Not using a credit card is becoming a much more viable method over the internet (22% of the overall e-commerce payments), with iDeal and Paypal, but also many other methods used to pay for porn or gambling. Worldpay has made an interactive map showing the predominance of specific alternative currencies per country.

Worldpay Globe Data.

This is based on this report by worldpay.

That’s a pretty crass threat and bizarre that a US company can do this!

Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you’ll be fired | The Digital Home – CNET News.

Apps and websites that use the Google Maps API will soon have to pay $4 per 1,000 visitors Google announced today.

There is an allowance for small sites – the first 25,000 map-loads a day are free.

Google Maps API now costs $4 per 1,000 requests • The Register.

Basically it’s because econonmists allways calibrate the data – ie. change certain parameters to try to represent reality. Carter proved that even small changes to parameters make huge differences in the predictive power of a model. Economists calibrate and recalibrate their models all the time, leading to worse and worse predictions.

Why Economic Models Are Always Wrong: Scientific American.

Analysis: HP – Dial M for mayhem | Reuters.

Oops

As for what kinds of tricks the labels use, well, Frascogna notes “breakage fees” of 20%, which are based on breakage rates for vinyl from half a century ago. That CDs don’t break so much and that digital files don’t break at all, doesn’t matter. The labels still try to get a super high breakage rate that they get to deduct. For them, it’s pure profit. Then there are “uncollected account” withholdings, on the basis that some retailers go bankrupt and don’t pay for the stock they had. The way it’s described here, that’s often just a set number, rather than based on any actual, documented cases of uncollected fees. Next up? “Free goods.” Now, we talk about the importance of free goods all the time. But here it’s used in a different manner. Basically the labels deduct the “cost” of providing reviewers/radio stations/etc. with “free” copies of your album. That money comes straight out of the gross that the royalty is calculated on. The fact that you could just email the mp3 to those folks yourself? Well, pay no attention to that newfangled technology.

Next up, there are “container charges.” That’s for things like the jewel cases and inserts for CDs. Again, the fact that digital music doesn’t have such expenses is pretty much ignored. Also, the fact that all of these expenses get deducted from the artists’ share? That also seems wrong. Even more insane? Apparently the standard “container charge” is an additional 30% off the revenue. Again, in many cases that’s just pure profit for the labels.

Finally, there’s the ever lovely and totally amorphous “reserves.” As Frascogna notes: “no one really knows what reserves entail.” It’s basically a blank check for the record labels to claim they have to keep some of the money themselves for “other stuff,” which is mostly undefined. In this case, some labels simply set a straight percentage, up to 20% more of the gross that artists never get to see as part of their own royalties.

via RIAA Accounting: How To Sell 1 Million Albums And Still Owe $500,000 | Techdirt.

It has decided to roll back a days’ trading as a result of the stolen bitcoins, which were dumped on the market, crashing the value of a single bitcoin. Apparently there wasn’t that much cash involved (only $1000,-) which means that the bitcoin currency isn’t very strong at all.

Concurrently, a trojan has been found that scours your hd for bitcoins, and on top of that a hacker has released accounts and passwords for a slew of bitcoin users.

Huge Bitcoin sell off due to a compromised account – rollback

Bitcoin collapses on malicious trade • The Register.

Well, this is getting interesting. Last week, we noted that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, alone among the other G8 leaders, questioned today’s copyright laws, suggesting that they did not fit with the times, and pointed out that these century-old laws don’t seem to fit with today’s internet.

What the ‘free’ west can learn from ‘oppressive’ Russia!

via Russian President Proposes Creative Commons-Style Rules Baked Directly Into Copyright | Techdirt.

This page shows each ministry’s ICT projects, descriptions and budgets and how far they’re over or under budget.

ICT-dashboard | ICT-dashboard.

KPN: Where unlimited means limited!

I guess this is their strategy for people using whatsapp and skype services more often. It’s not a very good one, it’s like going back to the days where we paid a few cents per email… that business model didn’t last that long either.

KPN wil klanten extra laten betalen voor bepaalde mobiele internetdiensten. Daarmee lijkt de provider netneutraliteit aan de kant te willen zetten. Onder meer voor onbeperkt gebruik van voip en chat via 3g zal extra moeten worden betaald.KPNDe telecomprovider gaat bundels voor mobiele telefonie introduceren waarbij mensen tegen een meerprijs ‘extra faciliteiten’ kunnen gebruiken. Dat blijkt uit de woorden van KPN-topman Eelco Blok.Tegen Tweakers.net zei Blok dat gebruikers het onbeperkt gebruik van bepaalde diensten, bijvoorbeeld instant messaging en voip-diensten als Skype, moeten ‘afkopen’. Volgens Blok betekent dat niet meteen dat diensten worden geblokkeerd voor gebruikers die niet extra willen betalen. Dat strookt echter niet met zijn uitspraak dat onbeperkt gebruik moet worden betaald. Dat zou immers tot gevolg hebben dat mensen die niet extra betalen, de desbetreffende dienst niet onbeperkt kunnen gebruiken.

via KPN wil klanten extra laten betalen voor chat- en voip-diensten | Mobile | Tweakers.net Nieuws.

A new study by Forrester Research found that maintaining a Facebook presence is less effective at drumming up business than plain old email newsletters or search ads. Companies interviewed for the study “received little benefits from Facebook,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Another recent study found that even print ads were better at fostering consumer engagement with brands than a Facebook page. Hundreds of thousands of people may “like” a brand’s Facebook page, but they don’t actually like it

via Nobody Actually Likes Your Brand’s Stupid Facebook Page.

A study conducted by the Dutch calculators came up with the conclusion that open source didn’t save any money. Not so, says the MOD – they didn’t take into account things like the same costs incurred for 2500 users are now spent to service 6000 users, a savings of 66%!

Rekenkamer blundert bij berekening open source | Webwereld.

internet kassa, ecommerce, e-commerce, internet payment, credit card, creditkaart, shop

PSPcheck.nl.

Allthough you lose quite a few subscribers, you keep the subscribers who are interested in your messages and you increase conversions. You won’t be put on a spamlist (if you mail a subscribed list with an option to unsubscribe). It also outperforms using social media.

Extreme Email Experiment: How Much Is Too Much?.

Yup, the little kids have to fork over the money if they want to sing modern songs covered by copyright.

Kindergartens ordered to pay copyright for songs | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 28.12.2010.

American Express Identifies ‘A New Era of Pause and Purchase’ With Five Key Trends Driving Consumer Spending in 2011 and Beyond

Report Finds Locally-Sourced Goods, Digital Shopping and “Give-a-nomics” Are Among Top Trends Re-Shaping the American Consumer

More Than Half (54%) of Americans Said They Try to Support Their Local Economy

Over a Third (38%) of Americans Equate Being Good and Ethical to Quality of Life, Far Higher Than Being Rich (5%)

41% of Americans Cite Internet Accessibility as the Biggest Factor Affecting Spending Habits in Years to Come

via American Express Identifies ‘A New Era of Pause and Purchase’ With Five Key Trends Driving Consumer Spending in 2011 and Beyond.

The directive will fully harmonise the period within which payment is due at 30 days. Companies dealing with other companies will be able to set that period at 60 days in their contracts, but must pay bills within 30 days if no contractual period is set.

Contracts will not be able to extend that period beyond 60 days “unless otherwise expressly agreed in the contract and provided it is not grossly unfair to the creditor”, according to the new directive.

Organisations that break those rules will have to pay interest at 8 per cent above the European Central Bank’s reference rate. They will also have to pay fixed fees to companies to cover costs. This will be set at a minimum of €40 but can cover all reasonable costs.

via European Parliament: If you don’t pay, you will pay • The Register.

The Norwegian traders, Svend Egil Larsen and Peder Veiby, were handed suspended prison sentences and fines for market manipulation after outsmarting the trading system of Timber Hill, which is a unit of US-based Interactive Brokers.

The two men managed to work out how the computerised system would react to certain trading patterns. This allowed them to influence the price of low-volume stocks for their own gain.

via Norwegian traders convicted for outsmarting US stock broker algorithm – ComputerworldUK.com.

I agree – it’s like jailing someone for using Word to write a letter – if you know that’s the functionality, that’s what you’re going to exploit it for. Then Timber Hill shouldn’t have used something so predictable as a computer algorithm and certainly not without oversight. Just because there’s money in it, it’s a crime?!