Posts Tagged ‘Internet’

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Growth of the Internet

Posted in Technicalon Oct 28, 2008

On the LDS Media Talk Blog, there was a post about the growth of the Internet.   I wondered if the growth has been increasing or decreasing, or if it is reaching a plateau.

To answer that question, I decided to plot the numbers on a logarithmic scale:

Using a logarithmic scale, it is easy to see the rate of growth.  As you can see, up until 1997 there was a very substantial growth.  In 1996, for example, the Internet grew by 900%.  Between 1998 and 2001 growth slowed so that it only (on average) doubled in each of those years.  Since then, we’ve established a slower, yet still substantial rate of doubling only every two or three years.

Those who don’t want broadband Internet

Posted in Technicalon Jul 3, 2008

According to a Slashdot article, 62% of Americans who access the Internet with a slow, dial-up modem, don’t want to upgrade to a high-speed connection.

This may seem alarming to many. Why wouldn’t people want a faster connection to the Internet? I think cost is the biggest factor. I keep seeing TV commercials for dial-up accounts for under $10 per month. A broadband connection, on the other hand, would cost at least two or three times that amount. Why should people pay perhaps another $150 per year just to download their email and favorite recipes a few seconds faster?

Interestingly, about 3% of the visitors to this website access it through a dial-up modem.

Another interesting stat, for an e-commerce site that I run, dial-up visitors generate the highest per visit value. Dial-up visitors are more likely to make a larger purchase than broadband visitors.

Why I’ve switched to Yahoo!

Posted in Technicalon May 6, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, I claimed that I was prepared to ditch Yahoo! if Microsoft bought them. Now that Microsoft has withdrawn its bid for Yahoo, I’ve decided to make efforts to use Yahoo more than I have in the past.

Yahoo’s ability to withstand a Microsoft bid was based in Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s claims that Yahoo has more potential and is worth more than Microsoft was willing to pay for it. Yang wanted Microsoft to pay $37 per share, and Microsoft only offered $33 per share. Now today, analysts are saying that if Yang is on a limited time line to get the trading price of Yahoo stock above $33 to prove he was right about not selling out to Microsoft.

I believe that Microsoft ownership of Yahoo would be very bad for the Internet. While Microsoft has currently withdrawn its bid, there is always the possibility that Microsoft will, in the future, attempt again to buy Yahoo. High stock prices are the biggest deterrent from future buyout attempts.

I want to do what I can to allow Yahoo stock prices to increase. I figure that I can do this by giving Yahoo as much legitimate business that I reasonably can. The easiest way to start is by switching the default search engine in my web browser to point to Yahoo. Perhaps I’ll find additional ways to give Yahoo more of my business. This is my small role in keeping Yahoo away from Microsoft.

I’m prepared to boycott Microsoft’s Yahoo

Posted in Business, Technicalon Apr 14, 2008

A Cnet News blog claims that Yahoo! might be bought out by Microsoft this week. If this happens, I am prepared to cancel all of the Yahoo! services that I currently use. I have little or no faith that Microsoft’s management of Yahoo! services will be satisfactory, so upon any sort of merger announcement, I will start looking for replacement services that I believe will better serve my interests.

As a developer, I currently trust the openness of Yahoo! developer APIs, but I would have serious concerns if I could depend on a Microsoft Yahoo for continued support of these APIs.

Some reports say that the Microsoft bid is simply to buy Yahoo!’s user-base. I refuse to be bought like that, and will remove myself from the user-base when it comes time.

Domain Names

Posted in Technicalon Feb 27, 2008

I went looking for domain names today, and I found a couple interesting ones. They are available, unless of course the person who read this five minutes ago registered it:

  • http://hardh.at
  • http://enscri.be
  • http://xenopho.be
  • http://jacobbrunson.us.com

I think the .at domains are going for about $50, while the .be domains are just $18. If you want a .us.com domain (not like anyone is going to remember it) you can dish $150 out to Network Solutions.

BYU continues to block YouTube

Posted in Educationon Oct 16, 2007

Brigham Young University’s Internet filters continue to block the popular video sharing website, YouTube. BYU blocks the site completely “because it allows inappropriate sexual media throughout its URLs,” according to an article in the student newspaper. I appreciate that BYU wants to block inappropriate content, but YouTube contains so many videos that it is unreasonable to block all of YouTube content because there might be a few bad videos. Likewise you could argue, that BYU should block the whole Internet because there are a few bad sites.

By blocking YouTube, BYU is prohibiting students from accessing great video content. For example, recently The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the sponsoring organization for BYU, has published public affairs videos on YouTube that show Church Leader Elder Ballard explaining church beliefs. Students trying to access this content from BYU campus Internet are blocked from the site.

BYU blocks YouTube

Other educational materials are also on YouTube. Recently, UC Berkeley started posting full lecture videos online. So far, they’ve posted over 300 hours of video taped lectures online for free access to the public. These lectures could help BYU students supplement their own studies, except that BYU blocks the UC Berkeley’s YouTube site.

BYU’s efforts to block video content come in addition to Google’s own safe-search program anyway, which limits access to inappropriate “adult” material. Why does BYU feel they need to be extra restrictive about YouTube? When does blocking bad content at the consequence of blocking good content go too far?

My secret blog

Posted in Bloggingon Oct 14, 2006

A few months ago there was a discussion on ProvoPulse.com about blogs and how they can be public and representative of their authors. I’ve given that discussion a fair amount of thought. Read the rest of this entry »


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