O Pai Natal está na Internet

O Pai Natal já não vive isolado no Pólo Norte, com a Mãe Natal e os seus pequenos ajudantes. O senhor de barbas brancas e fato vermelho está na Internet, envia e-mails, fala em podcasts e escreve em blogues. Quem é que tem coragem de dizer que não acredita no Pai Natal?

O artigo
Santa Claus gets personal in Internet podcasts for children
Victoria Ahearn, Canadian PressPublished: Saturday, November 26, 2005

TORONTO (CP) - He was once a distant, elusive figure accessible only through letters, parades and mall visits. Now, with the click of a mouse, Santa Claus can be easily reached via e-mail, blogs and, yes, even podcasts.
"It's a whole new way for kids to interact with Santa on a more personal level to hear what's going on in the North Pole, to hear his voice," says Todd Hustins, co-creator of a Toronto-based website that posts a daily blog and free audio podcast from Saint Nick.
"If the kids know what they're doing, it is downloadable, but you just click on it and it starts playing. We're also in Apple's ITunes, so you can subscribe to Santa's podcast and story and then it gets downloaded right to your music player."

A citação
"I don't want everyone seeing me in my swimming trunks. After all, it's no secret I don't have Brad Pitt's look."
- Pai Natal, num podcast disponível em Santa's Journal

Os sites
www.santasjournal.com
www.SantaSpeaking.com

O uso do blogue na China comunista

Num país em que a liberdade de expressão é uma ameaça, a Internet e a blogosfera são espaços criativos onde os chineses tentam dizer o que pensam.

O artigo
A Party Girl Leads China's Online Revolution
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
Published: November 24, 2005

SHANGHAI, Nov. 23 - On her fourth day of keeping a Web log, she introduced herself to the world with these striking words: "I am a dance girl, and I am a party member."
"I don't know if I can be counted as a successful Web cam dance girl," that early post continued. "But I'm sure that looking around the world, if I am not the one with the highest diploma, I am definitely the dance babe who reads the most and thinks the deepest, and I'm most likely the only party member among them."
Thus was born, early in July, what many regard as China's most popular blog.
Sometimes timing is everything, and such was the case with the anonymous blogger, a self-described Communist Party member from Shanghai who goes by the pseudonym Mu Mu.
A 25-year-old, Mu Mu appears online most evenings around midnight, shielding her face while striking poses that are provocative, but never sexually explicit.
She parries questions from some of her tens of thousands of avid followers with witticisms and cool charm.
Chinese Web logs have existed since early in this decade, but the form has exploded in recent months, challenging China's ever vigilant online censors and giving flesh to the kind of free-spoken civil society whose emergence the government has long been determined to prevent or at least tightly control.

in New York Times - International

A citação

"People have often said you can say anything you want in China around the dinner table, but not in public. Now the blogs have become the dinner table, and that is new."
- Xiao Qiang, director do China Internet Project na Universidade de Califórnia, Berkeley.

Viciados na Internet

Este artigo apresenta o resultado de um estudo sobre a utilização da Internet por adolescentes australianos e compara-o com estudos norte-americanos.

O artigo
Teenagers at risk of internet addiction
By Louise Williams and Tim Colquhoun
November 23, 2005

If your teenager spends hours huddled over a computer, there is a good chance you have something to worry about — internet addiction.
The first study of the impact of internet use on Australian teenagers found a third of respondents were "in the process of becoming psychologically addicted" and teenagers, on average, spent 13 hours a week on-line.
The pilot study, conducted by Dr Mubarak Ali of Flinders University in Adelaide, focused on 114 government and private-school students across a broad socio-economic range.

Prémios para blogues

Os melhores blogues do mundo foram escolhidos a partir de uma lista de 2500 espaços disponíveis na blogosfera.

O artigo
Blogue-novela é o Melhor Weblog

O blogue argentino "Mais respeito que sou a tua mãe" (http//mujergorda.bitacoras.com) foi considerado o Melhor Weblog pelo júri dos prémios internacionais Best of the Blogs. Pela voz de Mirta Bertotti, uma dona de casa, o blogue narra num registo humorísitco a história de uma família argentina Mirta, o marido, o sogro e três filhos adolescentes. "Mais respeito que sou a tua mãe" vai já na segunda temporada, conta com mais de 200 capítulos e foi editado em livro no mês passado.
A escolha do público recaiu sobre o brasileiro Tupiniquim (indios.blogspot.com), dedicado aos povos indígenas.
Já o Prémio Especial Repórteres Sem Fronteiras foi atribuído ao egípcio "Manal and Alaa's bit bucket" (http//www.manalaa.net). Manal e Alaa defendem no seu blogue os direitos humanos e a liberdade de expressão e acolhem discussões políticas com participantes de vários quadrantes .
Foram ainda atribuídos prémios para blogues jornalísticos em nove línguas. Em português, o distinguido foi o brasileiro No mínimo (nominimoibest.com.br).
Na categoria Podcasting ganhou o chinês "Pink Ke" (www.antiwave.net).
Os vencedores foram escolhidos de uma lista de 2500 blogues e podcasts (também chamados audioblogues), sugeridos por utilizadores de todo o mundo.

in DN Online - Media

A socialização on-line segundo Paulo Querido

A interacção social na Internet é o tema genérico do novo livro do jornalista Paulo Querido. Nele, é analisada a utilização de serviços como o MSN ou o IRC e a construção de comunidades como a blogosfera.

O artigo
Paulo Querido lança novo livro sobre a Internet
Mariana Gonçalves

O jornalista Paulo Querido lançou o seu quinto livro, intitulado Amizades Virtuais, Paixões Reais, a Sedução pela Escrita. Trata-se de uma obra sobre a Internet, onde se pretende "abrir portas e dar pistas" para uma navegação por páginas virtuais, como adiantou o autor ao DN.

in DN Online - Media

A citação

"O livro pretende dar a noção do que se pode fazer em grupo, como podemos interagir com os outros, estabelecer ligações emocionais e produzir um trabalho colaborativo."

- Paulo Querido, jornalista

Jornais on-line vs. Imprensa escrita

A consulta de jornais on-line parece estar a aumentar, enquanto as vendas de jornais impressos continua a diminuir - exemplo norte-americano.

O artigo
Publishers find good news online

Meanwhile, a new report on newspapers' Web sites shows circulation rising almost four times as fast as the Internet is growing.
Nielsen/NetRatings Inc. said newspaper Web sites posted an 11% year-over-year rise to 39.3 million unique visitors in October, accounting for one-quarter of U.S. Internet users. The increase easily outstripped growth in all Internet users of 3%.
Last week, the Audit Bureau of Circulation reported weekday printed circulation of the nation's 20 largest newspapers fell 2.6%.
"The growth among newspaper Web sites demonstrates that these entities offer unique incentives to visitors," said Gerry Davison, senior media analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings. "Most, if not all offer interactivity such as blogs, podcasts and streaming video/audio. These interactive features, combined with Internet users' thirst for up-to-date information, make newspaper Web sites an increasingly appealing choice."

Bem-vinda, WebTV

Quem a recebe de braços abertos é a AOL, mas os concorrentes Yahoo! e Google estão atentos e planeiam dar este passo em breve.

O artigo
AOL to launch online television

Internet giant America Online (AOL) has announced plans to launch a free online television service by early next year.

Para animais de estimação

Parece que a internet não muda apenas a "nossa" vida.

O artigo
DogCatRadio.com

A Internet tem uma nova estação de rádio para novos ouvintes: os animais de estimação. Funciona ao vivo durante 17 horas por dia e o resto da programação é feita por "podcast". Tem oito mil ouvintes por semana, tem DJs, horas de emissão em espanhol e discos pedidos. Serve para gatos, cães, hamsters, papagaios e outros animais que estejam por casa a pedir distracção. O fundador, Adrian Martinez, diz que começou o projecto porque o seu gato lhe pediu. O bicho gosta de rock dos anos 80, miou até que o dono aumentasse o volume da aparelhagem e nasceu uma ideia.

O site
http://www.dogcatradio.com/

A citação
"The radio station all pets enjoy!"

O fenómeno da blogosfera

A blogosfera não pára de crescer e este fenómeno continua, por isso, a surpreender e a ser notícia um pouco por todo o mundo. No artigo apresentado a seguir, fala-se da experiência norte-americana de "blogar".

O artigo

Internet goes blog wild
By EMILY C. DOOLEY
STAFF WRITER

They debate overrides and discuss fine dining.
They sling insults one moment and describe nature walks the next.
Some give their names, others remain anonymous.
This is the realm of blogging, the World Wide Web's virtual coffeehouse, where everything and everyone is fair game.
About 120 million Americans use the Internet, and 32 million read blogs, online journals that unfold into conversations by way of reader comments and replies, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported in January.
''You can find blogs on any subject, on any scandal, on any local or national issue,'' said Gloria Boone, a communications and journalism professor at Suffolk University. ''Blogs are very much becoming part of everything else - of corporate public relations, political movements. ...''
As of Friday, the largest blog search engine, Technorati.com, was tracking 20.6 million worldwide blogs, a hefty number considering 62 percent of online Americans have no idea what they are.
Good or bad, they offer a new kind of civic arena, a town square open to all, said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew project, which studies the impact of the Internet on social culture.

in Cape Cod Times

Bibliotecas on-line | A corrida à comercialização de páginas de livros

Nestes dias, é quase impossível passar ao lado das notícias que falam dos planos do Google em disponibilizar on-line uma biblioteca gigantesca que permita a qualquer pessoa, em qualquer ponto do globo, aceder, por exemplo, a obras raras num simples clique. A Amazon também já fala na possibilidade de vender apenas páginas dos livros que disponibiliza na sua loja e a Microsoft anunciou que vai colocar na net 100 mil livros da Biblioteca Britânica. Será esta mais uma revolução que a Internet vai introduzir na nossa vida e na forma como lemos?

Os artigos

Want 'War and Peace' Online? How About 20 Pages at a Time?
By EDWARD WYATT
Published: November 4, 2005

In a race to become the iTunes of the publishing world, Amazon.com and Google are both developing systems to allow consumers to purchase online access to any page, section or chapter of a book. These programs would combine their already available systems of searching books online with a commercial component that could revolutionize the way that people read books.

Microsoft scans British Library

About 100,000 books in the British Library are going to be scanned and put online by software giant Microsoft.
The books, which are out of copyright, will be digitised from 2006 and put online as part of Microsoft's book search service next year.

Quando um blogger é despedido por blogar

O fenómeno da blogosfera continua a surpreender pelo poder que encerra. Quando alguém cria um blogue, não sabe quem poderá interessar-se por ele e provavelmente, durante as primeiras semanas, apenas recebe visitas de amigos e familiares. Mas, um dia, pode mudar e aquilo que se escreveu pode ter consequências importantes na nossa vida.

O artigo

Digital Citizens: The blogger
By Darren Waters BBC News entertainment reporter

"I realised how big blogging had become when I was fired," says 30-year-old blogger Heather Armstrong.
"My traffic went through the roof and the blogging community went mad," she adds.
Ms Armstrong is a blog celebrity - if there is such a thing. Her blog, Dooce, became well-known when she was fired from her job in Los Angeles for writing about her colleagues.
"I was naive. I was writing these caricatures of my colleagues. I was working in a cold, dark office doing a job that had nothing to do with the product we were making.
"I didn't think anyone would be reading it."
But people were reading it. And now more than 55,000 people a day read her blog, which has won many awards for its incisive writing, wit and honesty.

in BBC News - Technology

Internet | O mundo é um palco, segundo os mais novos

As conclusões de um estudo sobre a utilização da Internet por adolescentes entre 12 e 17 anos são, de seguida, apresentadas por um artigo da BBC News.

O artigo

US youths use internet to create

A large swathe of young Americans use the web to create and share content as well as use other people's content for their own creations, says a report.
The Pew American and Internet Life Project research suggested that 12 to 17-year-olds look to web tools to share what they think and do online.
It also said they were much more likely than adults to read and have a weblog.
The report found that those who did have blogs were far more likely to remix and share music and images.
A third said they shared their own work - artwork, photos, stories, or video - with others online. Girls were more likely to do so than boys - 38% compared with 29%.

in BBC News - Technology

Windows Live | Mais uma revolução on-line?

A Microsoft anunciou que vai passar a disponibilizar em breve dois novos serviços: o Windows Live e o Office Live. Esta estratégia da empresa liderada por Bill Gates visa a antecipação relativamente a iniciativas dos principais rivais, Yahoo e Google. Será que estes serviços vão mais uma vez revolucionar o modo como trabalhamos?

O artigo

The portable Microsoft?
COMPANY UNVEILS ONLINE SERVICES IN BID TO ANSWER GOOGLE, YAHOO
By John Boudreau and Michael Bazeley
Mercury News

In a strategy shift to deal with a new era of competition from Internet rivals like Google and Yahoo, Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled two new sets of online services for individuals and small businesses.
Windows Live (http://www.live.com/) will allow people to create sophisticated personal Web pages with links to favorite news sites, music and e-mail. The new services would allow people to manage a range of digital content, but they would not replace Microsoft's traditional -- and lucrative -- Windows operating system running on computer hard drives.

A citação

"More and more a user's daily experience is going to shift to the Web, off the hard drive and on to the network. Instead of the Web being an adjunct to the desktop, the desktop is going to be an adjunct to the Web.''
- David Temkin, chief technology officer of Laszlo Systems, a Bay Area company that specializes in Web-based applications.

A data

O Office Live vai estar disponível em versão teste no primeiro trimestre de 2006.

Noticiabilidade segundo o utilizador de Internet

O sítio Digg hierarquiza as notícias em função das escolhas que os seus utilizadores fazem, ou seja o utilizador do Digg pode escolher as notícias que quer ler no sítio a partir de qualquer fonte on-line.

O artigo

Tagging the news you want to use
DIGG SHOVELS UP STORIES BY RANK
By Matt Marshall
Mercury News

Digg, a new San Francisco Internet start-up, seeks to rank news items by letting people choose which stories they like anywhere on the Web.
And it just received $2.8 million in venture capital from some big-name investors, including Omidyar Network, the outfit led by eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, and Greylock partners.
Relying on its audience to make submissions by "digging'' news items -- similar to "tagging'' -- Digg's software moves articles up the site (www.digg.com) based on how many "diggs'' it gets. The company says it has 80,000 registered users who are allowed to "digg,'' or select, articles (which can be anything online, from news stories, blogs, or commercial offerings). Those who don't register are able to view the ranked items. Digg says it has more than 500,000 daily visitors.
Digg is still largely focused on technology news, but it is building separate ranked lists for other types of news. It already has various sub-categories for technology, for example gaming or software.

O que é o Digg?

Digg is a technology news website that employs non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allowing an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do.

O site

http://www.digg.com/

O crescente uso das chamadas telefónicas on-line

Internet phone calls on the rise

A third of people in the US and Europe will abandon phone lines in favour of wireless and broadband telephony come 2009, say analysts Gartner

in BBC News - Technology

Notícias on-line

NBC põe noticiário na Internet de graça

A cadeia norte-americana NBC vai colocar, a partir da próxima semana, para acesso gratuito, o noticiário NBC Nightly News na Internet. As emissões anteriores ficarão também arquivadas em www.nightlynews.msnbc.com. O noticiário, transmitido às 18h30 na costa Oeste dos Estados Unidos (23h30 TMG), estará disponível na web às 22h00 (03h00TMG). "Muitos dos nossos telespectadores dizem-me que perdem frequentemente a emissão porque não estão em casa ou porque estão a tratar de assuntos família", disse o apresentador Brian Williams, citado pela AP. "Este novo serviço reflecte a mudança das nossas vidas", acrescentou. A primeira emissão do NBC Nightly News será disponibilizada on-line a 7 de Novembro.

in Publico.pt