Paid-For News on Internet

I fail to understand how the pay-for-news-and-analysis business model works on the Internet. I would of course like to pay for news that is exclusive and analysis that is trenchant, leading to a distinct financial and strategic advantage for me. Such models can also work if scarcity is drummed up.
But this: news about Bing Maps??? I can read this on the Indian edition of the WSJ if and only if I subscribe to it. Wow! I thought! Must be really exclusive!
One search on the Internet and I get to know everything - everything - about Bing Maps. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
So why would someone pay for news?
News, on any media, should be free and easily accessible.
Business dealing with news can make money only through advertisements.
This is true of newspapers, true of news channels on TV and definitely true of news on Internet.

Coming back to WSJ, India.
I visit it regularly.
It has a collection of articles and news that interest me.
And when I encounter some article that is locked only for subscribers, I merely skip it; sure that I will find information on it from the Internet - free.

If you are a subscriber, perhaps you can explain me your point of view.

Global Warming: A Story of Hard(ly) Scientific Data and Gimmicks

Shortly after Maladives holding underwater cabinet meeting (see here), we have Nepal holding cabinet meeting on the slopes of the Everest (see here).

Perhaps they are not aware of the very basis of IPCC's dooms day warning lies in shambles (see here)

We do not need gimmicks ... we need quick action based on hard scientific data.

Hard scientific data? Are you joking? Read this here.

Gateway to Learning Spainsh Rapidly

See the stepped Mayan Pyramid on the right hand strip of this blog? That is the Pyramid in the Mayan city of Chichen-Itza, Mexico. That is also the gateway to an incredible software that guarantees that you will learn good Spanish in fairly quick time. Click on the pyramid.I have tried it and hence I recommend it to you unhesitatingly.

And the best thing is that you need not buy it to get started.

They - Visual Link Spanish - offer a free CD. The free CD contains their first chapter with some 11 lessons. They charge you a postage and handling of $1.95. but that's about all. This money is refunded if you buy the entire package.
This first chapter in itself is sufficient to get you started speaking in fairly good accent.

Now, if you are not interested in paying even $1.95, you can try the demo online too. The demo is identical to the CD.

Having tried the CD, I am already in love with the course and am now eagerly awaiting the delivery of the package.

Here's hoping we converse in Spanish one of these days.

Noise Isolating Devices

Ever dreamed of driving on one of the busy cities of India but nit being bothered by the noise? For those who have not experienced this, it is a nightmare.
Here you are driving back home, after a long hard day, and all you wish to do it reach home safely with the least amount of stress. Half a kilometer from your home, the traffic signal turns red. So, you stop, switch off the engine and wait patiently. Perhaps, you are listening to some music. The traffic light turns green, and wham! every bus, truck, car, scooter. motor cycle, start pressing their horns, honking with all their might, as if willing to move the traffic by sound energy. What do they expect? Traffic to flow like water?
Well, no use carping about it. SO what is the next best thing to do?
Cut off the noise.
A good noise-isolating headphone or a earphone should do the trick.
Noise-canceling headphones are no good in this situation; they work on feedback and are best suited for a constant frequency noise (such as that from aircraft engine).
For variable frequency, variable magnitude noise, noise-isolation works best.
What is noise isolation?
insert your forefingers in your ear. You block of fair amount of sound waves. That os noise isolation for you.
I recently got hold of Shure 210. There are some adverse reviews on this ear phone, but to tell you the truth, I have never been happier. It has good fidelity and has excellent noise isolating ear plugs.
If you are not so sure, or not a music-listening kind of person, here is one more method.
But some swimming ear plugs - the ones that flex.
Use those and I guarantee you stress-less driving on Indian roads.
But do not use if you ride to bike. The requirements are different. You want to stay alive while riding your cycle on Indian roads.

Amazon Kindle for Free

Why is the Amazon Kindle so expensive?
For that matter why does it come at a cost at all?
It is like the shaving razors. Companies like Gillette and Wilkinson doe not make money from selling the stick that holds that razor blade, rather from the razor blades. Razor blades are a repeat buy and yields much more revenue.
Ok a better analogy. Did you know you could by BlackBerry 9000 bold for $0.01? It comes bundled with the AT&T plan. So how do you At&T recovers the cost of Blackberry it is offering free? Yeah, you got it? Talk time, Texting, Internet access, etc.
Ditto with Kindle. It is the content (books, and magazine and newspaper subscriptions) that will yield revenue. So why not just sell The Kindle for free or at a very nominal cost. I am sure by now Amazon and other e-ink book sellers, like Sony, have already recovered the initial investment.
Already the Sony Pocket-sized Reader comes pre-loaded with 100 e-books (at least that's what I saw in England in my last recent trip). That sort of reduces the real cost to almost zero. (It is possible that the pre-loaded books are free e-books; not sure about that though). But eventually the costs will come down. because of competition and because it will make better business sense to follow the razor blade model.
Consider this. You can download "Kindle" (the software) on to your PC or iPhone. Soon it will be available for Blackberry. These are free. So why not the hardware Kindle?
What you did not know you could have a kindle on your laptop?
Go here and download kindle and get access to e-books.
It is not the same as buying the Kindle itself. But it is a stopgap. One day Kindle will be available for free.

13 Spectacular Blogs

It has been over a year that I compiled a list of blogs that in my view spectacular. I thought I should give them a visit. Except for one who has stopped blogging - who I removed from the list - the rest are still going strong. Want to spend the next two hours browsing some good, varied stuffs. Visit the list of spectacular blogs here.

An Affiliate Program That Pays You 51%

No it is not a gimmick.

If you have been an affiliate, you must by now know that all your earn is pittance. Must affiliate programm suck. Now here is one good example of how the affiliate program should actually work. You actually get 51% of the proceeds. Now that is cool.

And no I am not an affiliate yet. And I do not get paid anything for this.
Just doing what is best done on Internet - help others. :-))