Important: Net Neutrality

Net neutrality is of utmost importance to all of our customers. Basically, right now all web content is delivered equitably regardless of the source. But, some ISPs would like to change the world so that sites would pay them more to get priority delivery. Other sites would simply load slowly or not at all.

This would substantially raise the cost of doing business on the Internet and make it almost impossible to compete with an ISPs own products. IE: if you offered the same program, like photo sharing, that Yahoo does, theres would always load faster. Unless, you pay more, probably a lot more, to play with the big boys.  Keep this in mind at at time when Google is controlling more content, like people’s medical records & Microsoft is looking to by Yahoo.

There is a long way to go before this is over. But, if you have any interest in doing business on the web, you should fight for Net Neutrality. Right now, call your politicians and let them know you care about preserving net neutrality.

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Whose Web Is It, Anyway?

An FCC hearing this week sparks a new debate on ‘Net neutrality.’
By Brian Braiker | Newsweek Web Exclusive

magine an alternative reality in which you attempt to do a routine online search. In this Bizarro World, your Internet service provider (which happens to be one of the four top dogs: Comcast, AT&T, Verizon or Time Warner) has a deal with Yahoo, but not Google. You try your search on Google first but notice the page loads very slowly. Impatient, you try again on Yahoo, which is running noticeably faster. Over time, you default to Yahoo’s apparently faster search engine whenever you look something up.

Welcome to one vision of a world without “Net neutrality.” In the neutral Internet of today, we’re accustomed to accessing any Web site at any time, at the fastest speed available. This applies to corporate sites as much as it does to start-ups and individuals. For now the virtual playing field is fairly level.

…

In what may be a watershed moment for the Net neutrality debate, on Monday the Federal Communications Commission held a public hearing at Harvard Law School to determine whether Comcast was manipulating its network traffic in a “reasonable” manner. (Watch it here.) “There wasn’t a lot of argument over the facts of the case: they were slowing down BitTorrent,” says David Weinberger, a research fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for the Internet & Society. “The question is: is this a violation of policy, and if so what happens to Comcast and more importantly what happens to the policy?” A spokesman for the FCC would not speculate on when the commission would issue a decision. Also this week, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issued a subpoena asking Comcast for “information” (a Cuomo spokesman declined to elaborate to NEWSWEEK).

Read entire article Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/id/117068

Business Resource: HRCalifornia

Passing along a great find!

For business owners looking to make sense out of California employment guidelines and laws, I have found the best resource. The California Chamber of Commerce has the HR California web site: http://www.calchamber.com/hrc/. Here, you will find information, forms, checklists, wizards and much more.

If you have a great business resource to share, please let me know by commenting below.

Teaching a computer to appreciate art

A new computer program can identify images based on mathematical functions. Really a great start towards AI.

Teaching a computer to appreciate art

Project could eventually help distinguish forgeries from masterpieces

AP

By Bryn Nelson
Columnist, MSNBC
updated 6:25 a.m. PT, Mon., Feb. 25, 2008

Is that a van Gogh?

A mathematical program that began as a lark for an Israeli scientist has become a serious effort to match some of the world’s greatest painters with their masterpieces. If the project pans out, it could help point out poor copies and eventually distinguish forgeries from the real deal.

Daniel Keren, a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Haifa, said he’s been contacted by an Italian collector hoping to validate some of his acquired paintings as well as by aficionados embroiled in a controversy over the legitimacy of artworks allegedly by Dutch master Vincent van Gogh.

“I did it for fun, but now people are interested in it, so I will definitely expand,” Keren said.

Research in the rapidly growing field of computer vision, he said, still has plenty of catching up to do if scientists want computers to approximate our own abilities. One stumbling block has been teaching machines how to spot objects that are simple for people to recognize — another human face, for example.

Read Entire article on MSNBC

good movie = Michael Clayton

I finally saw “Michael Clayton“. What a good movie! I highly recommend it.

A great suspenseful movie. Much different than I expected. Definitely own I will add to the DVD library.

I love when he stops to see the horses. Maybe we should all take those moments when they arrive, could make all the difference.

-Amanda

How To Be a Better Browser

Can a new filtering program cure the Web’s information overload?

By Paul Boutin
Posted on Slate Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008, at 3:48 PM ET

In a scant four years, the Internet, my beloved wellspring of information, has blown its top and become a geyser. Back in 2004, I heaped praise on an exciting new system called RSS. The “Really Simple Syndication” format promised to be TiVo for Web surfers—by automatically pulling content from all your favorite blogs and news sites, an RSS reader would make your Web surfing more fruitful and more efficient. While that prospect sounded enticing at the time, RSS has turned out to be more of a problem than a solution. As of this moment, I have 897 unread RSS items. I don’t need a way to read more of the Net. I need a way to see less of it.

Click to read entire article

Email Marketing

I-Tul has a great Email marketing solution: ELetterTul.

You can create beautiful HTML templates, easily add all of your contacts and send your campaigns. People can automatically subscribe and unsubscribe. You can track your success.

Want to learn more? Call Amanda at 916.749.1500 x 105.

Is your internet advertising effective?

The best way to tell if your internet advertising is effective is not how many hits or impressions you get but how it meets your objectives.

Businesses have all sorts of different objectives. Some want eyeballs to sell advertising, some want online shoppers, some want people to visit a store or make an appointment. All of these can be achieved through internet advertising. But, each objective requires a campaign focused to the right audience and with the right message.

If you would like to talk about starting a new campaign or evaluating your existing online marketing, let’s get together. Call me at 916-749-1500 x: 105.

Impressions = How many times your ad has been seen

Clicks = How many times your ad has been clicked on

Visitors = How many unique people came to your site

Hits = How many files a visitor accessed

I-Tul Offices Closed 2/18

I-Tul offices will be closed for the President’s Day Holiday on Monday, February 18th.

For emergencies, please send an email to support@help.i-tul.com as our team will be watching the help desk.

-Amanda Hart

Marketing Blueprint

Today at the AMASV lunch we learned about creating a marketing blueprint to help focus all of the marketing efforts.  I completely agree that having a concerted effort with the “endgame” in mind can bring the best results.  For 2008, I will be looking at updating our site to make sure it reflects our current products and services.

What are your marketing plans for 2008?

New Project Software

Today I-Tul has released our new project management site.  Although we love the help desk for maintenance, hosting and troubleshooting we have found some limitations in using it to manage long-term projects.  So, our new software will let us share communicate milestones, to-do lists, file sharing with versions, and much more.

If you have a project in new development, you will soon be receiving a message with your login information.  Please check it out and let me know what you think.  The goal is to make it easier to see current progress, what is on everyone’s to-do list and what content has been uploaded.

For regular site maintenance and hosting issues, the help desk is still the place to go.

We are great believers that the right software can make all the difference and are always striving to pick the right tool for the job.