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Motley Fool has an article on the current value of media stocks and why they are good buys. An excerpt below.

“Digital distribution is here. The market has talked up Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) as the three online behemoths that will make it happen — but where do you think their content will come from?

Priming the digital pipeline
Amazon and Google are each working on initiatives to deliver the written word digitally. Whether it’s actual downloads or value-added rentals, the end result is the same. Publishers are about to cash in on incremental revenue streams thanks to the margin-rich waters of digital distribution.”

This author will also be profiling the freshest ideas in several other sectors such as nanotechnology, biotec et al. I will be keeping a lookout on these new columns.

Internet users

Region % of world users
Asia 33.9
Europe 29.4
North America 23.2
Latin America/Caribbean 7.5
Africa 2.5
Oceania/Australia 1.8
Middle East 1.6
DId Tim Berners Lee even dream about this? I do, when i create my Internet media empire.

Top Internet user countries

Country Number of users % of world users
US 202.9m 21.6
China 103.0m 11.0
Japan 78.0m 8.3
Germany 47.1m 5.0
India 39.2m 4.2
Britain 35.8m 3.8
South Korea 31.6m 3.4
Italy 28.6m 3.0
France 25.6m 2.7
Brazil 22.3m 2.4

Courtesy of WWW.INTERNETWORLDSTATS.COM

have you wondered about the most popular sites out on the Internet? Here’s a Top 10 list taken off this wonderful site.

1. Yahoo!

2. Microsoft Network (MSN)

3. Google

4. EBay

5. Passport.net

6. Microsoft Corporation

7. Amazon.com

8. Myspace.com

9. Google UK

10. AOL

Here’s a link to the top blogs on the WWW.

Even George Soros is ploughing his money heavily in the tech sector. Read here.

The demise of print media has been jailed for a long time since the bubble of the late 1990s. Then came the bust, and some thought the newspaper industry, as with other Old Media stakeholders would survive. With the current rave over Google’s rising stock, it is a matter of time before Old Media start shutting down one by one. Here’s an article. that talks about some prominent papers engaging in cost-cutting moves, omens of impending doom, if you ask me.

To quote directly from the article,
“Last month, Chicago-based Tribune, whose holdings include 11 daily newspapers, 26 television stations and the Chicago Cubs, said third-quarter profits tumbled 82 percent because of an adverse tax ruling that forced it to take a huge charge.

The media company’s results also showed continuing sluggishness in advertising sales and lower revenue from newspaper circulation, although Tribune executives said recent circulation trends show improvement.”

Reporters liad off, face up to reality. Gettin laid off is not a bad thing. Join the blogoshphere and create your own outlet of journalistic expression. For more info, you can always contact me.
TV Companies, who’s next in line for the guillotine?

LAunch of Google Base. P.S. It sucks.

Are Newspapers aka OLD MEDIA still worth Investing?

Facebook.com –> Web 2.0 Company Evolving to a Bubble 2.0 Company?

Yahoo Integrates more Content from Blogs (e.g. Gawker etc)

Wall Street’s Infatuation wit Tivo

Are AOL’s assets worth $15 billion???

Yahoo’s Internal Dilemma” Registration may be required

Myspace usage continues to accelerate after NewsCorp’s acquisition.

And then there’s Friendster. The old favourite and darling of VCs a few years back have fallen from the pedestal of grace and favor in the eyes of investors today. According to this link, Friendster is going to be sold, at an astronomical valuation in my opinion of upwards of $15 million or even more. Its just a crazy pricing considerng how easy and how competitive the social networking industry is today, with every John Doe out there trying to create one. Just how much is “eyeballs” and buzz worth today? Yes, Friendster may be big in some Asian countries, read this, but someone has to be insane to pay that price without a clear strategy. Friendster’s interface sucks, to change it would alienate its current users, depreciating one of the key selling points.

The New Corvette

An American goes to China. This is one of the popular blogs out there on the Net. He just went to CHina, i believe. Would be interesting to see what he thinks of the Middle Kingdom from his American perspective.
Click to read article

The New Blackberry

One of my fave topics: how Internet is increasingly getting customized and individualized by Internet users around the world. This happens to also the the primary premise why the cliched Web2.0 trend is fuelling a revival of Silicon Valley geeks in launching new enterprises, some trivial, some world-beating.
Click to read article

E Commerce Boom in China

There’s big money going on the online gaming world. SOme dude paid $100,000 for a virtual space station on the game Project Entropia - a string of binary code, literally. He’s going to convert it into a Jurassic Park-cum disco after buying this piece of virtual (sic: real) estate. Virtual economies are going to be my next fave topic of interest. What particularly intrigues me is the possible revenue-generating opportunities from this seemingly obsentatious purchase.
Click to read article
Here’s more on the virtual economy thriving in the online gaming world.

Another sign of the times, blogging takes hold in senior citizenry.

Skype, in my opinion, will disrupt the telecomm companies in no way any other industry has seen upheaval. Here’s a peek into how this revolution is already taking place. You just have to wonder, how will the lives of generations after us differ from us, or even during the 1980s?
The VOIP Wave

Here’s Round 2 of Microsoft vs Google, (after Round 1 of Lee Kai Fu)
Yahoo Gives Up on Race for AOL

IS Amazon making the right decisions?

Microsoft Web 2.0 Charge - A Rallying Call for Arms by the New Lieutenant

After San Francisco, Its Free Wifi for Mountain View now from Google

Here’s one of the online music services I like-Pandora. They have this Music Genome Project where they analyze the similarities in terms of music style between the million songs on the planet. Used to only allow a fixed trial period but now a free version is available. Yet to check it out, but will do so soon.
Free Personalized Radio Station — Pandora.com

DATE: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Venue: Stanford Business School

A Brave New (Virtual) World:
Commerce and Community in Virtual Societies

To an increasing degree, personal self-expression and social interaction are migrating from the physical world to on-line virtual worlds. By breaking down geographic limitations and providing greater control of how one is perceived by other users, virtual societies have proven an increasingly appealing environment for social interaction.

Numerous business models have emerged to capitalize on this virtual interaction and character personalization. Key questions this panel will explore include what opportunities exist to monetize this shift, what are the underlying social implications for increasingly living in virtual worlds, and what tensions are likely to arise as a larger percentage of social interaction and commerce moves to the virtual domain?

More info about the event here

Profiled by BusinessWeek: Entrepreneurs under 25

Bill Gates FINALLY understands the Internet.

Steve Ballmer at his best in drumming up Investor Enthusiasm

Google tries to diversify beyond a single-revenue stream model.

Search Engine War Heats Up in China. Yahoo-Alibaba VS Baidu.com

The New SlashDot — Digg

Outsourcing 101 for IT Startups

Crossing the Great OS Chasm: Windows to MAC

Internet Community Uses Google to Support Nicolas Sarkozy’s Hardline Stance on Paris Riots

Blogging for Fun and Profit