iTunes traffic levels level servers.

Apple's influence on podcasting felt around the net.

Geek News Central is reporting that Apple's new iTunes is taking down servers due to the new traffic levels. Hmmm, did podcasting get too popular too fast without having a business model behind it to support a huge wave of new traffic?

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

UPDATE: Danny Ayers on the probable causes of the meltdown.

9:20:28 PM    

The Internet Sales Tax is here.

If you sell goods or services on the Web (products, e-Learning, whatever), pay attention to this article in The Washington Post. The eighteen states involved in the network are Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, New Jersey, Arkansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming. You can bet that any other states that aren't already collecting sales taxes on internet sales originating within their borders will be joining the network soon. Currently the network states are "encouraging" online vendors to participate voluntarily but as soon as Congress authorizes online taxes participation will be mandatory.

I predict this will be a large problem for small entrepreneurs. I wonder how the states will collect taxes on sales made by companies outside the U.S., and whether this may not lead to one more business opportunity moving offshore.

States Move Forward on Internet Sales Tax . Tax officials, state lawmakers and industry representatives agreed Thursday to establish an 18-state network for collecting taxes on Internet sales, a compact they hope will encourage online retailers and Congress to endorse a mandatory national program. By Brian Krebs. [Technology - Industry News, Policy, and Reviews]

9:16:07 PM    

Happy Canada Day! Happy U.S. Independence Day!

See you all on Tuesday ... drive carefully, hear?

Bill

2:51:13 PM    

Building our understanding of learning in the age of technology.

"The effects of new teaching technologies in terms of a long–standing struggle between two views of knowledge: knowledge as performance and knowledge as thing."

Teaching as performance in the electronic classroom - Doug Brent, First Monday. [Online Learning Update]

11:59:21 AM    

Is distance education inferior?

Situating the Zone of Proximal Development - George E. Marsh II and John J. Ketterer, Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration. Social constructivist theory has advanced the notion that distance education is inferior, because effective learning is thought to require immersion in a cognitive apprenticeship under the guidance of a mentor. [Online Learning Update]

11:55:09 AM    

Weblogs being used for stealth advertising.

Another entry in the Really Bad Idea category. Some serious ethical issues are involved here, especially for webloggers who don't reveal that they are being paid for product placement mentions.

From The Boston Globe:

"With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company." [Boston Globe]

11:47:45 AM    

Apple and podcasting.

Apple Takes Podcasts Mainstream with Million Signups. Apple said subscriptions from the new iTunes Podcast Directory surpassed the 1 million mark within two days of being offered as part of iTunes version 4.9, released Tuesday, according to TechWeb... [MarketingVOX - The Voice of Online Marketing]

Dave Winer had some comments about Apple's format, too. [Scripting News]

11:39:49 AM    

Advertisers and podcasting.

Entrepreneurs who want to use podcasts as a means of raising awareness and interest might pay attention to what the advertisers, and to which approaches work and which ones bomb. In general, I would guess that giving content away might work best for most entrepreneurs, but the advertisers are going to set the pace for "production values."

From MarketingVOX --

From Cars to Cat Food - Advertisers Giving Podcasts a Try. Car and pet-food marketers are kicking the podcast tires and beginning to scratch the surface of what the new medium might have to offer, write AdAge and ClickZ, reporting on new campaigns making use... [MarketingVOX - The Voice of Online Marketing]

11:38:04 AM