Internet

From beyondbrics April 29, 2013

Alibaba and Sina Weibo: deal done. Now, about those revenues…

Shares in Sina Corp, the Nasdaq-listed Chinese online media group, rose nearly 21 per cent during trading on Monday after the company said it had agreed to sell 18 per cent of Weibo, its Twitter-like micro-blogging service, to Alibaba Group for $586m. The two came close to a similar deal five months ago. Now they have tied the knot.

Tags: Alibaba, China, e-commerce, Internet, Weibo
Posted in Asia, Internet, Tech | Permalink

From beyondbrics April 25, 2013

ICANN heads for Istanbul

More good news for Istanbul’s ambitions to establish itself as a hub: even the internet is hearkening to its call. Fadi Chehade, chief executive of ICANN, the organisation responsible for administrating the domain name and IP address systems, announced on Thursday his group was setting up shop in Istanbul.

To be precise, ICANN is splitting its headquarters into three – the old base in Los Angeles, a new outlet in Singapore, and Istanbul itself, as a step towards a more global, and a more seamless operation.

Tags: domain names, Icann, Internet
Posted in Internet | Permalink

Martin Sorrell to Big Media: Stop being complacent about digital

April 25, 2013 10:58 am by Richard Waters

There was a major disconnect on display at the FT’s Digital Media conference in London on Thursday morning.

Jeff Bewkes of Time Warner and Thomas Rabe of Bertelsmann made it sound as though any-time, any-place access to media was ushering in a golden age comparable to the birth of broadcasting. But Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP had a wake-up call: Big Media is being complacent, and the real impact of companies like Google and Facebook has yet to be felt. Read more

Tags: advertising, Digital media, FT Conference, Internet, Video
Posted in Internet, Mobile, Tech | Permalink

From beyondbrics March 25, 2013

India may see internet boom by 2015 – report

Already the third-largest online user base in the world, India has the potential to double its economic contribution from the internet in the next three years.

India could see a surge in the internet’s role in the economy from 1.6 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2011, to up to 3.3 per cent in 2015, putting it near developed countries on this measure, according to a McKinsey report.

Tags: broadband, india, Internet, investment
Posted in Asia, Internet | Permalink

Intense competition for new domain names

June 13, 2012 10:23 am by FT

The body overseeing the allocation of new web addresses has revealed intense competition for certain domain names and strong demand for non-Latin web suffixes as companies apply to own potential rivals to .com, writes Duncan Robinson.
A total of 1,930 applications for new web suffixes were made, with more than a third of these aimed at just 229 addresses, according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organisation in charge of regulating web domains. Read more

Tags: domain names, Icann, Internet
Posted in Internet | Permalink

Slow start to new .anything names

February 16, 2012 12:24 pm by Maija Palmer

Companies are not exactly beating down Icann’s door to get their hands on a new .anything domain name, it seems.

One month into the application process, just 100 companies have so far registered to apply for a new top level domain name such as .coke or .london. It is the first indication of what the uptake will be like of the controversial expansion of internet names by Icann. Read more

Tags: CloudNames, dotcom, Icann, Internet, names, top level domain names
Posted in Internet | Permalink

UK heading for a fight over cookies

December 13, 2011 7:00 pm by Maija Palmer

The rhetoric over cookie legislation ratcheted up a notch on Tuesday, as the Information Commissioner’s Office told companies they “must try harder” in working out how to comply with the new rules on online privacy.

Christopher Graham, the commissioner, suggested that very few companies had yet come up with ways to get permission from online users to collect their details, as required by the new law. Read more

Tags: Cookies, ICO, Information Commissioner, Internet, privacy
Posted in Europe, Internet, Tech | Permalink

Lifeline for Iceland’s data centre hopes

December 1, 2011 6:16 pm by Maija Palmer

Iceland subsea connections Iceland’s hopes of becoming a global hub for data centres came a step closer on Thursday, when plans for a new transatlantic subsea cable were announced, that would link New York and London via Iceland and Ireland.

Iceland has long been trying to market itself as a prime location for data centres. Its plentiful, cheap geothermal energy is attractive to data centre operators who are becoming increasingly worried about electricity costs, and the cold climate means cooling the racks of servers is virtually free. Read more

Tags: data centre, Emerald Networks, Iceland, Internet, Ireland, subsea cable
Posted in Europe, Internet, Tech, Telecoms | Permalink

Why government should not touch the internet

November 1, 2011 7:52 pm by Maija Palmer

The London Cyberspace conference is an elegant metaphor for why government involvement in the internet should be limited as much as possible.

Even its name is already out of date, as quaint as calling it the “information super-highway” these days. A roomful of young people, convened as a “Youth Forum” on the fringes of the conference, were asked if anyone used the word “cyber” any more. No one raised their hands. Read more