Singer Design #1 for "Singer" in Google

Although not a professional singer, just thought we would mention that our website is number #1 in Google for the keyword 'Singer'.

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&rls=GGLG%2CGGLG%3A2005-48%2CGGLG%3Aen&q=singer&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryAU

Open federation for Google Talk

" We've just announced open federation for the Google Talk service. What does that mean, you might be wondering. No, it has nothing to do with Star Trek. "Open federation" is technical jargon for when people on different services can talk to each other. For example, email is a federated system. You might have a .edu address and I have a Gmail address, but you and I can still exchange email. The same for the phone: there's nothing that prevents Cingular users from talking to Sprint users.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with many IM and Internet voice calling services today. You can only talk to people on the particular service you have an account on (so you need an account on every service to talk to everybody, which is pretty cumbersome). With open federation, you get to choose your service provider and you can talk to people on any other federated service (and vice versa) ..."

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/open-federation-for-google-talk.html

iPod sales drive Apple's earnings

" Building on continued momentum of its iPod players, Apple Computer nearly doubled its net income on record revenue and easily topped Wall Street expectations.

But a soft forecast for the coming quarter drove Apple's shares down more than 4 per cent in extended trading today.

For the second fiscal quarter, Apple said it expects revenue of about $US4.3 billion ($A5.76 billion) and earnings per share of 38 cents, including an estimated non-cash share-based compensation expense of 4 cents a share.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 48 cents a share on revenue of $4.6 billion.

However, Apple executives were ebullient Wednesday in their comments about the last quarter.

"We are thrilled to report the best quarter in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive. "We are working on more wonderful products for 2006, and I can't wait to see what our customers think of them."

For the three months ended Decemeber 31, the maker of Macintosh computers and iPods said Wednesday it earned $US565 million ($A756.56 million) , or 65 cents per share, up from $295 million, or 35 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.

Apple revenues soared to $US5.75 billion ($A7.7 billion) up from $3.49 billion a year ago.

Analysts on average expected earnings of 61 cents per share on sales of $5.47 billion, according to a Thomson Financial poll. The forecast included a non-cash, share-based compensation expense of 3 cents per share ..."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/ipod-sales-drive-apples-earnings/2006/01/19/1137553688037.html

Russian hackers hold website to ransom

The website of a British student who sold pixels to pay his way through college has been knocked over by a denial of service attack that police believe was launched by Russian hackers.

Alex Tew's Million Dollar Homepage, on which he sells pixels to advertisers, has already netted the student-come-entrepreneur more than $US1 million ($1.3 million). However the publicity associated with his success has also attracted criminal interest.

Mr Tew wrote on his blog: "I can confirm that MillionDollarHomepage.com has been subjected to a DDoS [distributed denial of service] attack by malicious hackers who have caused the site to be extremely slow loading or completely unavailable since last Thursday, 12 January 2006.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/russian-hackers-hold-website-to-ransom/2006/01/19/1137553695238.html

EBay plans instant-buying service

" SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc. on Wednesday said it planned to offer an instant-purchase service to supplement its bid-and-wait online auctions, pitting the company directly against conventional e-commerce retailers.

Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, said in a memo to eBay users on Wednesday that the new service -- to be called eBay Express when launched this spring -- aims to broaden the range of products shoppers can expect to buy on eBay.

EBay also disclosed changes to the fees it charges in the United States for listing items on ebay.com, raising by 9 percent the percentage transaction fee that it charges on the value of goods between $25 and $975 in value. It said it would cut prices on low-priced items and other seller features.

A year ago, broad changes in pricing for eBay auctions provoked a rebellion among a vocal minority of sellers. But eBay officials stressed that last year's increases were steeper and that U.S. business growth had nonetheless accelerated.

Overall, the changes are likely to add to earnings, Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Dutta told investors on a conference call following the company's 2005 year-end financial report.

EBay spokesman Hani Durzy said that eBay now charges 5.25 percent of the first $25 of the final sale price of an item; 2.75 percent of the next incremental $975 of value, and 1.5 percent of the incremental value above $1000 of the item. The middle tier of prices -- from $25 to $975 -- will now be charged transaction fees of 3 percent, up from 2.75 percent ..."

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-01-19T023403Z_01_N18239978_RTRUKOC_0_US-EBAY-PRICING.xml

Google gains ground on Baidu in China: study

" NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Internet search giant Google is gaining on local rival Baidu in the race to dominate the fast-growing Chinese search engine market, according to a research firm's survey.

The study, conducted by Internet performance research firm Keynote Systems, bodes well for Google, which has made major moves to set up in China, the world's second-biggest online market with 120 million users.

Google's Chinese site came out on top in 11 out of 13 categories, including general, news and image searches, and more consumers saw Google's search results as relevant, according to the survey, released on Wednesday.

The monthlong survey of 1,200 Chinese Web users rated usage on Google, Baidu, Sohu.com Inc.'s Sogou, and e-marketplace specialist Alibaba, which is 40 percent owned by Yahoo.

Baidu declined to comment on the report. Google, which owns 2.6 percent of Baidu, could not be reached for comment ..."

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-01-18T180433Z_01_N18190353_RTRUKOC_0_US-BAIDU-GOOGLE.xml