Phantom Data: How Big a Problem?

Phantom data usage being billed against customer accounts appears to be a growing problem.

Apple iPhones apparently have had the issue, a consultant study has found. Microsoft Windows Phone 7 users have complained of inexplicable data usage being charged to their cell data accounts. Microsoft tracked down the "phantom data" bug that they attributed to a third party.

Apple continues to remain silent and some customers of the iPhone in the U.S. and abroad continue to complain to their carriers about 'phantom data' usage.

No Jitter | blog | Apple iPhone: Phantom Data Outstrips Bandwidth Supply?

10 Common Misconceptions New Users Have About Skype

Skype has become, for many, one of the preferred modes of communication, particularly over long distances. For newer users, though, there are a few misconceptions. Here are 10 of those issues.

10 Common Misconceptions About Skype

66% of Enteprises Plan to Use Cloud Services in 2011

About 66 percent of 1,ooo enterprises who are customers of Ipswitch are making cloud computing investments in 2011. For security reasons, most are choosing either private cloud, or a hybrid public-private mix.

Not Planning Any Investment: Some 36 percent of respondents are not planning any cloud spending. About 29 percent will use a private cloud approach. Some 13 percent will use a public cloud approach (Amazon, Microsoft Azure or another computing infrastructure provider). About 21 percent will use a mix of public and private approaches.

Big Biz keep Cloud thoughts private • The Register

IPv6, IPv4 Address Exhaustion and Machine-to-Machine Internet

Internet address registrars will announce soon that that last set of internet addresses has been allocated, today, tomorrow or the next day. That means device addresses will be exhausted in a few months. Then begins the process of living with two address systems for some extended period of time, as new devices get assigned IPv6 addresses.

Whether this is a manageable problem, or something bigger, remains to be seen.

Without internet addresses, we won’t have an “internet of things”

Viacom More Positive on Hulu Prospects

Viacom wasn't happy having "The Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" shown on Hulu, but now seems to have changed its views. Hulu’s introduction of subscription plans and increased advertising base now seem to convince Viacom that having its content on Hulu can pay off.

Hulu’s subscriber count is expected to pass one million this year and Hulu Plus as a business will have a revenue run rate north of $200 million this year, observers predict.

And Hulu now has 30 million monthly users, traffic which Viacom simply cannot ignore.

The Daily Show And Colbert Report Return To Hulu Via New Viacom Content Partnership

Vodafone Milestone: Data Tops SMS Revenue For First Time

Vodafone Group has hit a milestone. Vodafone's latest quarter data revenue exceeded messaging revenue for the first time. Vodafone's emphasis on sales of smartphones and associated data plans seems to have been the driver.

Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile operator by revenue, posted a 2.1 percent uptick in group service revenue, underpinned by good growth in India, Turkey, the U.K. and South Africa. It is the fifth sequential quarter of improvement.

The company said data revenue continues to drive its growth strategy and grew 27 percent on the back of "strong smartphone and mobile connectivity sales."

Vodafone Revenue Rises On Increased Data Usage - WSJ.com (subscription required)

How Groupon Might Change Advertising

"Maybe you haven’t noticed, but media companies have changed their strategy of charging for advertising," says Gordon Borrell, Borrell Associates president. 'If it continues, the business model for media might change forever.'

Group deals have allowed local businesses to offload the risk of advertising onto the media company, Borrell argues. "Advertising has become 'free,' and the media company gets paid only when a sale is made.

"If this continues, it will transform media companies into marketing partners," he argues.

Borrell Associates, Inc: Local Interactive & Online Advertising Research and Consulting