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Online gaming behavior measured for the first time

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harvard.jpgFor the first time in our history, Harvard Medical School faculty from the Division on Addictions in partnership with sports-betting site, bwin, has examined online gaming by carefully studying the actual online behavior of players. In an anonymous study, researchers observed the actual behavior of more than 40,000 active bwin users for a period of eight months. This ground-breaking report is now available at the library of Division on Addictions.

To date, only speculations have been available to guide our understanding of the scale of gaming and problematic gaming behavior among online sports betting.

Initial results from the long-term study indicate that the potential of sports betting to cause a problem is considerably lower than generally presumed.

“This is a landmark project for both the gaming industry and science because we are studying the actual gambling behavior of a large sample of Internet gamblers for the very first time. I am proud of bwin for committing to using science as a guide to assuring the welfare of their customers and to advancing the safety of the Internet and new technology,” said Dr. Howard Shaffer of Harvard Medical School.

Originally posted on June 22, 2007 @ 10:32 am

Amazon tops Businessweek’s InfoTech 100

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topit.jpg Web retailer Amazon.com has vaulted from No.23 in 2006 to the No.1 spot in the 2007 Information Technology 100, BusinessWeek’s ranking of the top tech performers.

Amazon.com Inc. demonstrates another power of Internet technology: It’s a super-efficient lever that can catapult a company into new markets. In its most recent quarter, Amazon’s profits surged 115% on a 39% jump in sales. One reason is a sizable, growing business in helping other retailers sell their wares on Amazon, for which it charges high-margin fees.

If there’s one theme that unites the companies on the 2007 InfoTech100, it’s reinvention. The foray into emerging markets by Nokia, which ranked 17th, is just one example. An ability to rapidly diversify into new businesses or turn existing markets upside down pops up again and again in the lineup. And it is an eclectic group, ranging from the top Web retailer, No.1 Amazon.com, to a Latin American wireless provider, No.2 America Movil, and perhaps the hottest tech outfit around, No.6 Apple.

Originally posted on June 22, 2007 @ 10:02 am

Folksonomy, blogs, wiki are Web’s most hated terms

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folk.jpg In a new poll among 2,091 British adults conducted by YouGov, folksonomy or a name for a web classification system turned out to be the most hated Internet term. Other irritating terms include “blogosphere”, “netiquette”, “cookie” and “wiki”.

Lulu Blooker Prize, the world’s first literary prize devoted to “blooks”-books based on blogs or other websites, commissioned this new survey.

Earlier, Collins English Dictionary publicized its plan to include popular Web terms in the ninth edition. These terms are based on 2.5 billion word database gathered from magazines, websites, journals, books, broadcast transcripts, and newspapers.

Perhaps an interesting follow up is another poll among Americans to validate if there’s any congruence about their hated Web terms.

Originally posted on June 21, 2007 @ 11:26 am

Blogging and social networking not important to senior marketers

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msl.jpg A new survey by PRWeek/Manning Selvage & Lee among 279 US chief marketing officers, VPs of marketing and marketing directors and managers showed that only 12 percent of senior marketers say that consumer generated media (CGM) – a genre that includes activities like online social networking, YouTube, text messaging and consumer generated advertising – is very important to their marketing platforms.

When asked which marketing disciplines they are currently using, or would consider using in the next year, the most popular response was traditional online activities (82%), such as building web sites. Targeting influentials and media relations, both considered traditional public relations activities, came in second and third (70% and 65%). But CGM ranked almost last (43%), a surprising statistic given the rapid increase in consumer participation, particularly with the very populations marketers try to reach, on sites such as FaceBook and YouTube.

What is keeping marketers from letting consumers take more control? When asked why their companies were not engaging in CGM, 32 percent said there is no clear ROI, and 6 percent said they don’t want consumers that close to their businesses. But when coupled with their other responses about CGM, a possible interpretation of these results is that there is an underlying lack of understanding of what CGM and new media techniques are available, and how they can be used to build brands.

Originally posted on June 21, 2007 @ 12:20 pm

WeFi opens to the public

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wefi.jpg WeFi, an online community that makes finding and using free WiFi simple, fast and social, today announced the opening of its beta offering to the general public around the globe. To date, WeFi has been available only by invitation to a limited number of test users in selected markets.

“There is so much available WiFi out there for people to use. WeFi makes WiFi easy, enabling people to connect to the wireless Internet without hassle or difficulty,” said WeFi CEO Arnon Kohavi. “WeFi combines its unique technology with user-generated information, to help people find the best available wireless connection so they can enjoy broadband media on-the-go. No other WiFi network provides online maps that are dynamically updated every time a user finds a new WiFi location, nor do they provide social, location based features like WeFi does.”

Originally posted on June 20, 2007 @ 11:04 am