 Abrir artículo en el Browser. |
| Published: March 21, 2007, 4:23 PM PDT Is Photobucket the next Internet darling? By Greg Sandoval Staff Writer, CNET News.com It's one of the biggest content-sharing sites, but critics say it owes too much of its success to MySpace. |
 |
| Executives at the photo-sharing site Photobucket are fond of saying their company has one of the most visited Web sites that nobody has ever heard of. |
Photobucket's 17 million U.S. monthly visitors make it the 34th most-visited site on the Web, according to ComScore Networks. Among the top social-networking or content-sharing destinations, Photobucket's traffic only trails MySpace and YouTube and is slightly ahead of Facebook, according to ComScore figures. And the number of people storing images on Photobucket far exceeds that of higher-profile rival, Flickr. Yet Photobucket, which developed technology that allows users to post photos on blogs, Web sites and MySpace pages, is the only site among that group, other than Facebook, that hasn't been acquired. Critics say there's a good reason for that: despite the site's large audience, they aren't convinced the 4-year-old Photobucket is either a trendsetter or a potential cash cow worth coughing up big dollars to purchase. Moreover, they worry that Photobucket depends too much on MySpace. "What Photobucket doesn't have that YouTube did was a $70 billion TV advertising market behind it," said James McQuivey, a Forrester Research analyst. "Advertisers understand video. YouTube could be the cable company of the future. Photo sharing is relatively new and didn't even exist until the Internet." That's not to say Photobucket's founders are eager to sell. CEO Alex Welch said his company has a long-range plan and isn't banking on a buyout. "My philosophy is to build a standalone business," Welch said. But "if you are always looking at the best interest of the company, you're going to have strategic options. We've really got our focus on growth right now." Nonetheless, Welch and other Photobucket execs are irked by critics who say they rely too much on MySpace. To understand why, you have to look at the company's roots. Founded four years ago by engineers Welch and Darren Crystal, Photobucket was a response to online photo sites that discouraged people from sharing pictures online. The duo came up with a feature that allowed people to embed pictures on Web sites and share across the Internet, and it caught on with people who were eager to personalize their MySpace pages. YouTube, the Web's top video-sharing site, would later appeal to that crowd for the same reason. Unlike some competitors, Photobucket hasn't been plagued by issues of sexually explicit or copyrighted content appearing on the site. The company employs two centers in Colorado and Iowa where 60 people screen video and photos. The company removes content that doesn't fit those parameters, and abusive users are banned. But the danger for a company like Photobucket isn't in porn or copyright lawsuits: It's the possibility of MySpace taking a hard line against outside content by blocking it. Rumors circulated last summer that News Corp. was considering such a plan to block outside content. One MySpace executive said then, "Sure, we've thought about it, but one consideration is how users would respond if we forced them to use in-house services." The New York Times reported on Monday that MySpace has been cracking down on what kind of software tools users can embed on the site. The Times quoted an executive from MySpace's parent company saying: "YouTube wouldn't exist if it wasn't for MySpace." A MySpace spokeswoman declined to comment for this story.
 An olive branch Peter Pham, Photobucket's vice president of business development, maintains that MySpace, Photobucket and YouTube help each other. "The MySpace ecosystem is like Standard Oil and Ford motor," Pham said. "Both clearly benefited from each other. Since Photobucket gives users additional ways to express themselves, sites like MySpace benefit from the additional page views." While many in the industry credit Photobucket with successfully piggybacking on MySpace's traffic, an accomplishment many companies are trying to duplicate, they question whether offering an electronic filing cabinet for photos is a long-term business. "The question is how engaged a visitor is with a photo-sharing site," Sterling said. "The speculation is that people spend less time on a photo site than they do with a site that they check multiple times a day, such as MySpace or Facebook." Pham and Welch shrug when confronted by skepticism about their business model. "You have to remember what Google got for its $1.65 billion," said Welch at the Media Summit conference in New York last month. "They bought YouTube for the eyeballs. And we have a lot of those as well." Not only that, but Photobucket also offers video. The company is seeing between 40,000 and 45,000 video uploads daily, mostly from people uninterested in sharing their video creations with YouTube and the entire Internet. While YouTube sees more than twice that number of video submissions, Photobucket's numbers are just behind MySpace's. Photobucket, which recently topped 38 million registered users, is also trying to keep people on the site longer, a metric that advertisers like to see. As part of a partnership with software-maker Adobe, Photobucket is expected to launch a Web-based editing toolthat will allow users to blend video, photos and music. The music comes from Pump Audio, which licenses independent music and announced an agreement with Photobucket earlier this month. Photobucket's Welch also said his company has already had a few profitable quarters, and he expects it to stay that way by the third quarter of this year. Maybe then someone will pay attention. |
|
domingo, agosto 12, 2007
"Photobucket" Manejador de imágenes en ASP
miércoles, agosto 08, 2007
Servicios Web para acceso remoto a PC´s.
 Abrir artículo en el Browser. | ||
| May 24 , 2005 Remote Access between PC´s. By Cade Metz In years past, remote control and remote access weren't exactly technologies of the masses. Complicated and expensive, applications like Laplink and pcAnywhere were rarely used by anyone other than IT professionals and other seasoned computer users. In recent years, all this has changed, with dramatic improvements in the usability and pricing of utilities that give you access to your other PCs, whether they're across town or on the other side of the world. Which is right for you? Much depends on how many machines you have, how you use them, and how much you're willing to spend. With some services, the base price gives you remote access to only one machine. And though most give you a discount if you sign up for a full year of service, these vary from about 10 percent (FolderShare) to 55 percent (LogMeIn Pro). | ||
 | ||
| Despite its many imitators, the original, GoToMyPC ($19.95 per month and up), is still the most effective remote control tool on the Web—and the easiest to use. You can tap into a remote PC from any Java-enabled browser, freely navigating its OS as if it were right there in front of you. Equipped with a built-in file transfer tool, it's a great way to access important data. But it's also great for support. In accessing a friend's machine, not only can you navigate the system, but you can also chat and draw on the friend's desktop with a virtual marker. If need be, you can even reboot your remote system. But the real beauty of the app is how easy it is to use. You simply download a small client to the PC you want to control and assign a password to the system. From then on, you can access your machine by logging on to your account and keying in the system password. GoToMyPC does cost a pretty penny, and though it can be used on certain wireless handhelds, it doesn't work well over dial-up connections. ($9.95 per month) solves both these problems. It's cheaper than GoToMyPC, and though it does offer full remote control, it can also make low-bandwidth HTML-based connections, accessing only certain important parts of a remote system, including your e-mail in-box, your calendar, and your file tree. This sort of approach is ideal for use over dial-up or on a wireless handheld. But the full remote control isn't as slick or as fast as what you get with GoToMyPC, and the low-bandwidth functions are only marginally useful if your remote machine isn't running Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. | ||
 | ||
| ($9.95 per month) carries the same price tag as Laplink Everywhere and operates along the same lines. You can do full remote control, or you can opt for quick and dirty HTML connections. The difference is that its full remote control, while still not the equal of GoToMyPC's, is far more impressive than Laplink's. One nice bonus here: You can stream video from a remote PC's webcam. Not only can you check up on your PC, you can even check up on the room it's sitting in. I f you have a webcam installed, I'm InTouch automatically finds it and starts streaming video as soon as you click the appropriate link.  Don't want to spend even $10 a month? 3am Labs' LogMeIn Basic gives you full remote control, free. It won't transfer files to and from your remote PC or do remote printing, but it's nearly as slick and as fast as GoToMyPC, and if you need to transfer files, you can do so by remote-controlling e-mail. The company has two more powerful versions of the product, each $12.95.
WebEx's free product, MyWebEx PC, isn't quite as impressive as LogMeIn. With the free version of LogMeIn, for example, you can access an unlimited number of remote machines, whereas MyWebEx PC limits you to one.(Webex free is no longer available. July 2007) But its designers have worked out a few bugs since we first reviewed the product in February, and the full version of the tool, which includes file transfer, remote printing, and application-specific access much like you get with Laplink Everywhere, is only $9.95 per month. BeInSync or ByteTaxi's FolderShare Install BeInSync ($59.95 per year) or ByteTaxi's FolderShare ($48.60 to $72.90 per year) and you may not need remote control. Each of these apps lets you keep certain files and folders automatically synchronized between two or more machines. You can also use them to share files with other users—and yes, you can do remote access from any Web browser with either service. Both are available free, in limited form, and they're far more versatile than standard remote control apps. BeInSync's interface is more intuitive. Unlike FolderShare, it lets you easily synchronize e-mail messages, contacts, and bookmarks, not just files. But the company has yet to pin down its price, saying that it will up the annual rate to $99.95 but not committing to a date or even to a general time frame. | ||
|
martes, agosto 07, 2007
Aumenta la brecha tecnológica en Colombia
|
miércoles, agosto 01, 2007
África, aún en espera de Internet
 WORLD BUSINESS INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER |
| África, aún en espera de Internet. Por RON NIXON Publicado: Julio 22, 2007 (Editado del original) |
|
|
| Un día bochornoso de 203 en Kigali, algunos de los funcionarios de mas alto nivel del gobierno Rwandés, entre ellos el presidente Paul Kagame, acompañaban a un hombre de negocios estadounidense, Greg Wyler, mientras este describía con entusiasmo como podía ayudar a convertir a su pequeño país en centro de actividad en Internet. Wyler, ejecutivo de Boston que hizo su fortuna durante el auge tecnológico indico que cubriría a Rwanda con cables de fibra óptica, para conectar escuelas, instituciones publicas y hogares con un servicio de Internet de bajo costo y alta velocidad, Era la primera vez que Wyler de 37 años ponía un pie en África - fue invitado por un funcionario gubernamental Rwandés al que conoció en una boda. Wyler nunca espero iniciar un negocio en Rwanda; simplemente quería ser útil al país azotado por la guerra. Aun así, Terracom, la compañía de Wyler, recibió un contrato para conectar 300 escuelas a la Internet. Mas tarde, la compañía adquiriría el 99 por ciento de las acciones de Rwandatel, operador Nacional de telecomunicaciones Rwandés por 20 millones de dólares. Pero tras casi cuatro años, la mayoría de los beneficios prometidos por Wyler y su compañía no se han concretado, de acuerdo con los funcionarios Rwandeses. "El asunto es que prometió muchas cosas y no dio resultados" , indico Albert Butare, ministro Rwandés de telecomunicaciones. Wyler indica que ve las cosas de forma muy distinta y que es probable que nunca coincida con los funcionarios Rwandeses en cuanto a los motivos por los que su inversión a sido tan lenta en arrancar. Pero la experiencia de Terracom es emblemática de lo que puede suceder cuando las buenas intenciones chocan con las realidades técnicas, políticas y corporativas de África. |
|
|
| Menos del 4 por ciento de la población africana tiene conexión a Internet, y la mayoría se encuentra en los países norafricanos y en la Republica de Sudáfrica. La falta de infraestructura es el problema principal. En numerosos países, las redes de comunicación quedaron destruidas durante los años de guerra civil y la continua inestabilidad política disuade a gobiernos y compañías de invertir en nuevos sistemas. Los mensajes de correo electrónico y las llamadas telefónicas enviados de algunos Países Africanos tienen que ser enrutados por Gran Bretaña, o incluso Estados Unidos, lo que incrementa sus costos y tiempos de entrega. La única conexión de África con la red de computadoras y de cables de fibra óptica que representa la columna vertebral de Internet es un cable submarino, de 600 millones de dólares, que corre desde Portugal por la costa occidental Africana. Tendido en 2002, se suponía que el cable brindaría acceso a Internet mas barato y rápido, algo que no ha ocurrido hasta ahora. "A menos de que puedas ofrecer un acceso a Internet equivalente al resto del mundo, África no puede formar parte de la economía global del entorno académico", expreso Lawrence H Landweber, profesor emérito de ciencias computacionales en la Universidad de Wisconsin, en Madison, quien también participó en una iniciativa temprana para llevar Internet a África, a mediados de los años 90. Los intentos de llevar conexiones económicas de Banda Ancha rápida a grandes masas de la población han sido infructuosas en todo el continente. Menos del 4 por ciento de la población africana está conectada a Internet; la mayoría de los subscriptores están en África del Norte y en la República de Suráfrica. A pesar que las tarifas de Internet de alta velocidad han rebajado, de cerca de U$ 1,000 al mes cuando Terracom legó en el 2003; para la mayoría de la gente las tarifas actuales están fuera de su alcance. El ingreso promedio per cápita de un Rwandés es de U$ 220 al año, y una conexion rápida vale en promedio U$ 63. Además, aquellos lo suficientemente ricos para poder conectarse estan constantemente quejándose del mal servicio. Los funcionarios Rwandeses, que consideran la tecnología de la información crucial para la modernización de la economía rural, estaban particularmente interesados en conectar las escuelas primarias y secundarias. Aproximadamente el 90 por ciento de los ocho millones de habitantes de Ruanda trabaja en el sector agrícola. |
|
|
| Pero a mediados de Julio, solo 100 de las 300 escuelas cubiertas por el contrato de Terracom contaba con servicio de Internet de alta velocidad. Las 300 deberían haber quedado conectadas para 2006. En total menos del uno por ciento de la población Rwandesa tiene conexión a Internet. Los funcionarios Rwandeses indican que Terracom parece mas interesada en posicionarse en el mercado mas lucrativo de la telefonía celular que en servir como proveedor de Internet. En una entrevista vía telefónica desde su casa en Boston, Wyler, quien renuncio a su puesto de presidente ejecutivo de Terracom, en Noviembre, para dedicarle mas tiempo a su familia, pero permanece en el concejo directivo de la compañía, dijo que, a su parecer, esta tiene expectativas poco realistas "Terracom ha hecho todo lo posible. Debido a los desafíos técnicos, el servicio de Internet difícilmente va a poder ser mejor que ahora". Rwanda cuenta con poca industria y su infraestructura sigue en reconstrucción luego del caos provocado por el genocidio que mato a entre 800 mil y un millón de personas, en 1994. "Casi no tenemos recursos naturales y no hay puerto marítimo en Rwanda, por lo que solo nos resta tratar de convertirnos en una sociedad basada en el conocimiento", indico Romain Murenzi, Ministro de Ciencia, Tecnología, e Investigación Científica. Christopher Lundh, nuevo presidente de Terracom, indica que la compañía no ha abandonado sus planes de proporcionarle a Rwanda la infraestructura de Internet mas avanzada de toda África. Una conexión inalámbrica debe comenzar a operar a nivel nacional cerca de fines del 2007, indicó. Magnus K. Mazimpaka contribuyó con información desde Rwanda. |
|
|
| DOCUMENTO ORIGINAL |
| Africa, Offline: Waiting for the Web By RON NIXON Published: July 22, 2007 |
|
|
| ON a muggy day in Kigali in 2003, some of the highest-ranking officials in the Rwandan government, including President Paul Kagame, flanked an American businessman, Greg Wyler, as he boldly described how he could help turn their small country into a hub of Internet activity. Mr. Wyler, an executive based in Boston who made his fortune during the tech boom, said he would lace Rwanda with fiber optic cables, connecting schools, government institutions and homes with low-cost, high-speed Internet service. Until that point, Mr. Wyler, 37, had never set foot in Africa — he was invited by a Rwandan government official he had met at a wedding. Mr. Wyler never expected to start a business there; he simply wanted to try to help the war-torn country. Even so, Mr. Wyler's company, Terracom, was granted a contract to connect 300 schools to the Internet. Later, the company would buy 99 percent of the shares in Rwandatel, the country's national telecommunications company, for $20 million. But after nearly four years, most of the benefits hailed by him and his company have failed to materialize, Rwandan officials say. "The bottom line is that he promised many things and didn't deliver," said Albert Butare, the country's telecommunications minister. Mr. Wyler says he sees things quite differently, and he and Rwandan officials will probably never agree on why their joint venture has been so slow to get off the ground. But Terracom's tale is more than a story about a business dispute in Rwanda. It is also emblematic of what can happen when good intentions run into the technical, political and business realities of Africa. Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on the continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa's population is connected to the Web; most subscribers are in North African countries and the republic of South Africa. A lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, communications networks were destroyed during years of civil conflict, and continuing political instability deters governments or companies from investing in new systems. E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States, increasing expenses and delivery times. About 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this way and costs African countries billions of extra dollars each year that they would not incur if their infrastructure was up to speed. "Most African governments haven't paid much attention to their infrastructure," said Vincent Oria, an associate professor of computer science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a native of the Ivory Coast. "In places where hunger, AIDS and poverty are rampant, they didn't see it as critical until now." |
|
|
| Africa's only connection to the network of computers and fiber optic cables that are the Internet's backbone is a $600 million undersea cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa. Built in 2002, the cable was supposed to provide cheaper and faster Web access, but so far that has not happened. Prices remain high because the national telecommunications linked to the cable maintain a monopoly over access, squeezing out potential competitors. And plans for a fiber optic cable along the East African coast have stalled over similar access issues. Most countries in Eastern Africa, like Rwanda, depend on slower satellite technology for Internet service. The result is that Africa remains the least connected region in the world, and the digital gap between it and the developed world is widening rapidly. "Unless you can offer Internet access that is the same as the rest of the world, Africa can't be part of the global economy or academic environment," said Lawrence H. Landweber, professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who was also part of an early effort to bring the Web to Africa in the mid-1990s. "The benefits of the Internet age will bypass the continent." RWANDAN officials were especially interested in wiring primary and secondary schools, seeing information technology as crucial to modernizing the country's rural economy. Some 90 percent of the country's eight million people work in agriculture. But as of mid-July, only one-third of the 300 schools covered in Terracom's contract had high-speed Internet service. All 300 were supposed to have been connected by 2006. Over all, less than 1 percent of the population is connected to the Internet. Rwandan officials say the company seems more interested in tapping the more lucrative cellphone market than in being an Internet service provider. (In November, Mr. Wyler stepped down as chief executive of Terracom, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family; he still serves on the board.) In a telephone interview from his home in Boston, Mr. Wyler said he would not address the government's criticism, saying he did not want to be quoted as saying anything negative. But he said there were some things he had not anticipated, particularly the technical challenges of linking Rwanda's Internet network to the rest of the world. The only way to do it is to buy bandwidth capacity on satellites, but there are not enough satellites to meet demand. Mr. Wyler also says he believes that Terracom suffers from unrealistic expectations. "Terracom has done everything it can, " he said. "Because of the technical challenges, the Internet service is as good as it's going to get. But given what we started from, I still think we have accomplished a lot. In the beginning there were a few people with Internet service; now there are thousands." The Rwandan government had hoped that the number of Web surfers would be much higher by now. Rwanda, which is about the size of Maryland, has little industry, and its infrastructure is still being rebuilt after being left in shambles by a 1994 genocide in which 800,000 to a million people were killed. "We have almost no natural resources and no seaports in Rwanda, which leaves us only with trying to become a knowledge-based society," said Romain Murenzi, the minister of science, technology and scientific research. Officials saw Terracom's investment as crucial to its transformation. Unlike many African governments, Rwanda's was eager to privatize the national telecommunications company, which had outdated equipment, high prices and few subscribers. But from the start, government officials say, there were problems with Terracom. Mr. Butare, the telecommunications minister, said the government had trouble getting basic information from the company. Complicating the situation, Mr. Butare said, was that Mr. Wyler tried to run Terracom from the United States, visiting Rwanda just a few weeks at a time. He left day-to-day management to a poorly trained staff, Mr. Butare said. "There were spots where they did some things here and there," Mr. Butare said. "But over all they have failed to do what they promised." Internet rates have been lowered, from about $1,000 a month when Terracom arrived in 2003, but most people still can't afford it. The average Rwandan makes about $220 a year, and a fixed-line Internet hookup costs about $90 a month. Basic wireless Internet is about $63 a month. Those rich enough to pay the fees complain about poor service. |
|
|
| Government officials say the company has spent more time marketing and signing up cellphone customers than on expanding Internet service. According to government figures, Terracom has 30,000 to 40,000 mobile phone subscribers and about 20,000 Internet customers. The situation came to a head late last year, when government officials contended that Terracom secretly tried to trade its shares in the Rwandan telecom to GV Telecom, a regional African telecommunications company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. Rwandan officials were furious, saying this was a violation of the contract signed by the two parties. The plan was scrapped and Mr. Wyler was widely criticized. In June, the government fined Terracom nearly $400,000 for failing to comply with its licensing obligations, failing to provide information about its operations and failing to pay several fees. "We decided to penalize Terracom after they failed to fulfill their obligations for a long time," said Beatha Mukangabo, legal officer for the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency. Terracom said it has paid the fines and is working with the government to meet all of its obligations. Mr. Wyler said he has not been involved in Terracom for nearly 10 months and could not comment on its current operations. Christopher Lundh, Terracom's new chief executive and a former executive of Gateway Communications in London, has worked in several African countries. He now lives and works full time in Rwanda, and many government officials say Terracom's performance has improved under his leadership. Mr. Lundh acknowledged that there were problems with the company's operations in the past. "The former management did make some promises that they were not able to keep," he said. "That's why I was brought in to professionalize things." He also said that the company could have better handled the matter with GV Telecom but that he thinks the government overreacted. He said the Rwandan government is to blame for some of the delays. "We would get to schools that don't even have electricity or computers," he said. "That is not our fault." In addition, he said that many of the complaints about the company concerned things beyond its ability to control. Getting adequate bandwidth remains a constant challenge. Like most telecommunications companies in eastern Africa, Terracom depends on satellites for Internet service. Satellite service is much slower than cable because of delays in the signals. Satellites also provide less bandwidth than cable. Adding to the problem is that most of the satellites serving Africa were launched nearly 20 years ago and are aging or going out of commission. A satellite set to go into service last year blew up on the launching pad. Power is also an issue, as intermittent power failures in Rwanda hamper efforts to provide a steady electricity source. DESPITE these limitations and earlier setbacks, Mr. Lundh says Terracom is moving ahead with plans to give Rwanda the most advanced Internet infrastructure in Africa. A nationwide wireless connection should begin operating near year-end, he said, about the time a nonprofit group, One Laptop Per Child, based in Boston, is to introduce a $100 laptop in the country. And Terracom is continuing to lay fiber optic cables to connect Rwanda to several other African countries, eliminating a need for phone calls and Internet traffic to be routed via European or American networks. The government, meanwhile, is moving forward with its own plans to build a fiber optic network. It also has granted Internet service licenses to South African companies and plans to issue several more. "We think we are going to have a healthier market pretty soon," said Nkubito Bakuramutsa, director general of the Rwanda Information Technology Authority. "We have learned from past experience." Mr. Bakuramutsa said he hopes to bring the price of Internet service down to about $10 a month. Mr. Lundh said his company welcomes the competition. But, he added, getting necessary bandwidth remains an issue and no matter what company supplies Internet service, speed will be a problem. "Eventually you reach a point of diminishing returns," he said. "Unless there is a new undersea fiber optic cable built or a new satellite launched, it's going to be difficult." Magnus K. Mazimpaka contributed reporting from Rwanda. |
|
|
domingo, julio 29, 2007
Taller de TIC's básicos para WEB2.0
|