Archive for the ‘Services’ Category

 

The Basics of the Digital Currency Bitcoin

Monday, April 1st, 2013

This past Thursday The Verge announced that the total value of the digital currency Bitcoin had surpassed $1 billion.

This news no doubt sparked a variety of reactions from “I wish I would’ve invested when it was $13 two and a half months ago” to “what is a digital currency?”

Bitcoin Surpasses Banks

Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency. In other words, it’s a currency that circumvents banks, governments and financial institutions by operating peer-to-peer. The thinking is that by surpassing banks, fees will be less and more control gained by Bitcoin users.

Bitcoin opponents cite hacking attempts as a vulnerability to the digital currency, while proponents see Bitcoin as more secure than traditional monetary systems because users have more control.

Where Can I Use Bitcoins?

After downloading the Bitcoin software and creatiting a digital wallet, Bitcoins may be purchased and used in several different platforms.

 +Use SpendBitcoins.com to convert Bitcoins into gift cards from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iTunes. 

+ Receive purchase codes for services like XBoxLive and  PSN instantly online at Bitcoincodes.com.

+Buy music, ebooks, wallpapers and other downloadable content at CoinDL!

Users can also use sites like LocalBitcoins.com to search for local users who want to buy or sell Bitcoins with cash.

It Bitcoin a Safe Investment?

Seeing the currency rise so dramatically over the past few months may tempt would-be investors to purchase Bitcoins. Yet, on March 19, The Economist made this statement:

Online interest in the currency has spiked in recent months. Though an increasing number of legitimate businesses are adopting the currency—one Finnish software developer has offered to pay its employees in Bitcoin—it still has relatively few users. Its primary commercial use is probably to buy drugs from Silk Road, a sort of pirate eBay hidden in the “deep web”. This suggests that the new users are buying Bitcoin as an investment, not as a means of exchange. For any currency to thrive it needs users, not just speculators.

 Question: What do you think about Bitcoins? Will the be a passing fad or is it the next big thing?

 

 

 

Have a YouTube Channel? Soon You Can Charge Your Subscribers

Monday, March 25th, 2013

Since its inception, YouTube has experimented with many designs, functions and monetization strategies. To monetize a YouTube video prior to April 2012, a user had to be invited to the elite YouTube Partner Program. While the exact qualifications to get invited to the exclusive program weren’t entirely known, users sought to get invited and make money from their cat-pouncing and baby-giggling video masterpieces.

In April 2012, YouTube opened the partnership program to all users, allowing them to monetize any videos that met these specifications. This move was  a strategic move by YouTube to gain more revenue.

And based on the stats below, the revenue stream will only continue to grow. From YouTube’s stats page:

+Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month
+Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
+72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
+70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
+YouTube is localized in 53 countries and across 61 languages
+In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or around 140 views for every person on Earth
+Millions of subscriptions happen each day. Subscriptions allow you to connect with someone you’re interested in — whether it’s a friend, or the NBA — and keep up with their activity on the site

By monetizing this massive amount of video, YouTube was a steal for Google at its purchase price of $1.65 billion in 2006. With the popularity of video on the rise, YouTube recently divulged their desire to allow content creators to charge for subscriptions–another cash cow for YouTube, as they’ll surely take a cut.

Robert Knycl, head of content at YouTube, made this shrouded remark at a meeting last week in LA: “the potential of paid channels unlocks an opportunity to create new revenue streams.” (Source)

When the executives choose to rollout this shift is not yet known, but the liklihood of it happening is as sure as the fact that in the time it’s taken you to read this, nearly 216 hours of content has been uploaded to YouTube.

Time to upload a video?