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somerandomnerd: Glad I didn't make a new years resolution to start leaving the office on time- it would clearly have been a pathetic failure.

somerandomnerd: RT @gapingvoid: When somebody asks, "How does this social media stuff scale", they really mean, "How do I become a spammer?"

An anonymous reader writes "Next month, New Zealand is scheduled to implement Section 92 of the Copyright Amendment Act. The controversial act provides 'Guilt Upon Accusation,' which means that if a file-sharer is simply accused of copyright infringement he/she will be punished with summary Internet disconnection. Unlike most laws, this one has no appeal process and no punishment for false accusation, because they were removed after public consultation. The ISPs are up in arms and now artists are taking a stand for fair copyright."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

WASHINGTON, DC: Over one thousand Americans polled by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press have declared their preference for the internet as a source of national and international news.Asked where they obtained "most of" their national and international news, 40% of respondents...

somerandomnerd: Image uploads in Drupal make me :o( Hate decisions I don't care about when I don't have enough information to ask for help properly.

Has the Recording Industry Association of America reached any deals with leading U.S. internet service providers that would terminate service to online file sharers of copyrighted music? Not a single major ISP contacted by Wired.com admitted to going along. And Verizon, with 8.5 million internet subscribers, balked at the proposal.

The gaming industry may look recession-proof, but new data shows the price of used games is going down, and poorly-planned new IP is wiping out smaller developers. 2009 could be rockier than we assumed.

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Everyone knows about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but few have heard about “Green Monday,” which is designated as the second Monday of December. Green Monday may be relatively obscure because it was named by eBay in a marketing campaign for late-season holiday shopping; however, the idea behind it is important because it supposedly marks online shoppers’ the last chance to order items without having to pay for expedited shipping (which usually means the end of free shipping offers). This year, December began on a Monday, which caused debate over the real date of Green Monday. By definition Green Monday was December 8, however, some anticipated December 15 to be a busier day because it better represented the true last chance to save on shipping.

In the chart below, we see the daily volumes of online purchasers during the holiday season across 10 leading retailers for this year and 2007.

*Leading Retailers are: Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, JCPenney.com, Kohls.com, Macys.com, Overstock.com, Sears.com, Target.com, ToysRUs.com, and Walmart.com

Last year saw four distinct purchase peaks during the holiday shopping season, all of which were relatively close to each other in terms of volume. This holiday season, neither Green Monday, nor any other single day could match the activity of Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Across this group of 10 retailers, Cyber Monday had at least 25% more people make a purchase online than the next closest day in December.

*Leading Retailers are: Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, JCPenney.com, Kohls.com, Macys.com, Overstock.com, Sears.com, Target.com, ToysRUs.com, and Walmart.com

The increased level of purchases is also apparent when analyzing conversion rates across these retailers. On all four of the above days, the daily conversion rate (percent of shoppers making a purchase) increased in 2008 from the prior year as shoppers become more accustomed to doing their gift buying through a retailer’s website. Also worth noting is that, in 2008, Green Monday had the lowest conversion rate out of the four days after being the highest in 2007.

Last year, similar amounts of online shoppers made purchases on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Green Monday, as well as the following Monday. This year, shoppers purchased online much more frequently on Black Friday and Cyber Monday than they did on any other day of the season.

As retailers pull out all the stops to salvage their years, shoppers are increasingly realizing that clicking a mouse can be a much more pleasant shopping experience than wrestling the last item on the shelf away from a stranger and waiting in never-ending checkout lines.

The social networking website was the second most viewed on Christmas Day behind Google, and ahead of YouTube and Hotmail.

Forget the Iraqi Information Minister; governments are now turning to Twitter, YouTube, and blogs to shape public opinion about war, and the Israel/Gaza conflict looks to be one of the most wired yet.

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somerandomnerd: Amused by the follow up to Ben Goldacre vs detoxinabox's debate on Radio 4 this morning- http://preview.tinyurl.com/7tml4t. 1-0 to science

somerandomnerd: not sure how to manage a 5 day working week. Forgotten what they look like...

NEW YORK - LG Electronics has partnered with online DVD delivery service Netflix to develop a series of television sets that will stream Netflix movies directly through the internet without an additional set-top device.

somerandomnerd: Tinkering with blog design for a reboot later this month. Not in bed, sleeping. Should be the other way round, so remedying that now.