As websites go, Facebook, or Facebook.com is certainly a success story. A young college student, Mark Zuckerberg, developed the website, facebook.com, for his peers to use at Harvard. In a matter of four years, Zuckerberg’s website expanded from a few hundred Harvard students to more than 62 million active users from around the globe. The site has gone from a few Ivy League students looking to locate friends to a major marketing and social networking tool for junior high, high school and college students as well as young professionals, businessmen, and industry powerhouses.

Like many websites phenomenon, Facebook began as a simple operation and virtually exploded overnight. One day Zuckerberg was designing a social site for a few friends, the next day he was working on his own concept (although the originality is currently being debated in court), and now, a few years later, he is likely to be one of the youngest billionaires around.

The New MySpace
Social websites are nothing new. As the internet community grows closer and more conversational, community and social sites will continue to appear and grow. Facebook follows in the path of MySpace, but has an image and success story of its own unaffected by the social giant. MySpace might have made the social concepts exciting and new for mainstream society, but Facebook has taken that enthusiasm and run with it. Read the rest of this entry »

Not much gets under skin of content providers more than those who rip off content. A common online scenario plays out as follows: You write (or commission) some terrific content. You post it on your website only to find various blogs have “borrowed” or flat-out stolen the content for their website. Nine times out of ten, there is no link back to your site and you get no credit for the content at all. Then, to add insult to injury, thanks to your content, these sites rank higher in the search engines than you do.

Content Issues
The stolen content problem is tremendous in the online world. Articles, sales pages and the like are quickly becoming the power behind the internet and success with websites, but to have your hard work stolen is more than frustrating – it’s infuriating.

When your content is stolen, you have limited options. You can have your lawyer send a cease and desist letter. This only works inside the United States however, which may not be enough for the many sites which copy content who happen to be located overseas. You can contact the search engines and submit a complaint or letter letting the company know of the problem, but you may not see any results. You can also contact the company directly letting them know the terms of use for your content. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind them using it if they included a link to your site or your byline.

Get Link Juice
Which brings us nicely stolen content’s possible silver lining. If two blogs are running the same articles, but one is ranked above you, the search engines must feel their blog is more substantial and worthy of higher ranks. Now, in 2008, websites will be able to “steal” link juice from theft sites by posting links back to your own website in the comments and summaries of each article. Read the rest of this entry »

There is little argument that Wordpress is terrific software. Arguably the best aspect of the software is its price – Wordpress is shareware, but that may also be its limiting factor.

Wordpress
Wordpress is a blogging platform designed by Askimet. It was released as shareware and upgrades, plug-ins and other utilities are offered constantly to help the design further along. Wordpress is one of the most popular shareware programs and its versatility and ease of use make it immensely popular with amateurs and professionals alike. Wordpress is arguably the most popular blogging platform, but it is also the source of many headaches and a few cross words.

Problems with Wordpress
One of the primary issues bloggers discover with Wordpress is the sheer number of spam comments and some serious security issues. This is not too surprising considering the program is free to everyone, including those who would pick it apart to find loopholes and backdoors into sites. These security issues have raised more than a few eyebrows and some have gone so far as to call Wordpress weak.

Wordpress Weak?
But before anyone gets too carried away panning Wordpress, even its critics take note of the amazing features the platform offers and the constant solutions and solvents to all the issues that arise. Even Shoemoney, who’s been known to pick on Wordpress from time to time, has come out publicly to announce that he strongly supports Wordpress and has done what he can to help fix various bugs he finds. He’s also urged the hacking experts out there to actually contribute help to the design rather than stating how simple it would be to fix this or that. Read the rest of this entry »

Educators know that technology is becoming more and more important to their students, and that there is a need to incorporate technology into the classroom. Some colleges, however, have taken this idea to the extreme. In Japan, Cyber University, the only college in the country to offer all of its classes exclusively on the internet, has taken the next step in digital education. They now offer a class that students can take via their cell phones.

How It Works
The class, which teaches students about the mysteries of the pyramids, is available to the public for free - if they can access it. It can only be seen through some phones manufactured by Softbank Corp., who owns seventy one percent of the virtual university.

Eventually, the online classes may expand to other carriers. Users listen to the lecture and can view the PowerPoint slides on their cell phones. Currently, only one class is offered through cell phones, but more may be coming. While in traditional classrooms, teachers fight to keep distracting cell phones out of the classroom, this classroom relies on and can only be found on cell phones.

Cyber Classrooms
The Japanese university, with a student body of almost two thousand, offers about one hundred courses in addition to the pyramid class on the cell phones. All of these other courses can be taken online. Typically, while the student listens to the lecture from their computer, they view accompanying text and images on their screens with a little picture of their professor, who they will probably never see in person, in the corner of their monitor. The college claims to be able to monitor lecture usage digitally, ensuring that students are listening to the lecture in its entirety, and not skipping their virtual class. Read the rest of this entry »

The online sensation of the year, YouTube, has opened the door for all kinds of opportunities. From joining with CNN to allow voters to directly pose questions to presidential candidates, to allowing students to view class lectures when they can’t physically make it to class, YouTube and other online video sites can also have some negative effects.

For many people, these sites are a monumental waste of time. For others who are videoed and posted without their knowledge or consent, they are a source of embarrassment and anger. For a few others, online videos may be a cause for arrest or even evidence in a criminal trial.

The Motive
Typically, hoaxers and vandals want to work invisibly, but have the results of their work highly visible, to be “appreciated” by all. They may consider their work art, such as some graffiti artists, or may think what they have done is funny, and want all their friends, and even strangers, to be able to join in on the “joke.” All too often, these pranks are dangerous to the participants, the victims, the cameraman, and bystanders, and on occasion, what began as a joke turns into a serious calamity.

Alerting Authorities
While it is never the intention of the person posting the video online, viewers sometimes recognize the danger or the illegality of the actions caught on video and authorities are alerted. In general, police are tipped off by viewers about a suspicious video, and aren’t seeking out videos of illegal activities on their own.

Some do, however. One California Police Lieutenant asserted that police officers stationed at middle and high schools routinely search popular sites such as MySpace and YouTube for criminal activity such as drug or alcohol use, vandalism, or sexual assault. Read the rest of this entry »

If Web 2.0 jargon wasn’t enough to make you groan, you should really meet Web 3.0. The beauty of Web 3.0 is that most people, even the ones involved, are still a bit unclear as to what it is, exactly. But it is definitely an improvement over 2.0 and requires the standard amount of updates to Wikipedia and forum discussion. Web 3.0 is still in development, but any marketer worth his salt at least knows enough about it to throw the term around in conversation.

Web 2.0
Web 2.0 has become the universally accepted term for the socially modified internet. Websites that are “Web 2.0” integrate user feedback and commentary and work to connect users with each other and other applications and visitors from around the world. Bookmarking, wikis, blogs, and commentary are all heavy aspects of Web 2.0. But just as you are getting comfortable with the new social internet, Industry heavy hitters have gone and introduced Web 3.0.

Web 3.0
It is believed that Web 3.0 will be an early form of the semantic web. Currently, under Web 2.0, users can find all kinds of information on websites and share that information with others. Under 3.0, that same information will be assembled, organized and shared with other computers. Pages and content that can currently only be read by humans will be easily read by machines and bots. The data will then be used for any number of things. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a dramatic push for online education over the last decade. At first only the occasional correspondence class was offered online. Then certain colleges offered degrees, and now most colleges and universities include online classes alongside traditional classrooms. And even those traditional classrooms often have an online component. You are hard-pressed to find a college classroom that does not include something on the internet.

But these online education plans are not for everyone. This is a shame since there are few other alternatives. Rather than look for classes that are not online, it is far better to acclimate yourself to the online education environment.

Time Management
The biggest component of online education often presents itself as a stumbling block - time management. Online classes require you taking the time on a regular basis to read material, discuss topics on discussion boards, and send various assignments to an instructor. If you can’t delegate your time properly, you will have a very hard time completing a class and certainly a hard time succeeding in it.

The best way to overcome trouble with time management is to assign your classes times, much like you would if you were actually attended courses. Even if you are, in fact, going to class during the days, allot yourself a set time to complete any online components.

Set up a schedule and follow it. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday take care of two classes before lunch, and every Tuesday and Thursday take care of the rest after your afternoon nap. It doesn’t matter when you do it, just set up a routine so that you are in a pattern of work. This ensures the work gets done. Read the rest of this entry »

There is no doubt that a Master of Business Administration, or MBA, is more than a feather in your proverbial hat. An MBA opens up doors to greater success and tells employers that you are serious about your career and your own value. Of course, there are usually two rather substantial hurdles to achieving your dreams of an MBA – time and money.

Time
To complete an MBA program, you dedicate yourself to attending classes full-time, or nine to twelve semester hours, for two or three years. If you attend only part-time your program will take much longer. Naturally it would be ideal to attend classes full-time, but to do so, you will most likely have to take a leave of absence or resign your current position. This essentially eliminates your tuition funds.

Money
University tuition is going up. It’s moving faster than inflation and some quality MBA programs cost more than a standard bachelor’s degree. There are grant programs and student loans that can help bridge the gaps and some individuals are lucky enough to have their companies foot the bill. But to take advantage of that option, you must continue working while attending classes and sign a letter of commitment for a specific period of time in order to qualify for partial or full reimbursement. Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft has taken a very Web 2.0 approach to Halo. Not only is the popular game back for a third installment, it now records and can upload every game for instant replays and sharing. Heavily anticipated by the fans of the first two Halo games, this installment certainly did not disappoint. In fact, sales of the game topped $300 million in the first week.

Halo 3 Reviews
The reviews for the new game have been universally positive. Of course, it is a natural extension from the first and second Halo, but the basic first person shooting game hasn’t lost any of its bloody and action packed charm in this latest edition. The game was well hyped, and most feel that it lived up to its hype and then some.

The graphics in the first two were terrific, and the third installment on the XBox 360 gives the graphics another boost. The game is very heavy on the action, and as you move through the game you are submerged in heavily detailed environments and plotlines. Fortunately, these environments and storylines all are linear and make perfect sense. The story began in the first Halo, continued in the second and now finally has reached a conclusion in the third. Spin-offs are heavily anticipated, but nothing can replace the original action game. Read the rest of this entry »

On Thursday, the first individual music sharing case to go to trial ended well for music companies. It didn’t go too well for the defendant however. Jammie Thomas is thirty years old and now owes music companies $222,000 for sharing music. That’s $9250 for each of the 24 songs highlighted in the case. It could have been much worse for Thomas. The companies alleged that she had shared 1,702 songs illegally.

By downloading songs and then sharing them through a Kazaa file sharing account, Thomas broke major copyright laws. For years these laws have been bent and broken by music lovers who didn’t understand the laws or frankly didn’t care. There are currently almost eight million households in the United States that have music sharing programs, despite the illegalities.

Throughout the trial, Thomas claimed that she doesn’t have a Kazaa account and that she had nothing to do with sharing music. She spoke to the press and made points about fighting back against bullying and felt confident that she would win out. Apparently she was wrong.

Her hard drive was never brought to court, but it might not have done much good. According to Thomas she had trouble with the drive and replaced it after the alleged sharing took place. According to record companies, she was sent an instant message alerting her to the copyright laws she was breaking. The hard drive was conveniently replaced the following month. Read the rest of this entry »