internet if we have a web site is how to utilize search engine optimization. This is not a new concept and has been developed following a rapid expansion in popularity of search engines. Search engines brought us a new way of finding information on the internet replacing direct access and directory lookups as a primary way of accessing content. Being listed in the top 3 for your target keywords can result in a massive influx of free visitors and strong sales growth, while being out of top 10 may leave you no choice but to buy traffic at staggering rates. This disparity created a huge industry that is now known as SEO – Search Engine Optimization, where companies pay money to third party experts to help them attain high positions in search engines.

Recently, however, social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have become an ever expanding ... Read more »

Apple iPad is one of the most awaited tech gadgets of 2010. It has lived up to all the hype which had been surrounding it. Apple iPhone was the innovation which Apple introduced a year before and despite several drawbacks, it has sold beyond any expectations. iPad is an innovation which has pushed the boundaries of possibilities in the daily use of computer gadgets, which is a cross between a laptop and a palm top. The main idea or inspiration for the iPad according to the Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs was to combine the computer and the hand held concept into one device. By doing this they have come up with one of the best looking computing gadgets released in recent times. The main reason for iPad’s success is not so much its features but rather the company which manufactures it. Apple has had tremendous success in the recent years, a trend started with the iPod, a portable MP3 player which simplified listening to music on the go.

... Read more »