The comeback of America Online from the ashes

If you are old like me, you probably remember the days of America Online in the ’90s. AOL was one of the first companies to introduce Internet to millions of people. I was one of such people. Some referred to AOL as Internet with wheels because it was a starting point for many individuals that were exploring the world wide web for the first time. Countless hours were spent on chatting with existing friends and making new ones. The built in browser, the ability to send instant messages to people, and being able to email people all from within one software program was a beautiful thing to have at your fingertips.

So, what went wrong? Why did America Online fail as a company when they had a significant advantage right from the start? How are they turning it around by taking the company in a different directions after a decade?

Read more

Google “instant” results equivalent to flashing banners

If you have not tried out Google’s new instant search feature, you are in for a surprise! To me, its way too much noise and takes me back to the days of early Internet when flashing banners were everywhere on a page. You could not focus on one thing and got lost trying to find useful information.

At first, this might seem like fun but it has dire consequences attached to it that Google itself might not have anticipated. The fun soon turns into frustration as you keep seeing results that have nothing to do with what you want to search for!

Read more

Why are most hybrid cars so ugly?

If you are like me, you have probably wondered why hybrid cars are so ugly. Although some companies have started to produce decent looking models, it is still a question that haunts me. Why would car companies be producing ugly ducklings that people are not likely to buy? Would it not make sense to offer cars that look more like existing models? After thinking about it, I believe the reasons might involve pressures from governments and the impact of sales on their other fossil-fuel powered vehicles.

Photo source

So what kind of pressures are car companies facing from various governments? What impact do hybrid car sales have on their existing business? Will they really be making money from selling such type of cars? All these questions need to be kept in mind to really see what is going on. Some have a greater impact on their business than others.

Read more

The Google movie and obsession with startups

It seems as if we are obsessed with success of technology start-ups that have changed the way we live our lives. We know that there is a movie about the social networking giant Facebook called The Social Network that is coming out in the near future. Now there are rumors that there might be one about Google. It makes perfect sense since this company has had such a huge impact on our lives, much more than Facebook or any other Internet websites. With that said, I have been asking myself a question. Are we getting obsessed with small-time operations that became extremely successful? This also leads to another question – why?

Read more

Build my own website

In today’s fast world, nobody should be without a website. It is amazing that there are a lot of businesses that have not yet found their way online. I built my very own website back in 1999 and I have been hooked ever since! There are all sorts of tools available for people that literally create websites for you without having to know a single thing about HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) or Cascade Style Sheets! Not only that, with the development of blogging platforms such as WordPress and Blogger, you have thousands of already built templates to choose from.

If you are not a tech savvy person and need help with building your own website, do not worry. I am going to outline everything that you will need to know in order to be a successful webmaster. Hopefully by reading this you will be able to bring your business online and benefit from having your presence on the web.

Read more

Introduction to small business internet advertising

If you have a small business on the internet, the next natural step is to spread the word about your products or services. You have probably heard all about pay-per-click type advertising and other similar methods one can use.

Unless you have experience with these types of advertising techniques, you will most likely end up losing your money. The worst part is, you will not have learned anything from your mistakes and will be back to where you started. So what can you, as a small business owner, do about advertising on the internet successfully? You can start by not listening to what the advertising gurus tell you to do.

Read more

Jailbreaking your Apple iPhone is now legal

mattjb / flickr

Oh Apple, how far we have come! Not only are they under fire from their customers because of antenna problems in their new iPhone4, FCC has just dealt them a low blow. After facing public scrutiny for not doing their job to protect the consumer, FCC has put their game face on and decided to start doing things for the first time!

For too long Apple was in control of what their customers did with their devices after people had bought them at ridiculous prices. People were jailbreaking their iPhones in order to get applications that were not approved by the Apple app store before today’s decision, but it was not legal. Now the people who gave their hard earned money to Apple can legally jailbreak their iPhones.

For the people who do not know what this means, Jailbreaking or hacking the iPhone OS (operating system) allows a person to download and run any applications he or she chooses. This also includes apps not authorized by apple.

Read more