It may seem like writing and getting paid for fake reviews is a small issue, but nineteen companies have agreed to cease their practice of writing fake online reviews for businesses and pay over $350,000 in penalties.  That is a great deal of money for these businesses in trouble.  Fake reviews were found on Yelp, Google Local, and CitySearch stated New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

“Astroturfers” are people that know how to spoof their IP address, so it’s hard to find the location the review is being written from, and these “astroturfers” are also able to remain anonymous.  The Attorney General’s office spent a year investigation these schemes, and actually going undercover to gain evidence.  Companies involved in this scheme were hiring their own employees to post fake reviews as far away as Phillippines, Bangladesh, and Eastern Europe for $1 – $10 a review.  The common ad attracting these freelance writers was posted on Craigslist.org, Freelancer.com, and oDesk.com.  Other companies were direct with their approach, and simply placed ads asking for people with established Yelp accounts to post reviews.

Unfortunately, astroturfing is not likely to go away.  Consumers are going to have a really hard time distinguishing a real review from a fake ad, because astroturfers are so good at what they do.  As a consumer it is your job to take your time before making any purchase, and read all of the websites pertaining to the merchandise you are about to buy.

Sandy from space (NASA)

In the tri-state area, where Sandy hit hardest, 25% of wireless carriers reported to the FCC that they were unable to properly operate following the storm. [1] This made millions of Sandy victims unable to connect with loved ones via their smartphones and other mobile devices. Those who still had power and an Internet connection may have also experienced intermittent connections and slow speeds. [1] The FCC even warned that many of the towers that were still functioning were running on battery operated backup generators and were likely to run out of fuel. Officials warned that this could lead to an even larger digital outage before connections would be fully restored. [1]

Fake Hurricane Sandy photos

Popular websites, like the Huffington Post and Gawker, did not escape Sandy unscathed either and experienced outages following the storm as well. [5] However, while these websites (and many others) were down the Internet continued spreading news of the storm, many stories which contained false reports and photoshopped images. [6] Photoshopped images included pictures of scuba divers swimming through subway tunnels and giant tidal waves heading towards the New York City skyline. [6] A Twitter troll eventually took much of the blame for being one of the main instigators in spreading such faulty news that caused millions anxiety and stress. [6] [7]

Because of the circumstances cell phone companies, such as AT&T and T-Mobile, put aside their ongoing competition with one another and came together to help those devastated by Hurricane Sandy.[2] By sharing networks during the days immediately following the storm, individuals were allowed to receive service from both, making service stronger and the likelihood of reaching loved ones in need higher. It was also decided that customers of either company would not receive any roaming charges during this time of need.[2] This was an idea shared by many in the northeast the week of the 29th as multiple businesses and banks waived their normal fees until the public was in a more stable environment.[2]

American Red Cross Website

Many digital companies, such as iTunes, also reached out in an effort to help those affected by the storm. On Wednesday, October 31st Apple created a button on their iTunes’ homepage that allowed users to donate directly to the American Red Cross. Apple promised that 100% of the proceeds would go directly towards helping victims of Hurricane Sandy. [3]

On Friday, November 2st NBC broadcasted (along with various other networks) the “Hurricane Sandy Coming Together Benefit” telethon to help collect donations for Hurricane Sandy’s victims. The telethon benefit was hosted by Matt Lauer and included a musical line-up containing Christina Aguilera, Billy Joel, Steven Tyler, and Bruce Springsteen. Celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Danny DeVito also graced the stage urging those watching to donate to the American Red Cross. [4] This benefit was also linked to iTunes and their efforts to collect donations for the American Red Cross.[4]

The United States of America as a whole, and the digital world, faced tremendous complications and strife during, and following, Hurricane Sandy. However, throughout this troubling time it became very apparent that the digital world is as strong and impactful as ever in the lives of those around the world. Though the digital world was deeply interrupted because of Hurricane Sandy proactive steps have been taken to restore all services offered to individuals not only in the United States, but also around the world.

1. http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/31/technology/mobile/sandy-cell-service-outages/index.html
2. http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/31/tech/mobile/att-tmobile-networks-sandy/index.html
3. http://mashable.com/2012/11/01/itunes-red-cross-donations-sandy/
4. http://www.nbc.com/news/2012/11/01/nbcuniversal-announces-hurricane-sandy-coming-together-a-benefit-telethon-to-aid-victims-of-hurrican/
5. http://news.yahoo.com/hurricane-takes-down-big-websites-211016806–abc-news-tech.html
6. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/superstorm-hurricane-sandy-2012-fake-photos-circulate-online-17605761
7. http://mashable.com/2012/10/30/sandy-fake-news-apology/

Where does this data come from? Well, the IPB price basket. IPB, or ICT Price Basket is a composite measure of affordability based on three sub-baskets: fixed telephone, mobile cellular, and fixed broadband Internet services. The IPB composite measure is a percentage of average Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. The IPB is also a benchmark measure, used to monitor the relative price of ICT services while indicating service affordability across countries and over time. The IPB is the sole measure to monitor these services worldwide, covering 165 economies.

The big picture. So, what does the data tell us this year? This year’s data indicates ICTs are most affordable in the richest countries. Pricing of services has perpetuated a ‘digital divide’ between the haves and the have-nots. High-income countries are paying little for ICT services, and the world’s poorest countries are paying more (see chart.)

ICT Price Basket by level of development, 2008 and 2010

Source: ITU

Why are fixed broadband prices declining? The overall fall in prices for fixed broadband services is mainly due to price reductions in developing countries. In these areas, the fixed broadband sub-basket dropped by 52%, compared to 35% in developed countries. Don’t be fooled though. These steep price drops often reflect the extremely high cost of broadband in developing countries. Even at half the price, the service is still out of reach for average citizens. Many of the countries where the cost of broadband Internet access is extremely high are UN-designated Least Developed Countries, but the group also includes Tajikistan, Swaziland, Uzbekistan, and Papua New Guinea. Not surprisingly, both broadband access and Internet user levels in these countries remain extremely low.

Where are the greatest price declines? Besides Bangladesh, the top countries showing the greatest decrease in ICT price basket value are in Africa. Fixed broadband prices fell over 55%, and mobile cellular prices fell by 25%. The following top ten countries experienced price decreases by over 50%: Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Guyana, Uganda and Austria. While declining prices for fixed broadband services is the main reason, some countries can also attribute the decline to a decrease in mobile tariffs.

Source: ITU

A challenge for growth. Even with many African countries in the top ten for price declines, this continent continues to stand out for its high prices. The average consumer continues to be alienated from access due to cost; only one out of ten people in Africa is using the Internet. Here’s the challenge: getting broadband or something like it into developing countries. With ICTs being the primary driver for development, both social and economic, countries without access risk falling behind, according to ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré.

It includes all websites owned by Google: Google.com, YouTube.com, GMail, Google Maps, Google Docs etc.

The standard width is driven by a size of screens used by Internet users, and a resolution of those screens.

Let’s see data about some popular websites, and a width of the biggest wrapper of the page:

• YT.com – 972px
• Cnn.com – 1002px
• Facebook – 980px

Another source of the decision about a width of your website should be data collected by Google Analytics which you have probably connected to your site. It shows statistic about a resolution among your users.

According to data from W3School Display Statistics, if you use resolution around 1000px, you will cover more than 96% of Internet users.

One of the hard data shows that 65 percent of Europeans are on the internet, while less than 10 percent of Africans use Web. That is going to be improved. The biggest grow of Internet community is expected coming from developing countries – about 162 million new users. Overall, ITU predicts that we can expect 226 million new Internet users in 2010 from all over the world.

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The International Telecommunication Union is an agency of the United Nations which regulates information and communication technology issues. ITU coordinates the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promotes international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, works to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world and establishes worldwide standards. Source: wikipedia.

Phillippe Le Hegaret from W3C told InfoWorld, “The problem we’re facing right now is there is already a lot of excitement for HTML5, but it’s a little too early to deploy it because we’re running into interoperability issues.” He also mentioned that the HTML5 specification will be “feature-complete by mid-2011,” so Flash will be commonly used on the web for a while.

There were plenty of complains about the meeting hosted by Symantec. They used only voice communication without a video transmission, few directors from the company didn’t attend the meeting, there were also answered only very few stockholders’ questions. Investors were not able to hear questions of other stockholders and see reactions of managers from Symantec. It looks like all-virtual conferences are not going to be a trend in coming years.

Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) is the largest maker of security software for personal computers. Symantec is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index. (Source: Wikipedia).