Category Archives: Web 2.0

Gmail adds voice and video chat

Google has introduced Gmail voice and video chat, which lets you have free voice and video conversations right from within Gmail.

Many of us have already been using Gmail’s voicemail feature to send them to email ids (very useful), and this voice and video chat will make it even better.

Checkout these Google blog posts for more details:

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/say-hello-to-gmail-voice-and-video-chat.html

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/talk-face-to-face-right-from-within.html

Success Story of Wall Street Journal Online

At one time, newspapers were incredibly influential in terms of their ability to shape opinion. This is not the case anymore. The main reason for this is the fact that online news sources are providing serious competition to the traditional print press. This has led to a significant decline in newspaper circulations.

However, a small number of print newspapers like the Wall Street Journal have not only survived the online storm; they have done extraordinarily well despite the competition. The newspaper still boasts two million readers a day. Even more impressive, however, is the fact that the paper has transitioned quite well into the online medium. Its online subscriber numbers are staggering as the paper has close to one million members. These are truly amazing numbers and it leads many people to wonder the secret of the Wall Street Journal’s success.

Part of the reason is that although the newspaper is named after a particular street in New York City, the subject matter of the paper is international in scope. There are financial markets all over the world. People involved in these markets require an influx of news on the subject of banking, finance, and the economy.

Whether it is the financial district of modern London or the black Wall Street of 1920′s Oklahoma, people all over the world have required financial news. The Wall Street Journal provided for that need. As a result, it has been reaping the rewards since its inception in an earlier century.

Of course, the ability for the Journal to stay relevant ties in with the foresight to create an online presence. This is no minor feat. Had it not effectively developed a credible online subscription service it would have lost ground to more visionary start ups. Yes, the Journal could have gotten into the game at a later date but this would have been seen as a “follow the leader” tactic and not one of innovation. The New York Times learned this lesson when its late start into online news subscription services never caught on.

How ahead of the game was the newspaper in this regard? Well, the website debuted in 1996. (URL: WallStreetJoural.com) The internet was making its first expansion into people’s homes during this time period. They were well ahead of the curve since it immediately jumped into the fray. Yes, several newspapers had websites but they were sparse and did not truly embody the look and feel of a new media dynamo. The Wall Street Journal Online did and it set the foundation for the future growth that it would soon experience.

Part of the reason for this is that they understood the trends media communications were being directed. Since the Wall Street Journal lived in a realm of dollars and cents, it understood that the future of news would be found in online subscriptions. Traditional newspapers were simply too mired in tradition to grasp this concept. As such, they fell behind while the Wall Street Journal embraced change and rode it to significant new media success.

This is an article written by one of our Wall Street experts of the Wall Street Gemzies page. This Gemzies page is an Online Wall Street Community where fellow experts can share, rate and find websites, videos photos, books and the latest news. We have got some great content on the Wall Street Bull, Black Wall Street and the Wall Street Journal. We invite you to join our Wall Street Gemzies. Article by Marcel_Van_Brienen.

————————

A few thoughts by MyOrbit: 

The  Wall Street Journal has maintained a prime position in the free market economy, and whether you agree with their views or differ, it is a fact that their view reaches a few million business/financial professionals, and hence has the ability to make tremendous positive or negative influence on any topic they touch.

That said, the online medium, including blogs and websites like ours, are playing an increasingly important role in providing the raw material/ stories that ultimately appear on the pages of Wall Street Journal. The advances in online media have made it possible to get noticed rapidly. For example, Many reporters regularly pick stories from the top social bookmarking sites like Digg and Stumble-Upon.

These are interesting times, and Wall Street Journal surely has made itself comfortable in the online space, which in way, ensures its survival and leadership position in the coming years.

Motivation for Starting Your Home Based Business

Did you know that increasing number of professionals working from home — even if they are employed with large companies? The advances in Internet and communications have made this possible.

And with such experience (or taste), some people are finally able to make a decision to start working on their own from their home office.

Most home based businesses can outsource 100% of non-key business functions. It’s a definite trend if you see the increase in project volume of sites like Elance.

We are seeing every possible work – from easy digital products to high-end investment banking work — being done from a home based business. Starting your home business is easier today than ever before, but most people don’t realize it, or don’t want to act on it!

————————————————-

Here’s a thoughtful article written by Lazz Laszlo.

Has the idea of starting a home based business of your own been rolling around in your head for days, weeks, months, or sadly… even years?

You almost started a couple of times, but for some reason something came up that resulted in you deciding to delay the very first step.

The first step is truly the hardest, but there’s no denying that the first step is STARTING.

A man by the name of James Cash Penney who died at the age of 96 in the year of 1971 said something that perhaps will help you to understand that you are not the only one to have been timid about beginning a new business, in particular, your new home based business.

James Cash Penney said, “It is always the start that requires the greatest effort.”

He knew, and I’m sure you know, he’s the man behind the retailer J.C. Penney. You have to just love his middle name as it relates to his last name and capsulizes his life so to speak. He’s got a great story to tell if you take the time to find it and read it. Just to imagine that he lived through two world wars is amazing in itself.

There are lots of excuses used by people as to why they haven’t started their new home based business. Some of them include, but not limited to; just don’t have the time; just not ready yet; not sure which type of home based business to start; no money; looking for a partner; haven’t found the right product; or have to learn more.

If you’re in this zone of not being able to start, investigating the lives of others may just be the catalyst to kick you in the behind, knock you off the fence, and get you started. Benjamin Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

The money you spend on a new pair of shoes is gone forever once it is spent and after weeks, months, and even perhaps years, those shoes will be discarded. The knowledge you gain from the article you read, the book you buy, the course you take, or the mentor you befriend will be with you for a lifetime.

You are not the first to have the desire to start a business. You certainly won’t be the last, but if you don’t start, you’ll be among the thousands who wished they had. It’s your choice to either get started or just forget it.

Some of my favorite people to read about have been, but certainly not limited to just these people;

Jeno Paulucci, the creator of Chung King Foods brought Chinese food to the kitchen tables of America. One of my favorite parts of his story was when he made a split-second decision and ate a grasshopper rather than… well, you’ll have to read his story.

Walt Disney began his dream, essentially in a garage. There are a lot of companies that begin in a garage, apparently because the kitchen table wasn’t available. Bill Hewlett and David Packard began the company that bares their name in a garage and as a footnote, they wound up burning down the garage. Oops! Apple Computer is another garage beginning business.

William Wrigley Jr., essentially stumbled on his fortune with chewing gum when this item he used as an incentive became more popular than the item he was selling.

Reading one or two of what I like to call, “How’d they do it” stories can shed a lot of light on what it really takes to get a business off the ground. It would be smart to make this an ongoing practice of reading about how others built their businesses, but don’t use the excuse of having to read just one more, and another, and another, and another… delaying your own start indefinitely.

The message here is that you have to focus and disregard what the naysayers think and say, this includes that little naysayer voice in your own head. Do you really want to do what other people want you to do, or do you want to put your efforts, energy, and brain power into doing what you really would like to do?

If you’re embarrassed as to what people will think of you while you are climbing and stumbling on the ladder of success, you might as well quit now. Success is a bumpy road with lots of hazards and stress, which is another couple of reasons why people seek the safety of a job rather than beginning a home based business in their off hours.

Dean Martin, the entertainer said, “Successful people make mistakes.” Some people make more mistakes than others, but I have never met anyone who has only made one mistake in their life. I was taught that there is a lesson in every mistake, but more to the point, you can learn from the mistakes made by others. Read a biography or two of people behind some of the greatest achievements in history and you’ll see that it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

If you are not just a little bit daring and willing to spit in the face of pessimism, than you’re not living.

Malcolm Forbes said, “Venture nothing, and life is less than it should be.”

It’s time to start your journey into business. You don’t have to go at break-neck speed, but you do have to begin. It’s been said that the best part of the trip is not the destination, but the journey itself. Begin your journey today.

Yes, it sometimes hurts to be entrepreneurial and a visionary. It is full of embarrassment and behind-your-back ridicule, neither of which is lethal. Try something and if it doesn’t work, try something else. The adversities in your life will fertilize the genius within you. I’ll leave you with this Welsh proverb; adversity and loss make a man wise.

About the Author: Lazz Laszlo is a former Investment Executive and Radio & Television Financial Reporter with many entrepreneurial endeavors to his credit. He spends his time as an emcee, public speaker, enjoying life and writing about business, travel, retirement, strategy, and pleasure. To learn more, please visit Lazz’s website; http://www.925-wage-slave-alternatives.com

Battle Update: Google Youtube vs Viacom

Fresh updates have come from the courtroom on the Legal Battle between Google Youtube vs Viacom.

You will like how Viacom asked for the house-keys of Google Youtube with it’s list of demands, which includes:

  • Youtube User Data and Logging Histories
  • Copies of all current and deleted videos (including private videos!)
  • Source Code of Google Advertising Schema
  • Source Code for Google Search Engine (and Viacom will do what with that :-)

If you keep Internet economy and content privacy aside for a minute, Viacom sure is showing Goolge how to make a living with just a legal team.

So there’s a method to it, perfected over decades: Invest one-time in producing some decent content, and then make a living with lawsuits.

Now the judge has agreed to some demands, and said no to others.

To learn more, here’s a detailed blog post by Larry Dignan of Zdnet.