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Will the Net Remain Tax Free?

posted on September 21, 2007

By Roderick Ioerger.

Someone once said there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Well how about a free Internet?  Word out of Washington is that odds are good that the existing moratorium on taxing Internet access will be extended and there is even a distinct possibility that the ban could become permanent.

The Internet is an unusual topic for Congress only in that it is not a partisan issue.  Neither all of the Republicans nor all of the Democrats are on board with the existing moratorium.  It appears that the Republicans are pressing harder for the ban to be permanent while Democrats like Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, prefer to extend the moratorium but still prefer to hedge his bets in case the congress wishes to change its mind in the future.

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How Social Networks Can Improve Product Testing

posted on July 19, 2007

By Roderick Ioerger.

Social Shopping has already become a popular phenomenon with a number of sites out there promoting the experience. But leveraging these communities for product testing still seems to be far behind where it should be. The availability of willing product testers has never been higher and the ability to locate just the right demographics has never been easier thanks to the copious amounts of information that social networks provide about their users.

Have social networks created the nirvana for product test marketing? With the ability to create a social network of almost any demographic and be able to quickly and easily grow or shrink the size of the network to have precisely the desired mix of individuals, have social networks created the ultimate product testing ground?

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Social Networks Going the Way of Reality TV?

posted on July 5, 2007

By Roderick Ioerger

Are we inundated yet? Like reality television, social networking is getting to the point where the newness and creativity seems to be losing some of its luster. How many social networking sites can a person really effectively use and enjoy? (even Robert Scoble can’t keep up). Everyday there seems to be some sort of new social network to connect some niche vertical, today it was the baking network, tomorrow who knows? And really at this point who cares? I feel like I know what all my friends, relatives, and even casual acquaintances are doing twenty four seven and clearly they seem to have a pretty good idea what I am up to too.

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New Standards to Eliminate Email Spam

posted on May 29, 2007

By Roderick Ioerger

Technology is constantly advancing, yet efficient and effective protection from e-mail spammers and phishers is still a challenging problem for many individuals and organizations. In 2005 Yahoo, Cisco, and a number of other major corporations worked together to develop DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM).

DKIM is a validation method that allows an e-mail message to be identified by the actual domain from which the e-mail was sent and the e-mail can also be traced back to its origin creating the ability to have only highly legitimate e-mail messages delivered.

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TripAdvisor Growing With Help of User Generated Content

posted on May 24, 2007

By Roderick Ioerger

It is Simple and Brilliant. TripAdvisor has created a community that leverages user generated content to successfully attract incremental visitors and search engines to their site while creating a self-sustaining ad supported business model which TripAdvisor has had the patience to allow to mature.

But playing the waiting game can be tedious and apparently TripAdvisor has decided that, while it has become a master of the game, it might be time to become more proactive. Just this last week TripAdvisor announced their acquisition of five different travel community websites:

BookingBuddy.com
SmarterTravel.com
SeatGuru.com
TravelPod.com
Travel-Libra ry.com