21st October 2008
Dedicated WPT Channel Gives MySpace Users the First Fully-Integrated Destination for Poker Games and Content
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MySpace, the world’s premier social network, and World Poker Tour ® (WPT), the preeminent poker sports, entertainment and gaming league, have joined forces to create the first fully integrated poker destination with games and content for MySpace members.
The MySpace WPT community (www.myspace.com/ClubWPT) delivers a unique poker experience with must-see content for poker die-hards and casual fans alike, including expert tips and tricks, player profiles, video clips, tournament news, and behind-the-scenes videos from the World Poker Tour and new ClubWPT.com TV series. The community provides a place for poker fans to meet and interact with their favorite WPT superstars and discover new WPT content.
The MySpace WPT hub also offers a free multi-player poker game developed by Oberon, MySpace’s online game partner and a leading innovator in casual gaming. The free poker game allows MySpace members to compete against each other online in real time, putting their poker skills to the test in live or private tournaments. MySpace WPT community members can also experience channel sponsor, ClubWPT.com, which is WPT’s innovative online subscription and sweepstakes-based poker offering. For $19.95 per month, ClubWPT.com members receive VIP perks and the chance to play and win over $100,000 in cash and prizes each month, like seats into WPT main events and the ClubWPT.com TV series.
“MySpace is bringing a new dimension of entertainment to users with this integrated WPT poker hub and providing an easy and fun way for users to play poker with friends on MySpace,” said Angela Courtin, senior vice president of marketing, entertainment and content for MySpace. “MySpace has a balance of a social community base and a global portal platform that allows brands like WPT to create great online entertainment experiences for our users. As the Web becomes increasingly more social, MySpace is at the forefront of innovation and online engagement.”
“Poker and social networking have separately reached and engaged people around the world in ways like nothing we’ve seen before,” said Steve Lipscomb, WPT Founder, President and CEO. “As poker continues to see major growth across the globe, this partnership meets the demand for a poker experience that appeals to enthusiasts of all levels by connecting consumers in one unique, fully-integrated gaming and entertainment environment.”
Poker fans will also see the MySpace WPT community get in the action during WPT Season VII television broadcasts, featured on the final table ring where the remaining six players battle it out for millions of dollars and a WPT title. Premiering on Fox Sports Net later this year, the World Poker Tour follows the pros, newcomers, and all the poker action from Las Vegas to Barcelona, featuring all-new final tables where millions of dollars and a WPT title are at stake.
No purchase is necessary for the ClubWPT.com sweepstakes and the service is void in states where prohibited. To get details on how to join, for information on alternative means of entry or to get a two-week free trial, visit www.myspace.com/ClubWPT or www.ClubWPT.com.
About MySpace
MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. MySpace has created a connected global community by integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums. MySpace's international network includes more than 30 localized community sites in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS)(NYSE:NWS.A)(ASX:NWS)(ASX:NWSLV).
Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, September 2008. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to www.comscore.com.
ABOUT WPTE
WPT Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WPTE) is a company engaged in the creation of internationally branded entertainment and consumer products driven by the development, production, and marketing of televised programming based on gaming themes. WPTE is the creator of the World Poker Tour®, a television show based on a series of high-stakes poker tournaments that has been licensed for broadcast globally. WPT Season VI airs Monday nights at 9pm ET/PT on GSN in the United States, and WPT Season VII will air on FSN in 2009. WPTE also offers real-money online gaming on its website, www.worldpokertour.com, which prohibits wagers from players in the U.S. and certain other restricted territories. WPTE also has operations in mainland China, pursuant to an agreement with the China Leisure Sports Administrative Center where WPTE is developing and marketing the WPT China National Traktor Poker Tour. In January 2008, the company launched ClubWPT.com, an innovative subscription-based online poker club targeted to the estimated 60 million poker players in the United States and is currently offered in 38 States. WPTE currently licenses its brand to companies in the business of poker equipment and instruction, apparel, publishing, electronic and wireless entertainment, DVD/home entertainment, casino games, and giftware. The company is also engaged in the sale of corporate sponsorships. For show information, tools for improving poker play, and other WPT news, fans may log on to www.worldpokertour.com. WPTE is a majority owned subsidiary of Lakes Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: LACO).
WPTEG
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain information included in this press release (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by WPT Enterprises, Inc.) contains statements that are forward-looking, such as statements relating to the expansion of WPTE's brand licensing, the development of new television and film projects, the development of WPTE corporate sponsors and other business development activities, as well as statements regarding other capital spending, financing sources and the effects of competition. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future and, accordingly, such results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of WPTE. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that WPTE may not obtain sufficient sponsorship revenues for Season VII programming of the WPT; difficulty of predicting the growth of our online gaming business, which is a relatively new industry with an increasing number of market entrants; reliance on the efforts of CryptoLogic to develop and maintain the online gaming website in compliance with WPTE’s business model and applicable gaming laws; the potential that our television programming will fail to maintain a sufficient audience; the risk that competitors with greater financial resources or marketplace presence might develop television programming that would directly compete with WPTE's television programming; the risk that WPTE may not be able to protect its entertainment concepts, current and future brands and other intellectual property rights; risks associated with future expansion into new or complementary businesses; the termination or impairment of WPTE's relationships with key licensing and strategic partners; and WPTE's dependence on its senior management team. For more information, review WPTE's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Friday, November 14, 2008
Virgin Games appoints Silverpop to develop email CRM, by Nikki Sandison, Brand Republic - 7th September 2007
LONDON - Virgin Games has appointed email marketing firm Silverpop to develop an email CRM programme for customers of its online gaming site, www.virgingames.com.
Silverpop will work with Virgin Games' CRM team to tailor email content to customer preferences gathered from profiles and activity on its poker, casino, bingo and bets games.
The programme will include time-triggered emails, along with updates on Virgin Games' loyalty points scheme - V Points - designed to build online relationships and increase customer retention.
Silverpop was appointed following a six-way pitch, adding to its recent account wins including Metro International, STA and UCAS.
Ross Sleight, strategy director at Virgin Games, said: "With cost per acquisition relatively high in the online gaming market, we need to make sure new visitors turn into long-term members.
"Silverpop's appointment will enable us to do this through sophisticated profile and activity- triggered interaction with customers via email."
Silverpop provides online relationship marketing support to companies including Fossil, Littlewoods, Shop Direct, British Sky Broadcasting and Weather.com.
Greg Tingle comment...
I deal with a number of companies in the online gaming, online casino and casino industry, and I can honestly state that if all the online casino type companies were are profession, organised, friendly and honest as the folks at Virgin Games, the industry would be a much better place. Virgin Games staff and management are accountable and transparent. I've also been impressed by PKR and JackPotCity. InterCasino and North Sydney's NextGen Gaming have also revamped and look to have their act together. I also hear a clean bill of health on Rewards Affiliates. Virgin Games is the pick of the bunch. I will be discussing these things at CAP Down Under.
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Gaming
Silverpop will work with Virgin Games' CRM team to tailor email content to customer preferences gathered from profiles and activity on its poker, casino, bingo and bets games.
The programme will include time-triggered emails, along with updates on Virgin Games' loyalty points scheme - V Points - designed to build online relationships and increase customer retention.
Silverpop was appointed following a six-way pitch, adding to its recent account wins including Metro International, STA and UCAS.
Ross Sleight, strategy director at Virgin Games, said: "With cost per acquisition relatively high in the online gaming market, we need to make sure new visitors turn into long-term members.
"Silverpop's appointment will enable us to do this through sophisticated profile and activity- triggered interaction with customers via email."
Silverpop provides online relationship marketing support to companies including Fossil, Littlewoods, Shop Direct, British Sky Broadcasting and Weather.com.
Greg Tingle comment...
I deal with a number of companies in the online gaming, online casino and casino industry, and I can honestly state that if all the online casino type companies were are profession, organised, friendly and honest as the folks at Virgin Games, the industry would be a much better place. Virgin Games staff and management are accountable and transparent. I've also been impressed by PKR and JackPotCity. InterCasino and North Sydney's NextGen Gaming have also revamped and look to have their act together. I also hear a clean bill of health on Rewards Affiliates. Virgin Games is the pick of the bunch. I will be discussing these things at CAP Down Under.
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Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
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Gaming
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
www.mediaman.com.au is a Hitwise Top 10 Award Winner!
5th November 2008
Hitwise Top 10 Awards Program
Dear Greg,
Congratulations! Hitwise is pleased to announce that www.mediaman.com.au is a Hitwise Top 10 Award winner for the quarter ending July - September 2008.
During this period, www.mediaman.com.au ranked No. 7 based on market share of visits among all Australian websites in the Hitwise Entertainment - Personalities industry.
The Hitwise Top 10 Award recognises websites from over 160 industries that are leaders in their industry and brings with it the benefit of using the Hitwise Top 10 Award shield (pictured right).
Again, congratulations. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Best regards,
Marketing - Asia Pacific
Hitwise Australia
Media Man Australia Profiles
Hitwise
Hitwise Top 10 Awards Program
Dear Greg,
Congratulations! Hitwise is pleased to announce that www.mediaman.com.au is a Hitwise Top 10 Award winner for the quarter ending July - September 2008.
During this period, www.mediaman.com.au ranked No. 7 based on market share of visits among all Australian websites in the Hitwise Entertainment - Personalities industry.
The Hitwise Top 10 Award recognises websites from over 160 industries that are leaders in their industry and brings with it the benefit of using the Hitwise Top 10 Award shield (pictured right).
Again, congratulations. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Best regards,
Marketing - Asia Pacific
Hitwise Australia
Media Man Australia Profiles
Hitwise
Saturday, November 01, 2008
CasinoAffiliatePrograms Announces Final Stage of Voting for CAP Awards 2009
Nominations closed as final voting stage begins, announces leading online casino website.
Irvine, CA October 28, 2008 -- CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com ("CAP"), a leading online marketing resource and community website for Internet casino affiliates, announced today the commencement of the final voting stage in its highly anticipated Second Annual CAP Awards.
"We'd like to announce that the nomination stage of the CAP Awards is now closed," stated Lou Fabiano, President and Founder of CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com. "And, in doing so, we want to invite all members of the online gaming community to cast their votes for 2008's best affiliate industry leaders!"
We'd like to announce that the nomination stage of the CAP Awards is now closed
And, in doing so, we want to invite all members of the online gaming community to cast their votes for 2008's best affiliate industry leaders!
"Those in the affiliate industry don't specifically have to be registered at CAP or PAP to vote, but we do encourage you to register with us if you're serious about your affiliate program," added Mr. Fabiano. "And, of course, everyone can vote only once."
Held during January's Gala Reception and Awards Ceremony as part of the annual CAP Euro London event, the CAP Awards is a yearly ceremony held by CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com in collaboration with its sister site, PokerAffiliatePrograms.com ("PAP"), to recognize and honor the most successful and innovative members of the worldwide Internet gaming community.
Representing the largest and longest-running community of its type, with the most popular and highly trafficked user forums in the industry, CAP and PAP are uniquely qualified to empower online gaming's affiliates and affiliate managers with the decision of naming who has made the year's greatest achievements among them -- and therefore who deserves to take home a coveted CAPPY award.
The CAP Awards nominations process is peer-led, allowing the gaming affiliate community to nominate and vote in each category. Overseeing the voting and awards process is an independent judiciary panel made up of ten respected operators, affiliates, and vendors. In addition to providing important industry insight and expertise, these individuals help ensure that the nominations are well-placed and the awards operate in a fair and non-biased manner. The democratic nature of the process is designed to ensure that the CAP Awards represent a consensus of the online gaming affiliate community as a whole, and are not just the decision of the CAP administrators.
The CAP Awards recognize superior achievement for Best Affiliate, Best Affiliate Program, and Best Affiliate Manager in the categories of Casino, Poker, Bingo, Sports Betting, Skill Gaming, and Lottery. There are also awards for Best iGaming Software in the categories of Casino, Poker, and Bingo. Rounding out the awards are Best Overall Affiliate, Best Overall Affiliate Manager, Best iGaming Affiliate Network, and Best Payment System.
CAP officials emphasized that all awards nominations are completely user-driven; employees and management of CAP or PAP had no involvement in the nominations.
Voters can visit http://capawards.com/nominations.php to cast their votes.
About CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com:
CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com (or CAP, as it's commonly known as) is the largest and longest-running online gaming affiliate resource, featuring an active community forum, chat rooms, affiliate marketing tools, industry news/articles, scam alerts, and a rigorous and distinguished certification process for online casino affiliate programs. The CAP Certification Process is held in the highest regard among industry experts, and is designed to protect the integrity of affiliates and the online gaming industry as a whole. For more information, please visit http://www.casinoaffiliateprograms.com.
About PokerAffiliatePrograms.com:
The world's largest poker affiliate community and resource website, PokerAffiliatePrograms.com (PAP) was established to provide webmasters interested in promoting online poker a place to research, discuss, and gain insight into the business. The company's mission is to provide the best community forum of its kind online, as well as a list of quality affiliate programs and a comprehensive collection of articles, resources, tips, and program alerts to help assist affiliate marketing webmasters. For more information, please visit http://www.pokeraffiliateprograms.com.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Casino News
Online Casino News
Irvine, CA October 28, 2008 -- CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com ("CAP"), a leading online marketing resource and community website for Internet casino affiliates, announced today the commencement of the final voting stage in its highly anticipated Second Annual CAP Awards.
"We'd like to announce that the nomination stage of the CAP Awards is now closed," stated Lou Fabiano, President and Founder of CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com. "And, in doing so, we want to invite all members of the online gaming community to cast their votes for 2008's best affiliate industry leaders!"
We'd like to announce that the nomination stage of the CAP Awards is now closed
And, in doing so, we want to invite all members of the online gaming community to cast their votes for 2008's best affiliate industry leaders!
"Those in the affiliate industry don't specifically have to be registered at CAP or PAP to vote, but we do encourage you to register with us if you're serious about your affiliate program," added Mr. Fabiano. "And, of course, everyone can vote only once."
Held during January's Gala Reception and Awards Ceremony as part of the annual CAP Euro London event, the CAP Awards is a yearly ceremony held by CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com in collaboration with its sister site, PokerAffiliatePrograms.com ("PAP"), to recognize and honor the most successful and innovative members of the worldwide Internet gaming community.
Representing the largest and longest-running community of its type, with the most popular and highly trafficked user forums in the industry, CAP and PAP are uniquely qualified to empower online gaming's affiliates and affiliate managers with the decision of naming who has made the year's greatest achievements among them -- and therefore who deserves to take home a coveted CAPPY award.
The CAP Awards nominations process is peer-led, allowing the gaming affiliate community to nominate and vote in each category. Overseeing the voting and awards process is an independent judiciary panel made up of ten respected operators, affiliates, and vendors. In addition to providing important industry insight and expertise, these individuals help ensure that the nominations are well-placed and the awards operate in a fair and non-biased manner. The democratic nature of the process is designed to ensure that the CAP Awards represent a consensus of the online gaming affiliate community as a whole, and are not just the decision of the CAP administrators.
The CAP Awards recognize superior achievement for Best Affiliate, Best Affiliate Program, and Best Affiliate Manager in the categories of Casino, Poker, Bingo, Sports Betting, Skill Gaming, and Lottery. There are also awards for Best iGaming Software in the categories of Casino, Poker, and Bingo. Rounding out the awards are Best Overall Affiliate, Best Overall Affiliate Manager, Best iGaming Affiliate Network, and Best Payment System.
CAP officials emphasized that all awards nominations are completely user-driven; employees and management of CAP or PAP had no involvement in the nominations.
Voters can visit http://capawards.com/nominations.php to cast their votes.
About CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com:
CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com (or CAP, as it's commonly known as) is the largest and longest-running online gaming affiliate resource, featuring an active community forum, chat rooms, affiliate marketing tools, industry news/articles, scam alerts, and a rigorous and distinguished certification process for online casino affiliate programs. The CAP Certification Process is held in the highest regard among industry experts, and is designed to protect the integrity of affiliates and the online gaming industry as a whole. For more information, please visit http://www.casinoaffiliateprograms.com.
About PokerAffiliatePrograms.com:
The world's largest poker affiliate community and resource website, PokerAffiliatePrograms.com (PAP) was established to provide webmasters interested in promoting online poker a place to research, discuss, and gain insight into the business. The company's mission is to provide the best community forum of its kind online, as well as a list of quality affiliate programs and a comprehensive collection of articles, resources, tips, and program alerts to help assist affiliate marketing webmasters. For more information, please visit http://www.pokeraffiliateprograms.com.
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Online Casino News
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Net filters may block porn and gambling sites, by Asher Moses - The Age - 27th October 2008
Family First Senator Steve Fielding wants hardcore pornography and fetish material blocked under the Government's plans to filter the internet, sparking renewed fears the censorship could be expanded well beyond "illegal material".
The Opposition said it would take "a lot of convincing" for it to support the controversial mandatory ISP filtering policy, so the Government would need the support of Senator Fielding as well as the Greens and Senator Nick Xenophon to pass the legislation.
Industry sources said Senator Fielding's sentiments validated ISPs' concerns that the categories of blocked content could be broadened significantly at the whim of the Government, which is under pressure to appease vocal minorities.
A spokesman for Senator Xenophon said, should the filtering plan go ahead, he would look to use it to block Australians from accessing overseas online casino sites, which are illegal to run in Australia.
In a Senate Estimates hearing last week, the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, confirmed that his proposal would force ISPs to implement a two-tiered filtering system.
The proposed censorship is more advanced than that in any liberal democracy and would put Australia on a par with oppressive regimes such as Iran, the internet industry says.
Despite his earlier promises that Australians would be able to opt out of any internet filters, Senator Conroy said the first tier would be compulsory for all Australians and would block all "illegal material", as determined in part by a blacklist administered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The second tier, which is optional, would filter out content deemed inappropriate for children, such as pornography.
But asked to specify the categories of content that Senator Fielding would like blocked by the mandatory first tier, a Family First spokeswoman indicated the party would want X-rated and refused classification (RC) content banned for everyone, including adults.
"Family First would consider a mandatory ISP-based filtering system that protects children by blocking illegal content like child pornography, but allows adults to opt out of filtering to access material classified R18+ or less," Senator Fielding's spokeswoman said.
According to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, X18+ content includes hardcore pornography, while content that is refused classification includes that which depicts drug use or sexual fetishes. Both are a step above R18+ content, which typically includes adult themes.
The online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia expressed fears that the internet filters could be used as a bargaining chip every time the Government needed to pass a piece of important legislation.
"Any group with an axe to grind and political clout will be lobbying the Government to blacklist websites which they object to," EFA spokesman Dale Clapperton said.
"Having all Australians' internet access subject to a secret and unaccountable government blacklist is completely unacceptable in a liberal democracy such as Australia."
Clapperton said most adult pornography on the internet was already "prohibited content" under the Act, and pro-euthanasia, pro-anorexia and pro-piracy websites could easily be caught by the system.
Today, such prohibited content, if hosted overseas, is added to ACMA's blacklist but Australians are still able to access it if they wish. This would not be the case if mandatory ISP filtering was introduced.
"Senator Conroy talks about blocking access to 'illegal material', but the ACMA blacklist of 'prohibited content' is not limited to material which is illegal - it includes X-rated material, and R-rated material unless it is protected by a government-approved restricted access system," he said.
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam expressed similar concerns when grilling Senator Conroy in Senate Estimates last week.
He said all sorts of politically sensitive material could be added to the blacklist and otherwise legitimate sites - for example, YouTube - could be rendered inaccessible based on content published by users.
"The blacklist ... can become very grey depending on how expansive the list becomes - euthanasia material, politically related material, material about anorexia. There is a lot of distasteful stuff on the internet," Senator Ludlam said.
John Lindsay, carrier relations manager at Internode, said: "I don't see that what Fielding has just described to you is necessarily any different to what the public should expect from the Government's as yet unstated filtering regime, because we haven't got a clear explanation as to what the Government's actual mandatory blacklist looks like."
The Opposition's communication spokesman, Nick Minchin, said it would take "a lot of convincing" for the Coalition to support the Government's filtering plan.
"That's the problem with having this sort of highly centralised government-mandated nationwide filtering system," Senator Minchin said in a telephone interview.
"The argy-bargy that would result over what is in and what is out strikes me as being almost impossible to manage and it would be a cat chasing its tail."
The Government's own laboratory trials have found that presently available filters are not capable of distinguishing adequately between legal and illegal content and can degrade internet speeds by up to 86 per cent.
Despite this, and significant opposition from ISPs, the Government will soon seek expressions of interest from telcos seeking to be part of a live trial of the filters.
(Credit: The Age)
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The Opposition said it would take "a lot of convincing" for it to support the controversial mandatory ISP filtering policy, so the Government would need the support of Senator Fielding as well as the Greens and Senator Nick Xenophon to pass the legislation.
Industry sources said Senator Fielding's sentiments validated ISPs' concerns that the categories of blocked content could be broadened significantly at the whim of the Government, which is under pressure to appease vocal minorities.
A spokesman for Senator Xenophon said, should the filtering plan go ahead, he would look to use it to block Australians from accessing overseas online casino sites, which are illegal to run in Australia.
In a Senate Estimates hearing last week, the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, confirmed that his proposal would force ISPs to implement a two-tiered filtering system.
The proposed censorship is more advanced than that in any liberal democracy and would put Australia on a par with oppressive regimes such as Iran, the internet industry says.
Despite his earlier promises that Australians would be able to opt out of any internet filters, Senator Conroy said the first tier would be compulsory for all Australians and would block all "illegal material", as determined in part by a blacklist administered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The second tier, which is optional, would filter out content deemed inappropriate for children, such as pornography.
But asked to specify the categories of content that Senator Fielding would like blocked by the mandatory first tier, a Family First spokeswoman indicated the party would want X-rated and refused classification (RC) content banned for everyone, including adults.
"Family First would consider a mandatory ISP-based filtering system that protects children by blocking illegal content like child pornography, but allows adults to opt out of filtering to access material classified R18+ or less," Senator Fielding's spokeswoman said.
According to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, X18+ content includes hardcore pornography, while content that is refused classification includes that which depicts drug use or sexual fetishes. Both are a step above R18+ content, which typically includes adult themes.
The online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia expressed fears that the internet filters could be used as a bargaining chip every time the Government needed to pass a piece of important legislation.
"Any group with an axe to grind and political clout will be lobbying the Government to blacklist websites which they object to," EFA spokesman Dale Clapperton said.
"Having all Australians' internet access subject to a secret and unaccountable government blacklist is completely unacceptable in a liberal democracy such as Australia."
Clapperton said most adult pornography on the internet was already "prohibited content" under the Act, and pro-euthanasia, pro-anorexia and pro-piracy websites could easily be caught by the system.
Today, such prohibited content, if hosted overseas, is added to ACMA's blacklist but Australians are still able to access it if they wish. This would not be the case if mandatory ISP filtering was introduced.
"Senator Conroy talks about blocking access to 'illegal material', but the ACMA blacklist of 'prohibited content' is not limited to material which is illegal - it includes X-rated material, and R-rated material unless it is protected by a government-approved restricted access system," he said.
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam expressed similar concerns when grilling Senator Conroy in Senate Estimates last week.
He said all sorts of politically sensitive material could be added to the blacklist and otherwise legitimate sites - for example, YouTube - could be rendered inaccessible based on content published by users.
"The blacklist ... can become very grey depending on how expansive the list becomes - euthanasia material, politically related material, material about anorexia. There is a lot of distasteful stuff on the internet," Senator Ludlam said.
John Lindsay, carrier relations manager at Internode, said: "I don't see that what Fielding has just described to you is necessarily any different to what the public should expect from the Government's as yet unstated filtering regime, because we haven't got a clear explanation as to what the Government's actual mandatory blacklist looks like."
The Opposition's communication spokesman, Nick Minchin, said it would take "a lot of convincing" for the Coalition to support the Government's filtering plan.
"That's the problem with having this sort of highly centralised government-mandated nationwide filtering system," Senator Minchin said in a telephone interview.
"The argy-bargy that would result over what is in and what is out strikes me as being almost impossible to manage and it would be a cat chasing its tail."
The Government's own laboratory trials have found that presently available filters are not capable of distinguishing adequately between legal and illegal content and can degrade internet speeds by up to 86 per cent.
Despite this, and significant opposition from ISPs, the Government will soon seek expressions of interest from telcos seeking to be part of a live trial of the filters.
(Credit: The Age)
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Saturday, October 25, 2008
Online ads souring more than saving, by Miriam Steffens - The Sydney Morning Herald - 25th October 2008
The growth in online advertising may not turn out to be the saviour newspaper publishers were hoping for as their print revenues decline.
Goldman Sachs JBWere analysts yesterday slashed growth forecasts for the online advertising sector, predicting growth of the $1.5 billion industry will slow from 27 per cent to just 10 per cent in the year to June, as companies rein in spending. ABN Amro has forecast growth will fall to 14 per cent.
The estimates come after US reports of online revenues at newspapers falling 2.4 per cent in the second quarter.
The publisher of The New York Times posted a quarterly loss from continuing operations this week and had its credit rating cut to junk as it couldn't slash costs fast enough to make up for falling revenues. Its online newspaper earnings rose just 2.5 per cent. Executives warned they expected internet display ads to weaken.
Concerns that Australian newspapers will follow have weighed on share prices. Fairfax Media's stock has fallen 58 per cent this year, closing yesterday at $1.97. APN News & Media is down 52 per cent and News Corp has lost 46 per cent since January.
News and Fairfax executives said Australian publishers hadn't yet seen a marked slowdown in ad dollars moving online.
"I was really surprised to see the Goldman Sachs number. There is no evidence in our business that our clients are looking to cut back," said Ed Smith, News Digital Media's chief commercial officer. He was "very comfortable with a 15 to 20 per cent growth forecast" because consumer goods makers and retailers had only just started using the internet for brand campaigns and online videos were growing.
Online classifieds, however, are a different story. Real estate and automotive ads are holding up but employment classifieds have been falling since April.
Fairfax Media's chief executive, David Kirk, confirmed last week that there was a trend in display online ads to performance-based advertising, rather than the more lucrative brand campaigns which make up the majority of newspaper ads online. "In tougher times people tend to do that because it's cheaper and it's more response-based," he said. But "we'll continue to see solid growth" online.
Jack Matthews, the head of Fairfax Digital, said Fairfax was holding market share, dismissing reports it slashed rates to fill inventory. "I don't think the Australian market is showing the same kinds of performance as the US market," he said.
Despite bearish forecasts, online remains the fastest-growing media sector. It is uncertain if that will make up for falling print revenues, with Goldman forecasting advertising sales at metropolitan newspapers to fall 7.9 per cent in the year to June.
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Fairfax
Online Advertising
Advertising
Goldman Sachs JBWere analysts yesterday slashed growth forecasts for the online advertising sector, predicting growth of the $1.5 billion industry will slow from 27 per cent to just 10 per cent in the year to June, as companies rein in spending. ABN Amro has forecast growth will fall to 14 per cent.
The estimates come after US reports of online revenues at newspapers falling 2.4 per cent in the second quarter.
The publisher of The New York Times posted a quarterly loss from continuing operations this week and had its credit rating cut to junk as it couldn't slash costs fast enough to make up for falling revenues. Its online newspaper earnings rose just 2.5 per cent. Executives warned they expected internet display ads to weaken.
Concerns that Australian newspapers will follow have weighed on share prices. Fairfax Media's stock has fallen 58 per cent this year, closing yesterday at $1.97. APN News & Media is down 52 per cent and News Corp has lost 46 per cent since January.
News and Fairfax executives said Australian publishers hadn't yet seen a marked slowdown in ad dollars moving online.
"I was really surprised to see the Goldman Sachs number. There is no evidence in our business that our clients are looking to cut back," said Ed Smith, News Digital Media's chief commercial officer. He was "very comfortable with a 15 to 20 per cent growth forecast" because consumer goods makers and retailers had only just started using the internet for brand campaigns and online videos were growing.
Online classifieds, however, are a different story. Real estate and automotive ads are holding up but employment classifieds have been falling since April.
Fairfax Media's chief executive, David Kirk, confirmed last week that there was a trend in display online ads to performance-based advertising, rather than the more lucrative brand campaigns which make up the majority of newspaper ads online. "In tougher times people tend to do that because it's cheaper and it's more response-based," he said. But "we'll continue to see solid growth" online.
Jack Matthews, the head of Fairfax Digital, said Fairfax was holding market share, dismissing reports it slashed rates to fill inventory. "I don't think the Australian market is showing the same kinds of performance as the US market," he said.
Despite bearish forecasts, online remains the fastest-growing media sector. It is uncertain if that will make up for falling print revenues, with Goldman forecasting advertising sales at metropolitan newspapers to fall 7.9 per cent in the year to June.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Fairfax
Online Advertising
Advertising
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Online Casino's Feeling the Credit Crunch
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, Oct 22, 2008
Every business feels the current credit crunch. Even the online casino business. One of the many online casino sites out there, La Isla Casino http://www.laislacasino.com, have taken this into consideration and made some changes to their operation and casino bonus structure.
"We see that the number of sign ups and deposits are more or less the same but the average deposit amount has dropped by 30%" says casino manager Afshin Ertanin. "As a result of that we have to cater to a market based on smaller deposits."
"We are now offering our clients an opportunity to get a bonus on every deposit they make, starting from as low as 21 pounds. Our welcome bonus will give players 100% matching bonus on their first deposit and 150% matching bonus on their second deposit, when depositing as little as 20 pounds. We feel that too many casinos' today spend a lot of energy towards the high roller. The average player who likes to make a wager now and then seems to be forgotten.
With the fully automated bonus structure La Isla Casino allows the players the full freedom to choose if they want a bonus on every deposit or not. And since it is fully automated bonuses are in their accounts the second they make a deposit.
"The online casino industry will have to rethink their strategies in the coming years as more and more people are losing their credit cards. Plus the fact that many banks have blocked their customers from making deposits with their credit cards to a licensed casino we are focusing on alternative and safe ways of depositing and making withdrawals".
Offering special bonuses when players use payment methods such as U-Kash, ClickandBuy and Click2Pay does make it easier for the player and the casino, and is something that we are utilising to full effect.
"The fully automated casino bonus is very simple, we have set up specific amounts for the player to deposit that will automatically trigger a bonus. Every time a player makes deposits of sums such as 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 and so on they will automatically get a bonus. To see the full list, go to http://www.laislacasino.com/casino-promotions.php.
"Yes, we are mainly an online slots casino and our automatic bonuses are for online slots games. But we do offer a special table games bonus for Black Jack, Poker, Roulette and Video Pokers to regular players. And the weekly free bonus we issue every Wednesday to our regular players can be used on any game - except progressive games.
"Of course the credit crunch will affect us as well as the other brands out there, but I think we are well prepared for it and are not that worried. We started changing our marketing strategy in early 2008 preparing for this so I am confident that la Isla Casino can ride through the coming months or years of market downturn."
La Isla Casino is a licensed online casino owned and operated by Hailwood Gaming Ltd who also owns and operate MegaKings.Com, both online casino runs on Playtech software and offer casino, Bingo and online Poker.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Casino News
Poker News
Technology News
Every business feels the current credit crunch. Even the online casino business. One of the many online casino sites out there, La Isla Casino http://www.laislacasino.com, have taken this into consideration and made some changes to their operation and casino bonus structure.
"We see that the number of sign ups and deposits are more or less the same but the average deposit amount has dropped by 30%" says casino manager Afshin Ertanin. "As a result of that we have to cater to a market based on smaller deposits."
"We are now offering our clients an opportunity to get a bonus on every deposit they make, starting from as low as 21 pounds. Our welcome bonus will give players 100% matching bonus on their first deposit and 150% matching bonus on their second deposit, when depositing as little as 20 pounds. We feel that too many casinos' today spend a lot of energy towards the high roller. The average player who likes to make a wager now and then seems to be forgotten.
With the fully automated bonus structure La Isla Casino allows the players the full freedom to choose if they want a bonus on every deposit or not. And since it is fully automated bonuses are in their accounts the second they make a deposit.
"The online casino industry will have to rethink their strategies in the coming years as more and more people are losing their credit cards. Plus the fact that many banks have blocked their customers from making deposits with their credit cards to a licensed casino we are focusing on alternative and safe ways of depositing and making withdrawals".
Offering special bonuses when players use payment methods such as U-Kash, ClickandBuy and Click2Pay does make it easier for the player and the casino, and is something that we are utilising to full effect.
"The fully automated casino bonus is very simple, we have set up specific amounts for the player to deposit that will automatically trigger a bonus. Every time a player makes deposits of sums such as 21, 31, 41, 51, 61 and so on they will automatically get a bonus. To see the full list, go to http://www.laislacasino.com/casino-promotions.php.
"Yes, we are mainly an online slots casino and our automatic bonuses are for online slots games. But we do offer a special table games bonus for Black Jack, Poker, Roulette and Video Pokers to regular players. And the weekly free bonus we issue every Wednesday to our regular players can be used on any game - except progressive games.
"Of course the credit crunch will affect us as well as the other brands out there, but I think we are well prepared for it and are not that worried. We started changing our marketing strategy in early 2008 preparing for this so I am confident that la Isla Casino can ride through the coming months or years of market downturn."
La Isla Casino is a licensed online casino owned and operated by Hailwood Gaming Ltd who also owns and operate MegaKings.Com, both online casino runs on Playtech software and offer casino, Bingo and online Poker.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Casino News
Poker News
Technology News
Monday, October 20, 2008
Spreading the net far and wide, by Maria Dowdall Stapleton - Gulf News - 19th October 2008
Here's some good news for video game addicts.
According to research from IBIS World — a leader in the field of market research — the value of the video games industry will soar from $38.9 billion (Dh142.88 billion) to an estimated $63 billion (Dh231.4 billion) in the next five years.
To fuel this growth, the gaming sector is capitalising on novel merchandising opportunities and advances in gaming technology to expand its target audience and business acumen simultaneously. One marketing ploy that gaming companies are exploiting is the crossover into movie territory.
"There have been several instances of compelling video game characters or stories that have been turned into films," says Elie El Massih, Marketing Manager of Virgin Megastores, Middle East. "As long as there is a commercially viable story to be told, characters and stories from video games will make it into other forms of conventional entertainment, including movies."
Take the following example. A respected archaeologist, this adventurer travels the world fearlessly and thrives in dangerous situations — all in the pursuit of priceless artefacts.
Although the description bears a striking resemblance to the iconic action hero Indiana Jones, it actually describes the cult gaming persona Lara Croft. Such was Croft's following that Angelina Jolie allegedly begged film directors to cast her in the title role for the debut Tomb Raider film in 2001, which grossed more than $274 million (Dh1,006.43 million) worldwide.
The success of this film ensured the hefty influence of the gaming sector in modern culture could no longer be ignored and that this crossover trend would continue.
"Many games are now based on films and currently the most successful games have been developed from successful films," says Ryad Santouh, Deputy General Manager, Al Hussani Computers.
For example, an upcoming video game based on the two latest Bond films is scheduled for release to coincide with the screening of the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. "This extension of one franchise into another medium helps create awareness of the franchise and ultimately fuels sales," says El Massih.
The appearance of the first Lara Croft game in 1996 marked the emergence of a new cohort of gaming technology that included realistic 3-D graphics and high-tech voiceovers into the mainstream market. However, Santouh believes these advances in video games were only possible due to the development of superior consoles, such as the Sony Playstation series.
"As more consoles become technically advanced, there is the opportunity to develop new games," he says. The latest offspring of this recent console technology is the popular Nintendo Wii, which is not solely limited to gaming but has introduced the idea of using cyber technology to get fit. Not only does an on-screen instructor ensure the user performs every exercise correctly, but it is possible to monitor progress as the Wii Fit data is stored and presented graphically.
The convenience of the Wii Fit programme is certainly an attractive option for those with hectic schedules and Santouh believes other manufacturers will follow Nintendo's lead. "With the popularity of the Nintendo Wii, I am sure that other manufacturers will produce more advanced programmes," he says.
Following the appearance of the Nintendo Wii was the development of a new breed of video games that have paved the way for a new niche market within the gaming world — social gamers.
"Technologies such as Blu-ray and motion sensing controllers have brought the video game console into the living room to be enjoyed by families and groups of friends," says El Massih. "Social gaming has really taken off over the past few years, especially with the launch of games such as Guitar Hero, which allow people of all ages to participate in a social activity.
This trend of social gaming will continue as long as there is sufficient content to fuel the fun." In addition to social gaming, the Wii and its female-oriented programmes signalled the acknowledgement of women as a potential target audience for computer games' manufacturers.
In fact, the IBIS World study found that women represented one of the primary driving forces behind the growth of the video game industry, having risen from 33 per cent to 38 per cent in just five years. "As manufacturers started to focus on women in the production of new gaming software, they were very successful," says Santouh.
"Wii Fit was the biggest success from Nintendo as [it allowed] women to practise different activities including yoga in the comfort of their own home. I think one future trend that we will see is [the production of] more games in the future to target women in various daily activities."
"Contrary to popular stereotypical opinion, women have been attracted to video games for a lot longer than the recent introduction," says El Massih.
"The launch of The Sims back in 2000 brought this to light and there have been women competing professionally in video game tournaments across the globe in as unlikely categories as shooting and strategy games."
Perhaps Lara Croft, the epitome of heroism for so many female gamers, is more than just a fictitious character. Maybe in the female gaming community, her spirit is very much alive and kicking.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Video Games
Games
Lara Croft Tomb Raider
James Bond
According to research from IBIS World — a leader in the field of market research — the value of the video games industry will soar from $38.9 billion (Dh142.88 billion) to an estimated $63 billion (Dh231.4 billion) in the next five years.
To fuel this growth, the gaming sector is capitalising on novel merchandising opportunities and advances in gaming technology to expand its target audience and business acumen simultaneously. One marketing ploy that gaming companies are exploiting is the crossover into movie territory.
"There have been several instances of compelling video game characters or stories that have been turned into films," says Elie El Massih, Marketing Manager of Virgin Megastores, Middle East. "As long as there is a commercially viable story to be told, characters and stories from video games will make it into other forms of conventional entertainment, including movies."
Take the following example. A respected archaeologist, this adventurer travels the world fearlessly and thrives in dangerous situations — all in the pursuit of priceless artefacts.
Although the description bears a striking resemblance to the iconic action hero Indiana Jones, it actually describes the cult gaming persona Lara Croft. Such was Croft's following that Angelina Jolie allegedly begged film directors to cast her in the title role for the debut Tomb Raider film in 2001, which grossed more than $274 million (Dh1,006.43 million) worldwide.
The success of this film ensured the hefty influence of the gaming sector in modern culture could no longer be ignored and that this crossover trend would continue.
"Many games are now based on films and currently the most successful games have been developed from successful films," says Ryad Santouh, Deputy General Manager, Al Hussani Computers.
For example, an upcoming video game based on the two latest Bond films is scheduled for release to coincide with the screening of the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. "This extension of one franchise into another medium helps create awareness of the franchise and ultimately fuels sales," says El Massih.
The appearance of the first Lara Croft game in 1996 marked the emergence of a new cohort of gaming technology that included realistic 3-D graphics and high-tech voiceovers into the mainstream market. However, Santouh believes these advances in video games were only possible due to the development of superior consoles, such as the Sony Playstation series.
"As more consoles become technically advanced, there is the opportunity to develop new games," he says. The latest offspring of this recent console technology is the popular Nintendo Wii, which is not solely limited to gaming but has introduced the idea of using cyber technology to get fit. Not only does an on-screen instructor ensure the user performs every exercise correctly, but it is possible to monitor progress as the Wii Fit data is stored and presented graphically.
The convenience of the Wii Fit programme is certainly an attractive option for those with hectic schedules and Santouh believes other manufacturers will follow Nintendo's lead. "With the popularity of the Nintendo Wii, I am sure that other manufacturers will produce more advanced programmes," he says.
Following the appearance of the Nintendo Wii was the development of a new breed of video games that have paved the way for a new niche market within the gaming world — social gamers.
"Technologies such as Blu-ray and motion sensing controllers have brought the video game console into the living room to be enjoyed by families and groups of friends," says El Massih. "Social gaming has really taken off over the past few years, especially with the launch of games such as Guitar Hero, which allow people of all ages to participate in a social activity.
This trend of social gaming will continue as long as there is sufficient content to fuel the fun." In addition to social gaming, the Wii and its female-oriented programmes signalled the acknowledgement of women as a potential target audience for computer games' manufacturers.
In fact, the IBIS World study found that women represented one of the primary driving forces behind the growth of the video game industry, having risen from 33 per cent to 38 per cent in just five years. "As manufacturers started to focus on women in the production of new gaming software, they were very successful," says Santouh.
"Wii Fit was the biggest success from Nintendo as [it allowed] women to practise different activities including yoga in the comfort of their own home. I think one future trend that we will see is [the production of] more games in the future to target women in various daily activities."
"Contrary to popular stereotypical opinion, women have been attracted to video games for a lot longer than the recent introduction," says El Massih.
"The launch of The Sims back in 2000 brought this to light and there have been women competing professionally in video game tournaments across the globe in as unlikely categories as shooting and strategy games."
Perhaps Lara Croft, the epitome of heroism for so many female gamers, is more than just a fictitious character. Maybe in the female gaming community, her spirit is very much alive and kicking.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Video Games
Games
Lara Croft Tomb Raider
James Bond
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
St Minver selects Citadel for its Instant Internet Banking
BURNABY, BC, Oct. 16 /CNW/ - ESI Entertainment Systems Inc. ("ESI")
(TSX:ESY) a leading provider of secure payment processing services to
international e-commerce industries, today announced that its wholly owned
subsidiary, Citadel Commerce Corp., has contracted with St Minver Limited to
provide Instant Internet Banking.
Instant Internet Banking is a revolutionary, low cost payment solution
that provides the capability for international consumers to instantly and
securely pay for purchased items using their internet bank account. The
service encompasses a white labeled payment interface that can be easily and
rapidly integrated directly into merchant sites, along with a sophisticated
fully automated backend that supports and reconciles a large network of
international bank accounts, handles foreign currencies, and supports
international treasury management functions.
With Instant Internet Banking the consumer downloads Citadel's
proprietary Payment Assistant and it is subsequently used to securely and
automatically complete the required data fields and to ensure the payment is
immediately credited.
"Our diversity of international clients means that we have to provide
cutting edge payment solutions to allow their consumers in many countries to
be able to make immediate payments," stated Sean Randall, Operations Director
for St Minver. "Citadel's approach with this unique solution has meant that we
can rollout out this service quickly and easily for our clients and ultimately
assist in improving the player's experience".
"We are very pleased to have formed a strategic relationship with St
Minver who have established themselves as the largest operator of European
gaming networks", said Michael Meeks, President, Citadel Commerce. "We feel
Instant Internet Banking provides an immediate and cost effective
international payment solution which no other payment processor or bank can
offer. We have been able to create a world class solution, and look forward to
working with St Minver to evolve the product to suit their growing business."
About St Minver Limited
St Minver is the operator of one of Europe's largest poker networks and
the world's biggest bingo network and is the leading supplier of fully-managed
'white label' gaming solutions to high profile partners, including Yahoo!
Games, lastminute.com, Virgin Games and Littlewoods. St Minver also partners
with major media groups in Spain, Scandinavia, Latin America, Russia and
Eastern Europe. Operating under a Gibraltar gaming license, St Minver manages
player liquidity, tournaments, customer service and promotions across a
European network of 96 poker, bingo and casino sites. St Minver is owned by
GTECH, a leading gaming technology and services company, providing innovative
technology, creative content, and superior service delivery.
About ESI Entertainment Systems Inc.
ESI Entertainment Systems Inc. (TSX: ESY) is a payment technology and
service provider to online and offline companies requiring localized low cost
bill collection and payment services.
For further information: ESI Entertainment Systems Inc., Tony Greening,
Chief Executive Officer, Telephone: (604) 299-6922, email: tgreening@esi.ca,
Web: www.esi.ca
Media Man Australia Profiles
Financial News
Poker and Casino News
(TSX:ESY) a leading provider of secure payment processing services to
international e-commerce industries, today announced that its wholly owned
subsidiary, Citadel Commerce Corp., has contracted with St Minver Limited to
provide Instant Internet Banking.
Instant Internet Banking is a revolutionary, low cost payment solution
that provides the capability for international consumers to instantly and
securely pay for purchased items using their internet bank account. The
service encompasses a white labeled payment interface that can be easily and
rapidly integrated directly into merchant sites, along with a sophisticated
fully automated backend that supports and reconciles a large network of
international bank accounts, handles foreign currencies, and supports
international treasury management functions.
With Instant Internet Banking the consumer downloads Citadel's
proprietary Payment Assistant and it is subsequently used to securely and
automatically complete the required data fields and to ensure the payment is
immediately credited.
"Our diversity of international clients means that we have to provide
cutting edge payment solutions to allow their consumers in many countries to
be able to make immediate payments," stated Sean Randall, Operations Director
for St Minver. "Citadel's approach with this unique solution has meant that we
can rollout out this service quickly and easily for our clients and ultimately
assist in improving the player's experience".
"We are very pleased to have formed a strategic relationship with St
Minver who have established themselves as the largest operator of European
gaming networks", said Michael Meeks, President, Citadel Commerce. "We feel
Instant Internet Banking provides an immediate and cost effective
international payment solution which no other payment processor or bank can
offer. We have been able to create a world class solution, and look forward to
working with St Minver to evolve the product to suit their growing business."
About St Minver Limited
St Minver is the operator of one of Europe's largest poker networks and
the world's biggest bingo network and is the leading supplier of fully-managed
'white label' gaming solutions to high profile partners, including Yahoo!
Games, lastminute.com, Virgin Games and Littlewoods. St Minver also partners
with major media groups in Spain, Scandinavia, Latin America, Russia and
Eastern Europe. Operating under a Gibraltar gaming license, St Minver manages
player liquidity, tournaments, customer service and promotions across a
European network of 96 poker, bingo and casino sites. St Minver is owned by
GTECH, a leading gaming technology and services company, providing innovative
technology, creative content, and superior service delivery.
About ESI Entertainment Systems Inc.
ESI Entertainment Systems Inc. (TSX: ESY) is a payment technology and
service provider to online and offline companies requiring localized low cost
bill collection and payment services.
For further information: ESI Entertainment Systems Inc., Tony Greening,
Chief Executive Officer, Telephone: (604) 299-6922, email: tgreening@esi.ca,
Web: www.esi.ca
Media Man Australia Profiles
Financial News
Poker and Casino News
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
WagerWorks - GTS - 888.com Games Deal
Bigger choice of games for online gamblers
14th October 2008
Three Internet gambling companies have combined to expand the range of games on offer to players. Online gambling software provider WagerWorks announced the agreement with the Internet gambling group 888.com, which will see the provision of a range of games suitable for use on the GTS software platform.
The deal will enable 888.com to further pursue a cross-platform strategy, adding some of WagerWorks' most successful and popular brands to its game portfolio. The initial four games that have been selected by 888 include Cleopatra, Monopoly with Pass "Go" Bonus, Cluedo, and Wheel of Fortune Hollywood Edition. The games will be available across all 888 verticals -- casino, bingo, games, and on the instant flash casino.
Paul Mathews, President of WagerWorks, commented: "We pride ourselves on the quality of our games. We are delighted that 888 has shown their confidence in WagerWorks' ability to deliver titles that will allow them to stay at the forefront of player attraction and loyalty."
Senior VP and Managing Director for 888 Gabi Campos said: "888 is continually looking to improve the customer experience, and the addition of WagerWorks' world class games will make an important contribution to that. The agreement with WagerWorks helps us to strengthen our brand content offering with world-renowned brands.
"These will prove especially attractive to our new bingo customers and customers of our land-based casinos B2B partners, many of whom will be familiar with the games from playing them offline. It is an important step in helping us to further facilitate the movement from offline to online gaming, as 888 becomes a premium provider of bespoke technology, marketing and analysis to land-based casinos."
Media Man Australia Profiles
888.com
Casino News Media
14th October 2008
Three Internet gambling companies have combined to expand the range of games on offer to players. Online gambling software provider WagerWorks announced the agreement with the Internet gambling group 888.com, which will see the provision of a range of games suitable for use on the GTS software platform.
The deal will enable 888.com to further pursue a cross-platform strategy, adding some of WagerWorks' most successful and popular brands to its game portfolio. The initial four games that have been selected by 888 include Cleopatra, Monopoly with Pass "Go" Bonus, Cluedo, and Wheel of Fortune Hollywood Edition. The games will be available across all 888 verticals -- casino, bingo, games, and on the instant flash casino.
Paul Mathews, President of WagerWorks, commented: "We pride ourselves on the quality of our games. We are delighted that 888 has shown their confidence in WagerWorks' ability to deliver titles that will allow them to stay at the forefront of player attraction and loyalty."
Senior VP and Managing Director for 888 Gabi Campos said: "888 is continually looking to improve the customer experience, and the addition of WagerWorks' world class games will make an important contribution to that. The agreement with WagerWorks helps us to strengthen our brand content offering with world-renowned brands.
"These will prove especially attractive to our new bingo customers and customers of our land-based casinos B2B partners, many of whom will be familiar with the games from playing them offline. It is an important step in helping us to further facilitate the movement from offline to online gaming, as 888 becomes a premium provider of bespoke technology, marketing and analysis to land-based casinos."
Media Man Australia Profiles
888.com
Casino News Media
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Press Release: Virgin Games moves affiliate business into dgm
Virgin Games moves affiliate business into dgm
Release Date: 10 October 2008
Virgin Games, the leading on-line games portal has exclusively appointed dgmAffiliates to its consolidated affiliate marketing business after a 4 way pitch process.
Virgin Games, winner of the 2008 A4U Award for the Best Casino and Gaming Affiliate Program, has consolidated its three gaming brands, Virgin Casino, Virgin Poker, and Virgin Bingo into dgmAffiliates. dgm secured the Virgin Games business after being selected as the most complimentary affiliate network to work alongside Virgin Games own in house network.
The win came about after a competitive pitch process, with the UK largest affiliate networks being invited to pitch. It was dgm’s consultative approach and the designation of dedicated account team to coordinate activity across the three Virgin brands that secured the win.
Pierrick Leveque, Head of Affiliates at Virgin Games, said “We are looking forward to a rewarding 3-ways partnership between Virgin Games, the dgm affiliate network and their publishers. Virgin Games’ CPA offer on dgm will be the ideal network complement to our award winning in-house revenue-share affiliate programme. Affiliates have been instrumental to our growth in the past year, and we strongly believe that our partnership with dgm will help maintain this momentum in the coming years.”
Carl Davis, dgm’s Chief Executive Officer commented, “dgm have worked hard to develop our consultative approach and keep our customers needs at the forefront of our development. The Virgin Games win is testament to how far we have come this year. We are thrilled that Virgin Games recognised this and have given dgm the opportunity to work with them.”
The programs for all three brands were launched on Monday 29th September.
For further information please visit our website (http://www.dgm-uk.com/index.php/home/about-dgm) or contact Chris Russell-Smith, Marketing Director, on chris.russell-smith@dgm-uk.com or call 02079434266.
About dealgroupmedia UK Ltd
Dealgroupmedia UK Ltd (Dgm) is a private limited company. The company was originally founded in 1999 as dealgroupmedia, the UK’s first affiliate network provider. In 2003 the company extended its portfolio of performance-based marketing products, launching its online advertising network and acquiring leading Search Engine Marketing specialist IBNet plc. This formed Deal Group Media Plc.
In December 2007 dgm UK was the subject of a successful management buyout from Deal Group Media Plc. The mbo was lead by the then Chief Technical Officer, Carl Davis and former Group Chairman, John Porter. In Jan 2008 dealgroupmedia announced a number of senior appointments as part of a company wide restructure of it's operational units. The restructure put our customers at the core of the business and focusing efforts on providing customer service excellence.
dgm operates across the spectrum of vertical sectors and counts some of the biggest and most respected brands as clients including: Avis, Sainsbury’s Bank, Orange, Pipex, T-Mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone.
dgm work with the UK’s leading media agencies including Diffiniti/Carat, i-Level, Manning Gottlieb/OMD, Mediacom, Universal McCann and Zenith Optimedia. dgm has established long-term relationships with the world’s leading providers of search including AOL, Google, Lycos, MSN and Yahoo! Search Marketing.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
Virgin Poker
Virgin Bingo
Casino News Media
Release Date: 10 October 2008
Virgin Games, the leading on-line games portal has exclusively appointed dgmAffiliates to its consolidated affiliate marketing business after a 4 way pitch process.
Virgin Games, winner of the 2008 A4U Award for the Best Casino and Gaming Affiliate Program, has consolidated its three gaming brands, Virgin Casino, Virgin Poker, and Virgin Bingo into dgmAffiliates. dgm secured the Virgin Games business after being selected as the most complimentary affiliate network to work alongside Virgin Games own in house network.
The win came about after a competitive pitch process, with the UK largest affiliate networks being invited to pitch. It was dgm’s consultative approach and the designation of dedicated account team to coordinate activity across the three Virgin brands that secured the win.
Pierrick Leveque, Head of Affiliates at Virgin Games, said “We are looking forward to a rewarding 3-ways partnership between Virgin Games, the dgm affiliate network and their publishers. Virgin Games’ CPA offer on dgm will be the ideal network complement to our award winning in-house revenue-share affiliate programme. Affiliates have been instrumental to our growth in the past year, and we strongly believe that our partnership with dgm will help maintain this momentum in the coming years.”
Carl Davis, dgm’s Chief Executive Officer commented, “dgm have worked hard to develop our consultative approach and keep our customers needs at the forefront of our development. The Virgin Games win is testament to how far we have come this year. We are thrilled that Virgin Games recognised this and have given dgm the opportunity to work with them.”
The programs for all three brands were launched on Monday 29th September.
For further information please visit our website (http://www.dgm-uk.com/index.php/home/about-dgm) or contact Chris Russell-Smith, Marketing Director, on chris.russell-smith@dgm-uk.com or call 02079434266.
About dealgroupmedia UK Ltd
Dealgroupmedia UK Ltd (Dgm) is a private limited company. The company was originally founded in 1999 as dealgroupmedia, the UK’s first affiliate network provider. In 2003 the company extended its portfolio of performance-based marketing products, launching its online advertising network and acquiring leading Search Engine Marketing specialist IBNet plc. This formed Deal Group Media Plc.
In December 2007 dgm UK was the subject of a successful management buyout from Deal Group Media Plc. The mbo was lead by the then Chief Technical Officer, Carl Davis and former Group Chairman, John Porter. In Jan 2008 dealgroupmedia announced a number of senior appointments as part of a company wide restructure of it's operational units. The restructure put our customers at the core of the business and focusing efforts on providing customer service excellence.
dgm operates across the spectrum of vertical sectors and counts some of the biggest and most respected brands as clients including: Avis, Sainsbury’s Bank, Orange, Pipex, T-Mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone.
dgm work with the UK’s leading media agencies including Diffiniti/Carat, i-Level, Manning Gottlieb/OMD, Mediacom, Universal McCann and Zenith Optimedia. dgm has established long-term relationships with the world’s leading providers of search including AOL, Google, Lycos, MSN and Yahoo! Search Marketing.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
Virgin Poker
Virgin Bingo
Casino News Media
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Google Gets Game, by Mary Jane Irwin - Forbes
Burlingame, Calif.
More than a year in the works, Google finally launched its in-game advertising platform Wednesday. Called AdSense for Games, the platform will offer advertisers access to millions of Web-based Flash games.
The in-game advertising market is small, scoring only $1 billion from advertising and subscriptions in 2007, according to research firm Parks Associates, but the entry of Google is expected to make it explode.
"Google is helping to validate the space," says Jameson Hsu, chief executive of in-game ad network Mochi Media. "They're going out and evangelizing and building developer relationships."
Mochi Media, which serves in-game ads to 60 million people, is granting Google access to its inventory across 5,000 games as part of the Internet giant's European launch of AdSense for Games.
Google's new ad platform, which grew out of its 2007 acquisition of Adscape Media, has operated in beta since early 2008. Game developers like Konami, Playfish and Zynga participated in the beta, but now other developers and publishers will also be able to apply to the program. The most prevalent ads throughout the company's beta test were short video spots from Esurance, but the network will also provide contextual and text ads.
With AdSense for Games, advertisers can target campaigns based on keywords, genres or even specific games. Revenue, based on cost-per-impression or cost-per-click metrics, is split between Google and developers. Inventory is filled via auctions where advertisers bid on placement.
AdSense for Games is "an extension of the Google content network that allows advertisers to very easily gain access to in-game inventory," says Sebastien de Halleux, chief operating officer at social games developer Playfish. "In the past that's been very difficult to do and the inventory has been relatively restrictive."
De Halleux, whose company has been involved with AdSense for Games since its early stages, says Google's platform appealed to Playfish because social games scale quickly and Google has a large ad sales team.
He is also expecting a boom in in-game ad buying thanks to Google. Advertisers will now be drawn to the social games space as a way to explore in-game advertising. More savvy media buyers will simply integrate games into their online video buys, de Halleux says.
The Flash game development community should get a boost from Adsense for Games, but a few developers have already started making money. "One kid bought a car," says Hsu, referring to a developer who supports himself on in-game ad revenues. Adds Hsu: "Hopefully, someone will now buy a home one day."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Google
Gaming
Advertising
Online Advertising
More than a year in the works, Google finally launched its in-game advertising platform Wednesday. Called AdSense for Games, the platform will offer advertisers access to millions of Web-based Flash games.
The in-game advertising market is small, scoring only $1 billion from advertising and subscriptions in 2007, according to research firm Parks Associates, but the entry of Google is expected to make it explode.
"Google is helping to validate the space," says Jameson Hsu, chief executive of in-game ad network Mochi Media. "They're going out and evangelizing and building developer relationships."
Mochi Media, which serves in-game ads to 60 million people, is granting Google access to its inventory across 5,000 games as part of the Internet giant's European launch of AdSense for Games.
Google's new ad platform, which grew out of its 2007 acquisition of Adscape Media, has operated in beta since early 2008. Game developers like Konami, Playfish and Zynga participated in the beta, but now other developers and publishers will also be able to apply to the program. The most prevalent ads throughout the company's beta test were short video spots from Esurance, but the network will also provide contextual and text ads.
With AdSense for Games, advertisers can target campaigns based on keywords, genres or even specific games. Revenue, based on cost-per-impression or cost-per-click metrics, is split between Google and developers. Inventory is filled via auctions where advertisers bid on placement.
AdSense for Games is "an extension of the Google content network that allows advertisers to very easily gain access to in-game inventory," says Sebastien de Halleux, chief operating officer at social games developer Playfish. "In the past that's been very difficult to do and the inventory has been relatively restrictive."
De Halleux, whose company has been involved with AdSense for Games since its early stages, says Google's platform appealed to Playfish because social games scale quickly and Google has a large ad sales team.
He is also expecting a boom in in-game ad buying thanks to Google. Advertisers will now be drawn to the social games space as a way to explore in-game advertising. More savvy media buyers will simply integrate games into their online video buys, de Halleux says.
The Flash game development community should get a boost from Adsense for Games, but a few developers have already started making money. "One kid bought a car," says Hsu, referring to a developer who supports himself on in-game ad revenues. Adds Hsu: "Hopefully, someone will now buy a home one day."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Gaming
Advertising
Online Advertising
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Penetration Affects the Online Casino Industry
Last week’s e-gaming conference brought executives and analysts from all over the world to Barcelona to meet for the annual EiG Conference and Expo. The annual event is a staple in the industry and allows online casinos to showcase new products as well as providing provocative discussion topics for all of the Conference delegates. One of the top concerns for the internet gambling industry at this past conference was the global economy and the widespread affects that a slowing economy would have on the online casinos. Tihana Jurican though made a key point at the event – the increased penetration of broadband internet access in Eastern Europe will allow the online gambling industry to continue expanding in the coming months and years despite a looming economic recession.
According to discussion held throughout the multi-day conference, Eastern Europe is anticipated to have higher levels of broadband internet penetration than some Western European counties. Broadband internet access is one of the tenants of continued membership in the European Union and the online casino gambling industry has been patiently watching as countries such as Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic, and others really begin to expand the access to high-speed internet for their residents.
High-speed internet is one of the major determining factors of access to the online casino gambling industry. Nations with little to no high-speed internet access and with little penetration into the households in the country are essential “dead zones” for the internet gambling industry. Recent research indicates that an economic recession will not hit Eastern Europe as hard as some other countries and throughout the recession Eastern European countries will continue to widen access to broadband internet.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Online Casino News
Casino News Media
According to discussion held throughout the multi-day conference, Eastern Europe is anticipated to have higher levels of broadband internet penetration than some Western European counties. Broadband internet access is one of the tenants of continued membership in the European Union and the online casino gambling industry has been patiently watching as countries such as Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic, and others really begin to expand the access to high-speed internet for their residents.
High-speed internet is one of the major determining factors of access to the online casino gambling industry. Nations with little to no high-speed internet access and with little penetration into the households in the country are essential “dead zones” for the internet gambling industry. Recent research indicates that an economic recession will not hit Eastern Europe as hard as some other countries and throughout the recession Eastern European countries will continue to widen access to broadband internet.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Online Casino News
Casino News Media
Technology Media Profiles Updated
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Casino
Virgin Games
Virgin Broadband
Virgin Media
Virgin Enterprises Limited
Virgin Casino
Virgin Games
Virgin Broadband
Virgin Media
Virgin Enterprises Limited
Former Australian pop star solves the billion dollar music downloading crisis with a revolutionary website
Another Aussie does wonders in the US, securing the deal of a lifetime.
The introduction of a revolutionary website called isBIZZ.com, which is currently online but officially launches in early 2009, will mark the beginning of a long awaited revolution for millions of recording artists all over the globe when it comes to having their music downloaded.
As from early 2009, artists will be able to register for free, to directly be paid monthly royalty income for visits to their profile pages. Musicians, artists, social members as well as a variety of many other user categories have the opportunity to directly be rewarded for their content posted in the networks “blog” pages. isBIZZ.com uses a unique royalty method that sees content rewarded once again, with the networks revenue going straight back to artists/members.
The website is the creation of ex Aussie pop-star and writer of the Vanessa Amorosi hit single “perfect”, David “Franj” Frangiosa.
isBIZZ has been in development for the last 4 years and received some media attention during its early stages of development, when it caught the eye of a US venture firm who offered David 9 million dollars (US) to sell his idea on the spot. David refused the offer and continued to independently develop the site, making some very powerful allies and supporters along the way. isBIZZ.com has grabbed the attention of the world’s biggest advertisers and software companies looking to secure a piece of the network in 2009. The entire site was built for just $11,355 (AUS) with a friend in a garage in Melbourne, Australia.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Technology News
The introduction of a revolutionary website called isBIZZ.com, which is currently online but officially launches in early 2009, will mark the beginning of a long awaited revolution for millions of recording artists all over the globe when it comes to having their music downloaded.
As from early 2009, artists will be able to register for free, to directly be paid monthly royalty income for visits to their profile pages. Musicians, artists, social members as well as a variety of many other user categories have the opportunity to directly be rewarded for their content posted in the networks “blog” pages. isBIZZ.com uses a unique royalty method that sees content rewarded once again, with the networks revenue going straight back to artists/members.
The website is the creation of ex Aussie pop-star and writer of the Vanessa Amorosi hit single “perfect”, David “Franj” Frangiosa.
isBIZZ has been in development for the last 4 years and received some media attention during its early stages of development, when it caught the eye of a US venture firm who offered David 9 million dollars (US) to sell his idea on the spot. David refused the offer and continued to independently develop the site, making some very powerful allies and supporters along the way. isBIZZ.com has grabbed the attention of the world’s biggest advertisers and software companies looking to secure a piece of the network in 2009. The entire site was built for just $11,355 (AUS) with a friend in a garage in Melbourne, Australia.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Technology News
Monday, September 29, 2008
Gaming websites take gamble on kids, by Justin Vallejo - The Daily Telegraph - 29th September 2008
Kindergarten children are being targeted by internet gambling websites exploiting a legal loophole that could turn every street corner, convenience store or library with a computer in NSW into a de facto bookie.
Tech-savvy kids as young as five are in the cross-hares of on-line gambling companies that say it is only a matter of time before they grow up and become a major revenue stream.
The Northern Territory based Centrebet and Betezy have approached ClubsNSW to fund and install PC gambling terminals across the state's 1400 clubs - providing Clubs millions dollars worth of commissions in return.
"As the younger generation is IT minded with even kindergarten children being taught keyboard skills, it really not a matter of if you go down this path to generate revenue from your members but when," Betezy managing director Vince McDonald said in an email to Clubs NSW.
It would bypass over 200 laws introduced to restrict gambling in NSW and anti-gambling groups fear could open the flood gates for at any public place with a PC and internet connection to be used as a new age TAB.
"We wouldn't allow drugs and alcohol in a local library or on every street corner but this is what could happen with this internet gambling proposal," Gambling Impact Society chair Kate Roberts said.
Under the plan, Centrebet and Betezy would provide the computers and internet access to the club free of charge and in return the homepage would be set to their websites.
There could also be associated promotions, with Centerbet offering clubs members $100 worth of free bets if they signed up to a new account with a credit card.
The commissions would be based on the amount gambled through the terminals, with Betezy offering clubs a staggering 50 per cent of profits while none of the losses - raising endless rivers of revenue for the cash-strapped clubs.
Because the websites are based in the Northern Territory, NSWs responsible gambling laws would not apply and it would also circumvent exclusivity licences the TAB has to be the sole provider of gambling outlets in the states clubs.
In an emails obtained by The Daily Telegraph, Betezys managing director Vince McDonald said they would provide $3 million worth of software to establish Clubbet.com
"What I am offering is an opportunity to greatly boost your clubs profits at no expense,"Mr McDonald said.
"To maximise an early return for you it would be in both our interests to get this on air quickly. We need only two weeks once a decision is made."
In a separate email, Centrebet's business development manager Peter Staunton told Clubs NSW they could provide commissions far greater than the TAB with the new model.
While the AHA denies they have been approached with the offer it is understood the internet gambling companies also want to expand to pubs and hotels, with Betezy already operating a Tezax Hold em poker website for poker groups who play in hotels.
"We have put together a proposal based on Clubs NSW and its member Clubs receiving both sign up and on-going commissions for sports bets placed by Club members via the internet or by using our new mobile phone betting application," Mr Staunton said in the email.
Clubs NSW chief David Costello rejected both Centrebet and Betezys proposals despite the financial lifeline it offered to struggling clubs.
"Every computer and mobile phone in Australia is today a target for internet gambling operations," Mr Costello said.
"Despite the financial incentive it offered, we felt that someone needed to take a stand against these cyber casinos.
"If politicians like Senators Fielding and Xenophon are genuine in wanting to further reduce problem gambling, then they should be joining forces with clubs in calling for a complete overhaul of the laws governing internet gambling."
Centrebet marketing Manager Mick Robbins said the recent Betfair High Court case challenged restrictions on them advertising and promoting in NSW.
"We're taking a good hard look at the whole sports and racing betting category and looking at the best opportunities now that it looks like the industry is being transformed," he said.
"Pubs and clubs and those sorts of places we would look at."
NSW Gaming Minister Kevin Greene is awaiting the results of a Federal Court case and a review into internet wagering being conducted by Alan Cameron.
"I'm not convinced our communities want or need more or different means to place a bet," Mr Greene said.
Greg Tingle comment
The internet gaming sites need to be closely monitored by both the Australian state and federal government in a collaborative approach. Many business sectors have the lucrative youth market well in mind, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the gaming and online casino sector is also looking to cater to their needs also. Many online gaming and casino websites already have a free and a play for money option, so it looks like the campaigning is already well on the way.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Technology News
Tech-savvy kids as young as five are in the cross-hares of on-line gambling companies that say it is only a matter of time before they grow up and become a major revenue stream.
The Northern Territory based Centrebet and Betezy have approached ClubsNSW to fund and install PC gambling terminals across the state's 1400 clubs - providing Clubs millions dollars worth of commissions in return.
"As the younger generation is IT minded with even kindergarten children being taught keyboard skills, it really not a matter of if you go down this path to generate revenue from your members but when," Betezy managing director Vince McDonald said in an email to Clubs NSW.
It would bypass over 200 laws introduced to restrict gambling in NSW and anti-gambling groups fear could open the flood gates for at any public place with a PC and internet connection to be used as a new age TAB.
"We wouldn't allow drugs and alcohol in a local library or on every street corner but this is what could happen with this internet gambling proposal," Gambling Impact Society chair Kate Roberts said.
Under the plan, Centrebet and Betezy would provide the computers and internet access to the club free of charge and in return the homepage would be set to their websites.
There could also be associated promotions, with Centerbet offering clubs members $100 worth of free bets if they signed up to a new account with a credit card.
The commissions would be based on the amount gambled through the terminals, with Betezy offering clubs a staggering 50 per cent of profits while none of the losses - raising endless rivers of revenue for the cash-strapped clubs.
Because the websites are based in the Northern Territory, NSWs responsible gambling laws would not apply and it would also circumvent exclusivity licences the TAB has to be the sole provider of gambling outlets in the states clubs.
In an emails obtained by The Daily Telegraph, Betezys managing director Vince McDonald said they would provide $3 million worth of software to establish Clubbet.com
"What I am offering is an opportunity to greatly boost your clubs profits at no expense,"Mr McDonald said.
"To maximise an early return for you it would be in both our interests to get this on air quickly. We need only two weeks once a decision is made."
In a separate email, Centrebet's business development manager Peter Staunton told Clubs NSW they could provide commissions far greater than the TAB with the new model.
While the AHA denies they have been approached with the offer it is understood the internet gambling companies also want to expand to pubs and hotels, with Betezy already operating a Tezax Hold em poker website for poker groups who play in hotels.
"We have put together a proposal based on Clubs NSW and its member Clubs receiving both sign up and on-going commissions for sports bets placed by Club members via the internet or by using our new mobile phone betting application," Mr Staunton said in the email.
Clubs NSW chief David Costello rejected both Centrebet and Betezys proposals despite the financial lifeline it offered to struggling clubs.
"Every computer and mobile phone in Australia is today a target for internet gambling operations," Mr Costello said.
"Despite the financial incentive it offered, we felt that someone needed to take a stand against these cyber casinos.
"If politicians like Senators Fielding and Xenophon are genuine in wanting to further reduce problem gambling, then they should be joining forces with clubs in calling for a complete overhaul of the laws governing internet gambling."
Centrebet marketing Manager Mick Robbins said the recent Betfair High Court case challenged restrictions on them advertising and promoting in NSW.
"We're taking a good hard look at the whole sports and racing betting category and looking at the best opportunities now that it looks like the industry is being transformed," he said.
"Pubs and clubs and those sorts of places we would look at."
NSW Gaming Minister Kevin Greene is awaiting the results of a Federal Court case and a review into internet wagering being conducted by Alan Cameron.
"I'm not convinced our communities want or need more or different means to place a bet," Mr Greene said.
Greg Tingle comment
The internet gaming sites need to be closely monitored by both the Australian state and federal government in a collaborative approach. Many business sectors have the lucrative youth market well in mind, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the gaming and online casino sector is also looking to cater to their needs also. Many online gaming and casino websites already have a free and a play for money option, so it looks like the campaigning is already well on the way.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Technology News
Digital lessons from a Google exec, a casino mogul, Darwin and a tortoise - The Australian - 24th September 2008
Wires and Lights in a Box
Vickey Williams - Strange things happen in Vegas every day so it wasn’t weird at all to hear a casino mogul and a Google executive advise newspaper editors on the evolution of their industry.
...
Richard Gingras, a senior adviser at Google who has spent the last year studying the online giant’s relationship with and impact on the news industry, won over what could have been a prickly crowd by stating the obvious. “Google will impact the evolution of news whether it does anything or not,” he said. “Better to impact it in a positive way.”
...
“Lots of times the question is: What’s the standard for our website? Is it ‘Just put it online and it doesn’t matter’? Or is the expectation of the online delivery of our paper the same as print,” that is, providing a robust, quality experience for the consumer?
Will Sullivan, interactive director of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said the speed of the transition to a day where online staff are looked at as holding the keys to a newspaper’s future may have left other things unsaid. “At the start, they were made to feel like a production department. So change the expectations.”
Read ‘Digital lessons from a Google exec, a casino mogul, Darwin and a tortoise’ at Readership Institute.
Greg Tingle comment
We are all in the communications, people and advertising business, whether it’s officially Google, a casino, or another type of business. It was News Corp’s own Rupert Murdoch who went on record with, “Big will not beat slow anymore, it will be the fast beating the slow”. Google used to be a very small operation run by a couple of guys out of a garage. Via evolution, being quick to capitalize, positive word of mouth, online buzz and a solid advertising based business model, they became huge. Now they even have Google News, and they move at the speed of news most of the time. Switched on casinos are also moving into the online casino world and also providing online casino news media updates. It’s about content, relevance and engaging with the audience, online or not.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Casino News Media
Vickey Williams - Strange things happen in Vegas every day so it wasn’t weird at all to hear a casino mogul and a Google executive advise newspaper editors on the evolution of their industry.
...
Richard Gingras, a senior adviser at Google who has spent the last year studying the online giant’s relationship with and impact on the news industry, won over what could have been a prickly crowd by stating the obvious. “Google will impact the evolution of news whether it does anything or not,” he said. “Better to impact it in a positive way.”
...
“Lots of times the question is: What’s the standard for our website? Is it ‘Just put it online and it doesn’t matter’? Or is the expectation of the online delivery of our paper the same as print,” that is, providing a robust, quality experience for the consumer?
Will Sullivan, interactive director of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said the speed of the transition to a day where online staff are looked at as holding the keys to a newspaper’s future may have left other things unsaid. “At the start, they were made to feel like a production department. So change the expectations.”
Read ‘Digital lessons from a Google exec, a casino mogul, Darwin and a tortoise’ at Readership Institute.
Greg Tingle comment
We are all in the communications, people and advertising business, whether it’s officially Google, a casino, or another type of business. It was News Corp’s own Rupert Murdoch who went on record with, “Big will not beat slow anymore, it will be the fast beating the slow”. Google used to be a very small operation run by a couple of guys out of a garage. Via evolution, being quick to capitalize, positive word of mouth, online buzz and a solid advertising based business model, they became huge. Now they even have Google News, and they move at the speed of news most of the time. Switched on casinos are also moving into the online casino world and also providing online casino news media updates. It’s about content, relevance and engaging with the audience, online or not.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Casino News Media
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Zavvi claims game sales will overtake DVDs within the year, apparently, by Adam Hartley - Tech Radar - 19th September 2008
High street entertainment specialist Zavvi (formerly Virgin Megastores) has claimed that the revenue it makes from video games could well overtake that made by DVD sales within the year.
CEO Simon Douglas also bullishly claimed that Zavvi's game offering rivals the range available at GAME.
"DVD still leads the way but games are catching up quickly," Douglas told MCV.
Games to eclipse DVDs
"It is possible that games will eclipse DVD in a year, although if Blu-ray progresses as the industry expects, then it's maybe difficult for games to catch DVD in total. But it's a nice battle to have to worry about."
Zavvi is looking to increase its gaming space, following "growth has been nothing short of phenomenal," according to the CEO, who added that they were a "little bit stunned by our performance."
TechRadar reported earlier this week that UK retailers are confident that there should be no Nintendo Wii shortages this coming Christmas.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Games
Gaming
CEO Simon Douglas also bullishly claimed that Zavvi's game offering rivals the range available at GAME.
"DVD still leads the way but games are catching up quickly," Douglas told MCV.
Games to eclipse DVDs
"It is possible that games will eclipse DVD in a year, although if Blu-ray progresses as the industry expects, then it's maybe difficult for games to catch DVD in total. But it's a nice battle to have to worry about."
Zavvi is looking to increase its gaming space, following "growth has been nothing short of phenomenal," according to the CEO, who added that they were a "little bit stunned by our performance."
TechRadar reported earlier this week that UK retailers are confident that there should be no Nintendo Wii shortages this coming Christmas.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Games
Gaming
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Former Virgin managers celebrate bumper first year of Zavvi, by Terry Macalister - The Guardian - 16th September 2008
· New focus on video and games hailed as success
· Online sales up 148% but music's decline continues
The management buyout team that acquired Virgin Megastores and rebranded it as Zavvi has had a successful first year with like-for-like shop sales up 10% and online business rising 148% despite the slowdown in retail spending.
The decision to concentrate more on electronic games and films paid off as the overall improvement came against the backcloth of an 18% slump in sales of music.
"We are delighted with our first year of trading," said Simon Douglas, the company's chief executive. "We have achieved a lot and have come a long way as both a business and a brand. But we are not complacent as there is still a lot to do to build on our first successful year of trading in what is becoming a challenging economic climate."
Sir Richard Branson handed over the Virgin Megastore chain of 125 outlets in the UK and Ireland 12 months ago after it ran up a series of losses. The sale, for a nominal sum, marked the final retreat of the hippy-turned-billionaire from an industry on which he had made such a large impact since entering it 35 years ago.
Megastore managing director Douglas and his finance director, Steve Peckham, believed the business and its 2,500 staff had a sound future - as long as it concentrated on the growing games market rather than a music sector hit by illegal downloads and consumers turning to other forms of entertainment.
Under the terms of the purchase they were not allowed to use the Virgin name, so the MBO team opted for the much derided Zavvi label that was meant to reflect its new emphasis on a wider group of products and appeal more to the new iPod generation.
The privately owned company has given no financial figures but Freddie George, retail analyst with the stockbroker Seymour Pierce, said he was impressed by the sales.
"Virgin Megastores had whacking losses and some of these figures [from Zavvi] look pretty good when compared with HMV and others," he said.
There were no firm numbers for games sales but Zavvi said they remained "strong" and now account for 30% of group sales. Douglas predicted they would soon challenge DVD as the company's lead format.
Neither were there any figures for total film turnover during the past 12 months but the company said there had been a 300% increase in sales of the new high-definition video carrier Blu-ray.
The company said its music division had suffered from legal and illegal downloading, and a poor Christmas and summer release schedule, but new music from Oasis, Kaiser Chiefs and Eminem scheduled for this autumn should help.
"Music sales across the industry have suffered during 2008, but the release schedule for Christmas represents one of the best release schedules for a number of years and Zavvi is in an ideal position to capitalise on this," Douglas said.
Zavvi has also expanded into areas such as T-shirts and books, and has fitted out 50 stores with dedicated display units, and seen sales of these items pushed up by nearly 50%.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Games
Music
Technology News
· Online sales up 148% but music's decline continues
The management buyout team that acquired Virgin Megastores and rebranded it as Zavvi has had a successful first year with like-for-like shop sales up 10% and online business rising 148% despite the slowdown in retail spending.
The decision to concentrate more on electronic games and films paid off as the overall improvement came against the backcloth of an 18% slump in sales of music.
"We are delighted with our first year of trading," said Simon Douglas, the company's chief executive. "We have achieved a lot and have come a long way as both a business and a brand. But we are not complacent as there is still a lot to do to build on our first successful year of trading in what is becoming a challenging economic climate."
Sir Richard Branson handed over the Virgin Megastore chain of 125 outlets in the UK and Ireland 12 months ago after it ran up a series of losses. The sale, for a nominal sum, marked the final retreat of the hippy-turned-billionaire from an industry on which he had made such a large impact since entering it 35 years ago.
Megastore managing director Douglas and his finance director, Steve Peckham, believed the business and its 2,500 staff had a sound future - as long as it concentrated on the growing games market rather than a music sector hit by illegal downloads and consumers turning to other forms of entertainment.
Under the terms of the purchase they were not allowed to use the Virgin name, so the MBO team opted for the much derided Zavvi label that was meant to reflect its new emphasis on a wider group of products and appeal more to the new iPod generation.
The privately owned company has given no financial figures but Freddie George, retail analyst with the stockbroker Seymour Pierce, said he was impressed by the sales.
"Virgin Megastores had whacking losses and some of these figures [from Zavvi] look pretty good when compared with HMV and others," he said.
There were no firm numbers for games sales but Zavvi said they remained "strong" and now account for 30% of group sales. Douglas predicted they would soon challenge DVD as the company's lead format.
Neither were there any figures for total film turnover during the past 12 months but the company said there had been a 300% increase in sales of the new high-definition video carrier Blu-ray.
The company said its music division had suffered from legal and illegal downloading, and a poor Christmas and summer release schedule, but new music from Oasis, Kaiser Chiefs and Eminem scheduled for this autumn should help.
"Music sales across the industry have suffered during 2008, but the release schedule for Christmas represents one of the best release schedules for a number of years and Zavvi is in an ideal position to capitalise on this," Douglas said.
Zavvi has also expanded into areas such as T-shirts and books, and has fitted out 50 stores with dedicated display units, and seen sales of these items pushed up by nearly 50%.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Games
Music
Technology News
Monday, September 15, 2008
Adknowledge Social Advertising lands on Australian shores - Press Release
10th September 2008
Adknowledge, the US-based behavioural targeting firm has launched an Australian operation to host advertising across Facebook’s, Myspace, and Bebo’s 39,000 applications.
Adknowledge's Social Advertising division has announced that it is now serving more than 10 billion ad impressions per month globally and close to 300 million in Australia on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster and Hi5. These impressions are generated from social applications.
Targeting display, video and text ads within applications advertisers can choose categories such as games, music or dating, as well as user profile information. It will also offer advertisers opportunities to brand applications, through re-skins or sponsorships.
This volume, now more than five times as large as Social Media, its next largest competitor in the space, makes Adknowledge the unrivalled leader in social network advertising.
Recent studies have shown that more than 16% of all online time is spent on Social Networks, which is greater than the amount of time spent on Google. Additionally, social applications engage users for longer than any other activity on social networks such as Facebook.
Adknowledge are able to target and cap campaigns by a users social ID, rather than by IP address or cookies. This means that they are the only network to target users even when they move between the different social platforms.
Adknowledge are launching their social media product in Australia with a Social media Seminar – ‘Advertising 3.0 Bringing Order to the Social Revolution’ – with two dates 30th September Sydney and 2nd October Melbourne. The key note speaker is Brett Brewer, President of Adknowledge, and co-founder of Myspace.
Brett successfully sold Intermix, which launched Myspace, for $673 Million to NewsCorp in October 2005.
Mr. Brewer has been an angel investor in several technology start ups, including video search site, Dabble.com, mobile texting company Frengo.com, mobile social networking site Treemo.com, and RealtyTracker.com. He is either on the board of or a strategic advisor for, all of these companies.
Also speaking at the event is Melanie Ingrey, research director at Nielsen Pacific, and Lachlan Brahe, Managing Director, Emitch.
For more information about Adknowledge or the upcoming Social Media Seminar please contact Markus von der Luehe (MD) on mvonderluehe@adknowledge.com / +61 (0) 2 8235 9471. Interviews with Brett Brewer are available on request.
Website
Adknowledge
Adknowledge, the US-based behavioural targeting firm has launched an Australian operation to host advertising across Facebook’s, Myspace, and Bebo’s 39,000 applications.
Adknowledge's Social Advertising division has announced that it is now serving more than 10 billion ad impressions per month globally and close to 300 million in Australia on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster and Hi5. These impressions are generated from social applications.
Targeting display, video and text ads within applications advertisers can choose categories such as games, music or dating, as well as user profile information. It will also offer advertisers opportunities to brand applications, through re-skins or sponsorships.
This volume, now more than five times as large as Social Media, its next largest competitor in the space, makes Adknowledge the unrivalled leader in social network advertising.
Recent studies have shown that more than 16% of all online time is spent on Social Networks, which is greater than the amount of time spent on Google. Additionally, social applications engage users for longer than any other activity on social networks such as Facebook.
Adknowledge are able to target and cap campaigns by a users social ID, rather than by IP address or cookies. This means that they are the only network to target users even when they move between the different social platforms.
Adknowledge are launching their social media product in Australia with a Social media Seminar – ‘Advertising 3.0 Bringing Order to the Social Revolution’ – with two dates 30th September Sydney and 2nd October Melbourne. The key note speaker is Brett Brewer, President of Adknowledge, and co-founder of Myspace.
Brett successfully sold Intermix, which launched Myspace, for $673 Million to NewsCorp in October 2005.
Mr. Brewer has been an angel investor in several technology start ups, including video search site, Dabble.com, mobile texting company Frengo.com, mobile social networking site Treemo.com, and RealtyTracker.com. He is either on the board of or a strategic advisor for, all of these companies.
Also speaking at the event is Melanie Ingrey, research director at Nielsen Pacific, and Lachlan Brahe, Managing Director, Emitch.
For more information about Adknowledge or the upcoming Social Media Seminar please contact Markus von der Luehe (MD) on mvonderluehe@adknowledge.com / +61 (0) 2 8235 9471. Interviews with Brett Brewer are available on request.
Website
Adknowledge
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Virgin Games named as Pillar Data Systems' 200th Customer
9th August 2007
~ efficiency key reason for choosing Pillar Axiom~
Pillar Data Systems, a leading provider of enterprise network storage systems, today announced Virgin Games as the company's 200th customer. Virgin Games, a wholly-owned trading division of Virgin.com Limited provides a number of online gaming services to users in the UK.
"We were looking for a scalable storage architecture to build a consolidated, environmentally friendly data centre," said Leigh Brazier, technical and operations director, Virgin Games. "With Pillar's Axiom, we will truly be able to hone in on the efficiency initiatives that we have been heavily focusing on. We're looking to partner with vendors who have the same end-game in mind, and Pillar's core values fit perfectly with our environmental focus."
In addition, with the Pillar platform, Virgin Games can achieve up to three times disk utilisation versus industry alternatives. By combining consolidation with maximum utilisation, Pillar's Axiom delivers more performance and capacity while consuming less space and energy than all other midrange disk storage systems on the market today.
Virgin Games is the latest company to look to Pillar to efficiently store their business critical information. Joining Cubist Pharmaceuticals, I/PRO, Las Vegas Review-Journal, LeapFrog, R.L. Polk, SwiftTrade to help meet critical business requirements while lowering the total cost of ownership of their storage environments. Since the Pillar Axiom began shipping just over two years ago, organisations have turned to Pillar Data Systems to seamlessly unite SAN and NAS and deploy multiple tiers of storage on a single, consolidated platform, enabling the utmost in storage efficiency.
"This is a great time to be in the storage industry and a time of significant milestones for Pillar," said Mike Workman, chairman, president and CEO, at Pillar Data Systems. "Having recently reached our two-year anniversary of shipping our Pillar Axiom and now reaching our 200th customer, we're delighted at what we've accomplished. To count Virgin Games to our growing customer roster clearly showcases that our customers recognise the value in how Pillar helps to efficiently simplify, consolidate and save on their storage investments."
For more information about Pillar Data Systems visit: www.pillardata.co.uk
Notes to Editors
About Virgin Games
Virgin Games (http://www.virgingames.com), a subsidiary of Virgin.com Ltd, launched in July 2004 and has quickly established itself as one of the leading gaming websites in the UK. Virgin Games currently comprises four distinct offerings:
Virgin Poker, part of the Boss Media network, offers a huge array of games and content for beginners through to experienced pros - as well as the most generous loyalty scheme in the industry Virgin Bingo, part of the St Minver network, offers cash prizes worth thousands of pounds in the progressive jackpots, as well as featuring regular celebrity guests in the Virgin chatroom Virgin Casino, part of the Wagerworks network, brings consumers classic casino offerings like blackjack and roulette, as well as great feature slots like Monopoly, Cluedo and The Wheel of Fortune Virgin Skill, part of the Fun Technologies network, features over 20 classic skills games to play for free or from as little as 5p
Virgin Games is about more than winning money - it's designed to offer fun and entertainment with all of the games available to play for free as well as for cash. Virgin Games also features an industry leading loyalty scheme which allows players to exchange V Points for Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles, Virgin Vouchers or donate money to charity via Virgin Unite.
About Pillar Data Systems
Founded in 2001, Pillar Data Systems develops enterprise network storage systems. The company's Pillar Axiom solution, driven by its innovative policy-based management capabilities, integrates SAN and NAS into a centrally managed storage platform. Pillar Axiom systems consolidate multiple tiers of enterprise network storage into a single, easily managed system capable of scaling to hundreds of terabytes of capacity.
Pillar Data Systems is privately funded by Tako Ventures, LLC, the venture arm of Larry Ellison. The company is headquartered in San Jose.. The EMEA headquarters is in Ireland, with initial operations across Ireland, UK, Germany and France.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
~ efficiency key reason for choosing Pillar Axiom~
Pillar Data Systems, a leading provider of enterprise network storage systems, today announced Virgin Games as the company's 200th customer. Virgin Games, a wholly-owned trading division of Virgin.com Limited provides a number of online gaming services to users in the UK.
"We were looking for a scalable storage architecture to build a consolidated, environmentally friendly data centre," said Leigh Brazier, technical and operations director, Virgin Games. "With Pillar's Axiom, we will truly be able to hone in on the efficiency initiatives that we have been heavily focusing on. We're looking to partner with vendors who have the same end-game in mind, and Pillar's core values fit perfectly with our environmental focus."
In addition, with the Pillar platform, Virgin Games can achieve up to three times disk utilisation versus industry alternatives. By combining consolidation with maximum utilisation, Pillar's Axiom delivers more performance and capacity while consuming less space and energy than all other midrange disk storage systems on the market today.
Virgin Games is the latest company to look to Pillar to efficiently store their business critical information. Joining Cubist Pharmaceuticals, I/PRO, Las Vegas Review-Journal, LeapFrog, R.L. Polk, SwiftTrade to help meet critical business requirements while lowering the total cost of ownership of their storage environments. Since the Pillar Axiom began shipping just over two years ago, organisations have turned to Pillar Data Systems to seamlessly unite SAN and NAS and deploy multiple tiers of storage on a single, consolidated platform, enabling the utmost in storage efficiency.
"This is a great time to be in the storage industry and a time of significant milestones for Pillar," said Mike Workman, chairman, president and CEO, at Pillar Data Systems. "Having recently reached our two-year anniversary of shipping our Pillar Axiom and now reaching our 200th customer, we're delighted at what we've accomplished. To count Virgin Games to our growing customer roster clearly showcases that our customers recognise the value in how Pillar helps to efficiently simplify, consolidate and save on their storage investments."
For more information about Pillar Data Systems visit: www.pillardata.co.uk
Notes to Editors
About Virgin Games
Virgin Games (http://www.virgingames.com), a subsidiary of Virgin.com Ltd, launched in July 2004 and has quickly established itself as one of the leading gaming websites in the UK. Virgin Games currently comprises four distinct offerings:
Virgin Poker, part of the Boss Media network, offers a huge array of games and content for beginners through to experienced pros - as well as the most generous loyalty scheme in the industry Virgin Bingo, part of the St Minver network, offers cash prizes worth thousands of pounds in the progressive jackpots, as well as featuring regular celebrity guests in the Virgin chatroom Virgin Casino, part of the Wagerworks network, brings consumers classic casino offerings like blackjack and roulette, as well as great feature slots like Monopoly, Cluedo and The Wheel of Fortune Virgin Skill, part of the Fun Technologies network, features over 20 classic skills games to play for free or from as little as 5p
Virgin Games is about more than winning money - it's designed to offer fun and entertainment with all of the games available to play for free as well as for cash. Virgin Games also features an industry leading loyalty scheme which allows players to exchange V Points for Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles, Virgin Vouchers or donate money to charity via Virgin Unite.
About Pillar Data Systems
Founded in 2001, Pillar Data Systems develops enterprise network storage systems. The company's Pillar Axiom solution, driven by its innovative policy-based management capabilities, integrates SAN and NAS into a centrally managed storage platform. Pillar Axiom systems consolidate multiple tiers of enterprise network storage into a single, easily managed system capable of scaling to hundreds of terabytes of capacity.
Pillar Data Systems is privately funded by Tako Ventures, LLC, the venture arm of Larry Ellison. The company is headquartered in San Jose.. The EMEA headquarters is in Ireland, with initial operations across Ireland, UK, Germany and France.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
Virgin Poker launches Facebook poker app, by Darren Davidson Brand Republic - 25th February 2008
LONDON - Virgin Poker has developed a Facebook application which allows users to play Texas Hold'em for free.
The application has been developed by Virgin Poker in partnership with Playzu, the online poker company.
Facebook users can join a table of six and play for points, with every winning hand counting towards a place on a leader board.
The top 25 players every day will be invited to take part in a free weekly tournament via a unique sign-up code. The weekly tournament offers prizes from other Virgin brands such as Virgin Atlantic Air Miles.
Simon Burridge, chief executive of Virgin Games, said: "With social networking now a fundamental part of our players' lives, Facebook's focus on entertainment and community provides the perfect opportunity to bring the fun and social element of Virgin Poker to a new market."
The application gives users the ability to create their own avatar in the games, with accessories ranging from cigars and hats to tattoos and glasses.
There are also comedy video clips integrated into the application, which can be played when users are waiting for a hand to be played, and users can set up a private "invite only" game with other Facebook members.
Darius Ziatabari, Playzu founder, said the company would continue to add features to the application to improve the user experience: "We are poker players at heart and want people to have the most fun possible without having to pay for it."
The moves comes as big advertisers begin to incorporate Facebook, which has 8.5m UK users according to Nielsen Online, into their marketing plans.
Earlier this month, Mars launched a voucher scheme on the social networking site enabling users to collect vouchers for the confectionery brand, and last week Marmite launched a branded group.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Poker
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
Poker
Poker and Casino News
Casino News Media
The application has been developed by Virgin Poker in partnership with Playzu, the online poker company.
Facebook users can join a table of six and play for points, with every winning hand counting towards a place on a leader board.
The top 25 players every day will be invited to take part in a free weekly tournament via a unique sign-up code. The weekly tournament offers prizes from other Virgin brands such as Virgin Atlantic Air Miles.
Simon Burridge, chief executive of Virgin Games, said: "With social networking now a fundamental part of our players' lives, Facebook's focus on entertainment and community provides the perfect opportunity to bring the fun and social element of Virgin Poker to a new market."
The application gives users the ability to create their own avatar in the games, with accessories ranging from cigars and hats to tattoos and glasses.
There are also comedy video clips integrated into the application, which can be played when users are waiting for a hand to be played, and users can set up a private "invite only" game with other Facebook members.
Darius Ziatabari, Playzu founder, said the company would continue to add features to the application to improve the user experience: "We are poker players at heart and want people to have the most fun possible without having to pay for it."
The moves comes as big advertisers begin to incorporate Facebook, which has 8.5m UK users according to Nielsen Online, into their marketing plans.
Earlier this month, Mars launched a voucher scheme on the social networking site enabling users to collect vouchers for the confectionery brand, and last week Marmite launched a branded group.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Poker
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
Poker
Poker and Casino News
Casino News Media
Virgin’s Affiliate Programme Short-Listed - 4th September 2008
Online casino VirginGames.com has been short-listed for the Affiliate Programme of the Year distinction at the fourth annual eGaming Review Industry Awards.
The Awards are considered one of the premier online gaming events of the year and are judged by an independent panel consisting of some of the most experienced practitioners from every segment of the sector. This year there are 18 distinctions up for grabs with the final winners announced on September 19 at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
The first time it has every been nominated for the Affiliate Programme of the Year award, VirginGames.com is one of only four companies short-listed and nominees are judged on innovation, creativeness, marketing strategy and overall effectiveness.
“We’re delighted to have made it to the final table of the 2008 eGaming Awards,” said Pierrick Leveque, Head of Affiliates for VirginGames.com.
“It is an honour to be short-listed in the Best Affiliate Programme of the Year category alongside Everest, Centrebet and Ladbrokes.
“More importantly, it is a testimony to the quality and commitment of the affiliates who have decided to partner with us since we launched last year. We work hard to ensure our affiliate operations match VirginGames.com’s reputation as an online gaming operator. In that regard, our presence in this year’s shortlist is very uplifting.”
VirginGames.com recently voted the Best Gaming Affiliate Programme prize at the affiliate marketing industry’s a4u Awards 2008, the most prestigious affiliate awards ceremony in the UK.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
Virgin
Richard Branson
Casino Affiliates
Centrebet
Casino News Media
The Awards are considered one of the premier online gaming events of the year and are judged by an independent panel consisting of some of the most experienced practitioners from every segment of the sector. This year there are 18 distinctions up for grabs with the final winners announced on September 19 at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
The first time it has every been nominated for the Affiliate Programme of the Year award, VirginGames.com is one of only four companies short-listed and nominees are judged on innovation, creativeness, marketing strategy and overall effectiveness.
“We’re delighted to have made it to the final table of the 2008 eGaming Awards,” said Pierrick Leveque, Head of Affiliates for VirginGames.com.
“It is an honour to be short-listed in the Best Affiliate Programme of the Year category alongside Everest, Centrebet and Ladbrokes.
“More importantly, it is a testimony to the quality and commitment of the affiliates who have decided to partner with us since we launched last year. We work hard to ensure our affiliate operations match VirginGames.com’s reputation as an online gaming operator. In that regard, our presence in this year’s shortlist is very uplifting.”
VirginGames.com recently voted the Best Gaming Affiliate Programme prize at the affiliate marketing industry’s a4u Awards 2008, the most prestigious affiliate awards ceremony in the UK.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
Virgin
Richard Branson
Casino Affiliates
Centrebet
Casino News Media
Friday, September 12, 2008
Income Access Launches BetweenDrinks.com - 10th September 2008
Income Access, the Montreal-based affiliate marketing management programme, has announced the launch of BetweenDrinks.com, a social networking site for online gambling affiliates.
Currently being tested in its beta format, BetweenDrinks.com has been designed for affiliates, managers and gambling operators with Income Access inviting members of the online gaming community to test the site and offer feedback.
The Canadian firm revealed that the idea for the site came after it realised that members of the affiliate gaming community had nowhere online to match the high-energy conferences they attend.
'We felt that people who work in affiliate marketing for iGaming needed their own place where they could interact,' said Nicky Senyard, Chief Executive Officer for Income Access.
'That's why we set out to offer industry members all the interactive functionalities of major social networking sites but with a much more targeted user-base. Everyone has such a great time at industry conferences in cities such as Barcelona and Amsterdam and now the party won't have to end when they get home.'
BetweenDrinks.com offers many of the same features as mass-consumer social networks including the ability to post photos, define friendship details, start and take polls, join groups, chat, post classified advertisements, blog and send messages.
'BetweenDrinks.com will enable them to make new friends, catch up with old ones and make plans for the weekend with the site encouraging friends to touch base and organise the fun things in life; drinks, dinners and parties,' read a statement from Income Access.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Income Access
Casino Affiliates
Social Networking Websites
Currently being tested in its beta format, BetweenDrinks.com has been designed for affiliates, managers and gambling operators with Income Access inviting members of the online gaming community to test the site and offer feedback.
The Canadian firm revealed that the idea for the site came after it realised that members of the affiliate gaming community had nowhere online to match the high-energy conferences they attend.
'We felt that people who work in affiliate marketing for iGaming needed their own place where they could interact,' said Nicky Senyard, Chief Executive Officer for Income Access.
'That's why we set out to offer industry members all the interactive functionalities of major social networking sites but with a much more targeted user-base. Everyone has such a great time at industry conferences in cities such as Barcelona and Amsterdam and now the party won't have to end when they get home.'
BetweenDrinks.com offers many of the same features as mass-consumer social networks including the ability to post photos, define friendship details, start and take polls, join groups, chat, post classified advertisements, blog and send messages.
'BetweenDrinks.com will enable them to make new friends, catch up with old ones and make plans for the weekend with the site encouraging friends to touch base and organise the fun things in life; drinks, dinners and parties,' read a statement from Income Access.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Income Access
Casino Affiliates
Social Networking Websites
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Virgin’s Affiliate Programme Short-Listed - 4th September 2008
Online casino VirginGames.com has been short-listed for the Affiliate Programme of the Year distinction at the fourth annual eGaming Review Industry Awards.
The Awards are considered one of the premier online gaming events of the year and are judged by an independent panel consisting of some of the most experienced practitioners from every segment of the sector. This year there are 18 distinctions up for grabs with the final winners announced on September 19 at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
The first time it has every been nominated for the Affiliate Programme of the Year award, VirginGames.com is one of only four companies short-listed and nominees are judged on innovation, creativeness, marketing strategy and overall effectiveness.
“We’re delighted to have made it to the final table of the 2008 eGaming Awards,” said Pierrick Leveque, Head of Affiliates for VirginGames.com.
“It is an honour to be short-listed in the Best Affiliate Programme of the Year category alongside Everest, Centrebet and Ladbrokes.
“More importantly, it is a testimony to the quality and commitment of the affiliates who have decided to partner with us since we launched last year. We work hard to ensure our affiliate operations match VirginGames.com’s reputation as an online gaming operator. In that regard, our presence in this year’s shortlist is very uplifting.”
VirginGames.com recently voted the Best Gaming Affiliate Programme prize at the affiliate marketing industry’s a4u Awards 2008, the most prestigious affiliate awards ceremony in the UK.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
Casino Affiliates
Poker and Casino News
Casino News Media
The Awards are considered one of the premier online gaming events of the year and are judged by an independent panel consisting of some of the most experienced practitioners from every segment of the sector. This year there are 18 distinctions up for grabs with the final winners announced on September 19 at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
The first time it has every been nominated for the Affiliate Programme of the Year award, VirginGames.com is one of only four companies short-listed and nominees are judged on innovation, creativeness, marketing strategy and overall effectiveness.
“We’re delighted to have made it to the final table of the 2008 eGaming Awards,” said Pierrick Leveque, Head of Affiliates for VirginGames.com.
“It is an honour to be short-listed in the Best Affiliate Programme of the Year category alongside Everest, Centrebet and Ladbrokes.
“More importantly, it is a testimony to the quality and commitment of the affiliates who have decided to partner with us since we launched last year. We work hard to ensure our affiliate operations match VirginGames.com’s reputation as an online gaming operator. In that regard, our presence in this year’s shortlist is very uplifting.”
VirginGames.com recently voted the Best Gaming Affiliate Programme prize at the affiliate marketing industry’s a4u Awards 2008, the most prestigious affiliate awards ceremony in the UK.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Games
Virgin Casino
Casino Affiliates
Poker and Casino News
Casino News Media
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Man put on hold for six hours; goes to football, dinner, by Lea Emery - The Courier-Mail - 5th August 2008
The last thing Kym Illman expected when he answered his mobile was to be placed on hold for over six hours.
The Grand Hyatt Hotel Singapore had returned Mr Illman's call to confirm restaurant reservations and placed the Perth-based businessman on hold while investigating a query about room reservations.
"Ten minutes of classical on hold music later, I began to wonder if she'd forgotten me," Mr Illman told couriermail.com.au.
"At the 30 minute mark I figured she certainly had but since I wasn't paying for the call I decided to keep the line open and seen how long it was before they realised I was suspended in their phone system."
Placing his mobile on his charger, Mr Illman went out to the football and to dinner and when he returned was amazed to find he was still on hold.
After five hours and 30 minutes Mr Illman emailed the hotel advising them he was tiring of being on hold; a short time later the hotel tracked down the call and hung up.
''Total time on hold - six hours, eight minutes and forty-two seconds," he said.
" As owner of Perth-based on hold production company Messages On Hold, I know a thing or two about being on hold, but I challenge anyone to beat six hours plus on hold,'' Mr Illman said.
Mr Illman says he is yet to receive a response to his original enquiry about his reservations.
Grand Hyatt management said it was unaware of the incident but would look into it.
Greg Tingle comment
Now, that's what I call turning a negative into a positive. I'm ex Telstra and Optus, and former Sales and Service Award winner of the month. I've seen the best and worse of the telephony carriers. Grand Hyatt seems to have taken things to the next level. Should we rebrand the offender as The Grand Hangup? Thank goddess for folks like Kym Illman to tip us off on these things. Does Paris Hilton or her grandfather know about this yet?
Media Man Australia Profiles
Kym Illman
Messages On Hold
The Grand Hyatt Hotel Singapore had returned Mr Illman's call to confirm restaurant reservations and placed the Perth-based businessman on hold while investigating a query about room reservations.
"Ten minutes of classical on hold music later, I began to wonder if she'd forgotten me," Mr Illman told couriermail.com.au.
"At the 30 minute mark I figured she certainly had but since I wasn't paying for the call I decided to keep the line open and seen how long it was before they realised I was suspended in their phone system."
Placing his mobile on his charger, Mr Illman went out to the football and to dinner and when he returned was amazed to find he was still on hold.
After five hours and 30 minutes Mr Illman emailed the hotel advising them he was tiring of being on hold; a short time later the hotel tracked down the call and hung up.
''Total time on hold - six hours, eight minutes and forty-two seconds," he said.
" As owner of Perth-based on hold production company Messages On Hold, I know a thing or two about being on hold, but I challenge anyone to beat six hours plus on hold,'' Mr Illman said.
Mr Illman says he is yet to receive a response to his original enquiry about his reservations.
Grand Hyatt management said it was unaware of the incident but would look into it.
Greg Tingle comment
Now, that's what I call turning a negative into a positive. I'm ex Telstra and Optus, and former Sales and Service Award winner of the month. I've seen the best and worse of the telephony carriers. Grand Hyatt seems to have taken things to the next level. Should we rebrand the offender as The Grand Hangup? Thank goddess for folks like Kym Illman to tip us off on these things. Does Paris Hilton or her grandfather know about this yet?
Media Man Australia Profiles
Kym Illman
Messages On Hold
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Facebook takes over MySpace's world - 14th August 2008
New industry figures show Facebook has dethroned MySpace to become the world's most popular social networking website.
Slightly more than 132 million people visited Facebook in June as compared to the approximately 117.5 million that went to MySpace that month, according to industry tracker comScore.
Facebook seized the social networking crown from News Corp-owned MySpace in April, comScore reported.
Facebook's moves to tailor versions of its website to languages other than English is credited with giving it a boost in international users that pushed it to the top of the social networking heap.
"Facebook has done an exceptional job of leveraging its brand internationally during the past year," comScore vice-president Jack Flanagan said in a statement.
"By increasing the site's relevance to local markets through local language interface translation, the site is now competing strongly or even capturing the lead in several markets where it had a relatively minor presence just a year ago."
Ranks of social network users grew nine per cent in North America but leapt 25 per cent globally to 580.51 million people over the past year, according to comScore.
The number of people using social networking websites climbed 66 per cent in the Middle East-Africa region and 35 per cent in Europe.
Twice as many people visited Hi5 in June as did in the same month a year earlier, while visits to Orkut, Bebo and Friendster increased by more than 30 per cent at each of the social networking websites.
"During the past year, many of the top social networking sites have demonstrated rapid growth in their global user bases," comScore reported.
"Facebook's recent ascension to become the top global social networking site has been spurred by its substantial growth across worldwide regions."
Visits to MySpace were up three per cent in the month over month comparison.
While North America has 49 million Facebook users, Europe is "quickly catching up," according to comScore.
The number of people who visited Facebook in Europe in June was 35.2 million; more than triple what it was in the same month last year.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Facebook
MySpace
Social Networking Websites
News
Media Man Australia Technology News
Slightly more than 132 million people visited Facebook in June as compared to the approximately 117.5 million that went to MySpace that month, according to industry tracker comScore.
Facebook seized the social networking crown from News Corp-owned MySpace in April, comScore reported.
Facebook's moves to tailor versions of its website to languages other than English is credited with giving it a boost in international users that pushed it to the top of the social networking heap.
"Facebook has done an exceptional job of leveraging its brand internationally during the past year," comScore vice-president Jack Flanagan said in a statement.
"By increasing the site's relevance to local markets through local language interface translation, the site is now competing strongly or even capturing the lead in several markets where it had a relatively minor presence just a year ago."
Ranks of social network users grew nine per cent in North America but leapt 25 per cent globally to 580.51 million people over the past year, according to comScore.
The number of people using social networking websites climbed 66 per cent in the Middle East-Africa region and 35 per cent in Europe.
Twice as many people visited Hi5 in June as did in the same month a year earlier, while visits to Orkut, Bebo and Friendster increased by more than 30 per cent at each of the social networking websites.
"During the past year, many of the top social networking sites have demonstrated rapid growth in their global user bases," comScore reported.
"Facebook's recent ascension to become the top global social networking site has been spurred by its substantial growth across worldwide regions."
Visits to MySpace were up three per cent in the month over month comparison.
While North America has 49 million Facebook users, Europe is "quickly catching up," according to comScore.
The number of people who visited Facebook in Europe in June was 35.2 million; more than triple what it was in the same month last year.
Media Man Australia Profiles
MySpace
Social Networking Websites
News
Media Man Australia Technology News
iCoins launches Facebook app CoinJars, pledges to be very viable choice for electronic cash - Press Release
Now lending cash, paying, giving to charity and shopping via the social networking website Facebook has been made easier as iCoins Limited recently launched its Facebook application CoinJars, a place where digital cash can be stored and moved safely.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Feb 20, 2008 – The application, which can be accessed at http://apps.facebook.com/coinjars and at its Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=6489937223&ref=s is a wallet application built on the iCoins platform, which includes a fully secured and licensed eMoney issuer.
Transferring of funds from one party to another on the Internet has to date required both parties to have wallets within the same system (such as Paypal). In the traditional banking world solutions such as IBAN – an international banking account number standard – provides a solution but is limited in that it only works between bank accounts. Moreover, transfers using IBAN (or SWIFT) are only credited once the actual funds are received by the receiving bank. This delay is inappropriate in today’s connected world. Other money transfer services such as Western Union and Moneygram provide international non-banking transfers. While these systems have proven to be useful in the offline world, these have not proven to be as useful in the ever growing online world.
Gibraltar-based iCoins aims to change all this with its system that provides the transfer mechanisms of SWIFT and IBAN, with real time execution, integrated within existing players in the online eWallet space. Facebook users can now enjoy the same security and freedom of cash movement through the CoinJars application.
Extending Coinars to provide a simple cash collection mechanism for small merchants on Facebook is a logical extension and is already in the works, according to iCoins CEO Adriaan Brink.
“We are extremely proud of CoinJars. It provides a showcase for our core iCoins secure digital cash technology. By providing the ability, through the CoinJars application,to transfer iCoins quickly, safely and easily between Facebook users and also to and from any places outside the Facebook system that support iCoins, the exciting potential of iCoins becomes apparent. These external places include merchants and also Payment Providers which facilitate the purchase and redemption of iCoins. We’re very optimistic that iCoins, through integrated eWallets such as CoinJars, will revolutionize the way we pay online.” Brink emphasized.
The CEO also underscored the fact that the user’s money (while in iCoin format) is all underwritten by a licensed eMoney operation (a “Treasury” in iCoins-speak). The Treasury for CoinJars is Mintflow Limited in the Isle of Man.
“The purpose of this mechanism is not to replace the credit card and other payment methods such as Paypal in normal merchant payments, but to facilitate payments that would normally be too expensive (small payments or between distant places) and to facilitate payments between disparate systems,” Brink said.
With the presence of iCoins and integrated eWallets such as CoinJars, people all over the world are given more viable, cost-efficient choices in dealing with online payments and money transfers.
Developers wishing to integrate with the iCoins digital money platform are advised to visit www.icoins.com for more information. iCoins is actively pursuing integrations with as wide a variety of payment platforms as possible.
More information at www.icoins.com & Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21145115323
About CoinJars
CoinJars is iCoins’ application at social networking website Facebook. It is a wallet application built on the iCoins platform, which includes a fully secured and licensed eMoney issuer. The application can be accessed at http://apps.facebook.com/coinjars and at its Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=64899372 ...
About iCoins
iCoins, based in Gibraltar, are developers and operators of an electronic cash system that can be integrated with existing 3rd party wallet servers. iCoins is a digital cash mechanism designed to allow cash transactions between disparate and unrelated Wallet systems in the digital era. iCoins are similar to bank notes. They can be acquired by a consumer on application to a suitable issuer (similar to a bank in the real world).
iCoins Limited
www.icoins.com
3 Garrison House
Library Ramp
Gibraltar
Tel. +350 48595
Fax No. +350 52911
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT:
Sara Waller- Marketing Manager, iCoins Ltd
E: sara@icoins.com
Tel+ 350 48595
# # #
iCoins, based in Gibraltar, are developers and operators of an electronic cash system that can be integrated with existing 3rd party wallet servers. iCoins is a digital cash mechanism designed to allow cash transactions between disparate and unrelated Wallet systems in the digital era. iCoins are similar to bank notes. They can be acquired by a consumer on application to a suitable issuer (similar to a bank in the real world).
Media Man Australia News
Technology News
Profiles
Facebook
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Feb 20, 2008 – The application, which can be accessed at http://apps.facebook.com/coinjars and at its Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=6489937223&ref=s is a wallet application built on the iCoins platform, which includes a fully secured and licensed eMoney issuer.
Transferring of funds from one party to another on the Internet has to date required both parties to have wallets within the same system (such as Paypal). In the traditional banking world solutions such as IBAN – an international banking account number standard – provides a solution but is limited in that it only works between bank accounts. Moreover, transfers using IBAN (or SWIFT) are only credited once the actual funds are received by the receiving bank. This delay is inappropriate in today’s connected world. Other money transfer services such as Western Union and Moneygram provide international non-banking transfers. While these systems have proven to be useful in the offline world, these have not proven to be as useful in the ever growing online world.
Gibraltar-based iCoins aims to change all this with its system that provides the transfer mechanisms of SWIFT and IBAN, with real time execution, integrated within existing players in the online eWallet space. Facebook users can now enjoy the same security and freedom of cash movement through the CoinJars application.
Extending Coinars to provide a simple cash collection mechanism for small merchants on Facebook is a logical extension and is already in the works, according to iCoins CEO Adriaan Brink.
“We are extremely proud of CoinJars. It provides a showcase for our core iCoins secure digital cash technology. By providing the ability, through the CoinJars application,to transfer iCoins quickly, safely and easily between Facebook users and also to and from any places outside the Facebook system that support iCoins, the exciting potential of iCoins becomes apparent. These external places include merchants and also Payment Providers which facilitate the purchase and redemption of iCoins. We’re very optimistic that iCoins, through integrated eWallets such as CoinJars, will revolutionize the way we pay online.” Brink emphasized.
The CEO also underscored the fact that the user’s money (while in iCoin format) is all underwritten by a licensed eMoney operation (a “Treasury” in iCoins-speak). The Treasury for CoinJars is Mintflow Limited in the Isle of Man.
“The purpose of this mechanism is not to replace the credit card and other payment methods such as Paypal in normal merchant payments, but to facilitate payments that would normally be too expensive (small payments or between distant places) and to facilitate payments between disparate systems,” Brink said.
With the presence of iCoins and integrated eWallets such as CoinJars, people all over the world are given more viable, cost-efficient choices in dealing with online payments and money transfers.
Developers wishing to integrate with the iCoins digital money platform are advised to visit www.icoins.com for more information. iCoins is actively pursuing integrations with as wide a variety of payment platforms as possible.
More information at www.icoins.com & Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21145115323
About CoinJars
CoinJars is iCoins’ application at social networking website Facebook. It is a wallet application built on the iCoins platform, which includes a fully secured and licensed eMoney issuer. The application can be accessed at http://apps.facebook.com/coinjars and at its Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=64899372 ...
About iCoins
iCoins, based in Gibraltar, are developers and operators of an electronic cash system that can be integrated with existing 3rd party wallet servers. iCoins is a digital cash mechanism designed to allow cash transactions between disparate and unrelated Wallet systems in the digital era. iCoins are similar to bank notes. They can be acquired by a consumer on application to a suitable issuer (similar to a bank in the real world).
iCoins Limited
www.icoins.com
3 Garrison House
Library Ramp
Gibraltar
Tel. +350 48595
Fax No. +350 52911
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT:
Sara Waller- Marketing Manager, iCoins Ltd
E: sara@icoins.com
Tel+ 350 48595
# # #
iCoins, based in Gibraltar, are developers and operators of an electronic cash system that can be integrated with existing 3rd party wallet servers. iCoins is a digital cash mechanism designed to allow cash transactions between disparate and unrelated Wallet systems in the digital era. iCoins are similar to bank notes. They can be acquired by a consumer on application to a suitable issuer (similar to a bank in the real world).
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Saturday, July 26, 2008
Entrepreneurs Thrive in the Global Age, By Barry Wood - Voice Of America
For more than a century, entrepreneurs in Europe and the United States have thrived, bringing innovation and change to the world. Now, looser government controls, fast Internet connections and better access to capital are helping entrepreneurs bring their products and services to market.
The French word, entrepreneur, refers to someone who undertakes, who does something. Entrepreneurs often assume business risk in attempting to bring goods and services to the marketplace, whether within a small community or on a global scale.
Bill Gates is perhaps the world's most successful entrepreneur. He did not invent personal computers, but his operating system made them easy to use and brought computing to millions. He has become one of the world's richest men. The ease of use of personal computers, combined with the advent of the Internet, have made it possible for entrepreneurs to start business with very little capital, and extend their reach far beyond the traditional marketplace.
Thirteen years ago, San Francisco entrepreneur Craig Newmark created an online bulletin board for the brokerage firm where he worked.
Today, his Web site, called Craig's List, is a free alternative to the classified ads that have been a major source of earnings for newspapers -- an online marketplace where individuals can offer and exchange goods and services. Newmark says its reach is global. "Right now, we're in about 55 countries, 567 cities across the world."
Since the collapse of communism, entrepreneurs have taken off in places where they were once forbidden or restricted, like Russia.
Yana Yakovleva is the financial director of a Moscow company that manufactures silicone. She says government bureaucracy still makes it hard to be an entrepreneur. "A bureaucrat scores a point for each court case he initiates, or for every company he closes, and this improves his job performance evaluation," says Yakovleva.
In Venezuela, currency exchange controls and a leadership hostile to free markets make it difficult to do business. Caracas food distributor Santiago Alvarez complains that government bureaucrats are unhelpful.
"Getting all the permits to start a business is a real challenge. You have to face tremendous amounts of bureaucracy from a lot of different entities, in order to get permits and to get financing," says Alvarez.
The Will to Succeed
Studies have found that entrepreneurs share common traits that motivate them to start new businesses. They are often motivated by more than financial gain and have overcome considerable adversity.
For 35 years, British entrepreneur Richard Branson has been building his Virgin brand into a global power house, a media conglomerate, passenger airline and mobile phone company. His company has also made him one of the world's richest men. Yet, as a child, Branson had dyslexia, a learning disability. He never attended university. But he was motivated to succeed.
"In school, I would look at some of these exams, and completely blank out on them," says Branson. "And, I actually left school at 15 to go out into the world and try to make an honest living."
As a teenager, Branson had two failed business ventures. But he has since started dozens of successful businesses.
In India, Sunil Mittal overcame adversity of a different sort. "I grew up in a very socialistic-rooted India," says Mittal. "We saw the evolution of the Soviet [economic] model coming into India in a very dramatic manner."
Mittal's first business was making bicycle parts. He says the end of central planning after 1992 allowed his Bharti Group to evolve into India's second largest corporation. "With 35 million dollars that I could access, we went on to build India's largest telecom company."
Today, his company, Bharti Airtel, has 30-thousand employees. It signs up 10-million new mobile phone subscribers every month.
Even on a small scale, entrepreneurs must overcome obstacles. In Iraqi Kurdistan, Suhela Kakil Raza, a mother of four, began making women's clothing a year ago. She had to find a store location that was not frequented by men, so her women clients, Sunni Muslims, would come in and buy. She now has four employees and wants to expand. She dreams of having a private factory and a school to teach girls about jobs.
In Islamabad, Pakistan, Ashar Hafeez opened his first Tandoori restaurant in 1993. "In every aspect of work, you have to work very hard. And it is hard. It's team work. You can't do it alone. You have to have a very good team with you," says Hafeez.
Small Investments, Big Rewards
In many developing countries, micro-financing has created possibilities for burgeoning entrepreneurs. The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh lends almost exclusively to women. And its small business loans are almost always paid back. Muhammad Yunus is the bank's founder and a hero in his country. Grameen was the first to lend on a grand scale to poor, aspiring entrepreneurs in the developing world, and Yunus and his bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Melissa Carrier at the University of Maryland says Grameen's micro-financing has expanded the concept of entrepreneurship. "Certainly, Grameen Bank has given legitimacy to those kinds of micro-loans to local villagers. And, so the idea of entrepreneurship now is about doing for yourself," says Carrier. "It's about raising chickens, and having cows, and knitting scarves and being able to feed your family."
Donald Trump, the successful American property developer, says entrepreneurs must have passion, be tenacious, think big, absorb new information, take action, learn to negotiate and enjoy competition.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bill Gates
Craig Newmark
Richard Branson
New Media Entrepreneurs
News
Technology News
The French word, entrepreneur, refers to someone who undertakes, who does something. Entrepreneurs often assume business risk in attempting to bring goods and services to the marketplace, whether within a small community or on a global scale.
Bill Gates is perhaps the world's most successful entrepreneur. He did not invent personal computers, but his operating system made them easy to use and brought computing to millions. He has become one of the world's richest men. The ease of use of personal computers, combined with the advent of the Internet, have made it possible for entrepreneurs to start business with very little capital, and extend their reach far beyond the traditional marketplace.
Thirteen years ago, San Francisco entrepreneur Craig Newmark created an online bulletin board for the brokerage firm where he worked.
Today, his Web site, called Craig's List, is a free alternative to the classified ads that have been a major source of earnings for newspapers -- an online marketplace where individuals can offer and exchange goods and services. Newmark says its reach is global. "Right now, we're in about 55 countries, 567 cities across the world."
Since the collapse of communism, entrepreneurs have taken off in places where they were once forbidden or restricted, like Russia.
Yana Yakovleva is the financial director of a Moscow company that manufactures silicone. She says government bureaucracy still makes it hard to be an entrepreneur. "A bureaucrat scores a point for each court case he initiates, or for every company he closes, and this improves his job performance evaluation," says Yakovleva.
In Venezuela, currency exchange controls and a leadership hostile to free markets make it difficult to do business. Caracas food distributor Santiago Alvarez complains that government bureaucrats are unhelpful.
"Getting all the permits to start a business is a real challenge. You have to face tremendous amounts of bureaucracy from a lot of different entities, in order to get permits and to get financing," says Alvarez.
The Will to Succeed
Studies have found that entrepreneurs share common traits that motivate them to start new businesses. They are often motivated by more than financial gain and have overcome considerable adversity.
For 35 years, British entrepreneur Richard Branson has been building his Virgin brand into a global power house, a media conglomerate, passenger airline and mobile phone company. His company has also made him one of the world's richest men. Yet, as a child, Branson had dyslexia, a learning disability. He never attended university. But he was motivated to succeed.
"In school, I would look at some of these exams, and completely blank out on them," says Branson. "And, I actually left school at 15 to go out into the world and try to make an honest living."
As a teenager, Branson had two failed business ventures. But he has since started dozens of successful businesses.
In India, Sunil Mittal overcame adversity of a different sort. "I grew up in a very socialistic-rooted India," says Mittal. "We saw the evolution of the Soviet [economic] model coming into India in a very dramatic manner."
Mittal's first business was making bicycle parts. He says the end of central planning after 1992 allowed his Bharti Group to evolve into India's second largest corporation. "With 35 million dollars that I could access, we went on to build India's largest telecom company."
Today, his company, Bharti Airtel, has 30-thousand employees. It signs up 10-million new mobile phone subscribers every month.
Even on a small scale, entrepreneurs must overcome obstacles. In Iraqi Kurdistan, Suhela Kakil Raza, a mother of four, began making women's clothing a year ago. She had to find a store location that was not frequented by men, so her women clients, Sunni Muslims, would come in and buy. She now has four employees and wants to expand. She dreams of having a private factory and a school to teach girls about jobs.
In Islamabad, Pakistan, Ashar Hafeez opened his first Tandoori restaurant in 1993. "In every aspect of work, you have to work very hard. And it is hard. It's team work. You can't do it alone. You have to have a very good team with you," says Hafeez.
Small Investments, Big Rewards
In many developing countries, micro-financing has created possibilities for burgeoning entrepreneurs. The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh lends almost exclusively to women. And its small business loans are almost always paid back. Muhammad Yunus is the bank's founder and a hero in his country. Grameen was the first to lend on a grand scale to poor, aspiring entrepreneurs in the developing world, and Yunus and his bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Melissa Carrier at the University of Maryland says Grameen's micro-financing has expanded the concept of entrepreneurship. "Certainly, Grameen Bank has given legitimacy to those kinds of micro-loans to local villagers. And, so the idea of entrepreneurship now is about doing for yourself," says Carrier. "It's about raising chickens, and having cows, and knitting scarves and being able to feed your family."
Donald Trump, the successful American property developer, says entrepreneurs must have passion, be tenacious, think big, absorb new information, take action, learn to negotiate and enjoy competition.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bill Gates
Craig Newmark
Richard Branson
New Media Entrepreneurs
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
Google launches Wikipedia clone - The Sydney Morning Herald - 24th July 2008
Google is taking the wraps off an internet encyclopedia designed to give people a chance to show off - and profit from - their expertise on any topic.
The service, dubbed "knol" in reference to a unit of knowledge, had been limited to an invitation-only audience of contributors and readers for the past seven months.
Now anyone with a Google login will be able to submit an article and, if they choose, have ads displayed through the Internet search leader's marketing system. The contributing author and Google will share any revenue generated from the ads, which are supposed to be related to the topic covered in the knol.
The advertising option could encourage people to write more entries about commercial subjects than the more academic topics covered in traditional encyclopedias.
Since Google disclosed its intention to build knol, it has been widely viewed as the company's answer to Wikipedia, which has emerged as one of the web's leading reference tools by drawing upon the collective wisdom of unpaid, anonymous contributors.
But Google views knol more as a supplement to Wikipedia than a competitor, said Cedric Dupont, a Google product manager. Google reasons that Wikipedia's contributors will be able to use some of the expertise shared on knol to improve Wikipedia's existing entries.
With a seven-year head start on knol, Wikipedia already has nearly 2.5 million English-language articles and millions more in dozens of other languages.
Knol is starting out with several hundred entries. The initial topics covered include an overview of constipation by a University of San Francisco associate professor of gastroenterology and backpacking advice from one of Google's own software engineers.
Unlike Wikipedia, knol requires the authors to identify themselves to help the audience assess the source's credibility. Google doesn't intend to screen the submissions for accuracy, Dupont said, and instead will rely on its search formulas to highlight the articles that readers believe are credible.
Google has had mixed success so far in its attempts to expand beyond its ubiquitous search engine, which generates most of its profits. While products like its e-mail service have been hits, other forays like a listing system called "Base" and a social network called Orkut haven't fared as well.
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The service, dubbed "knol" in reference to a unit of knowledge, had been limited to an invitation-only audience of contributors and readers for the past seven months.
Now anyone with a Google login will be able to submit an article and, if they choose, have ads displayed through the Internet search leader's marketing system. The contributing author and Google will share any revenue generated from the ads, which are supposed to be related to the topic covered in the knol.
The advertising option could encourage people to write more entries about commercial subjects than the more academic topics covered in traditional encyclopedias.
Since Google disclosed its intention to build knol, it has been widely viewed as the company's answer to Wikipedia, which has emerged as one of the web's leading reference tools by drawing upon the collective wisdom of unpaid, anonymous contributors.
But Google views knol more as a supplement to Wikipedia than a competitor, said Cedric Dupont, a Google product manager. Google reasons that Wikipedia's contributors will be able to use some of the expertise shared on knol to improve Wikipedia's existing entries.
With a seven-year head start on knol, Wikipedia already has nearly 2.5 million English-language articles and millions more in dozens of other languages.
Knol is starting out with several hundred entries. The initial topics covered include an overview of constipation by a University of San Francisco associate professor of gastroenterology and backpacking advice from one of Google's own software engineers.
Unlike Wikipedia, knol requires the authors to identify themselves to help the audience assess the source's credibility. Google doesn't intend to screen the submissions for accuracy, Dupont said, and instead will rely on its search formulas to highlight the articles that readers believe are credible.
Google has had mixed success so far in its attempts to expand beyond its ubiquitous search engine, which generates most of its profits. While products like its e-mail service have been hits, other forays like a listing system called "Base" and a social network called Orkut haven't fared as well.
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Tuesday, July 08, 2008
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Media Man Australia director was interviewed on ABC TV 'Difference Of Opinion' re Growing Up In The Digital Age - the good, the bad and the ugly of technology, stalkers and more - 23rd April 2007
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
w: www.mediaman.com.au
Media Man Australia director was interviewed on ABC TV 'Difference Of Opinion' re Growing Up In The Digital Age - the good, the bad and the ugly of technology, stalkers and more - 23rd April 2007
Best Regards
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
w: www.mediaman.com.au
Monday, July 17, 2006
Mobile Telephony and Mobile Babes
| Mobile telephony and mobile babes are a few of the hottest commidiaites in the marketplace. Examine the Media Man Australia profiles Mobile Telephones Mobile Babes Mobile Telephony News Best Regards Greg Tingle Director Media Man Australia |
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