According to Netcraft’s April web server survey, there are 80 million hostnames on the Internet now. This means the number has doubled since reaching 40 million in April 2003.
(via heise.de)
The Web has doubled in size since 2003
Technology
The Sleuth’s surprising online success: it’s no mystery
Just reading through the March edition of The Merchant of Menace, the newsletter of Toronto mystery bookstore Sleuth of Baker Street. It includes an online success story of its own. The Sleuth started an online store a few months ago. According to the newsletter, the owners were surprised about the number of non-mysteries that people ordered through their online shop.
Being a Sleuth customer myself, I think there’s a simple reason. The Sleuth is a great specialized store with outstanding customer service, which includes staff with passion, real knowledge and insights about the authors and books they sell. Those qualities are hard to find in the age of mega bookstores and online-only retailers, and they deserve support. Buying non-mysteries through the Sleuth’s online store is easy and convenient, and an additional way for happy customers to support an independent book store.
The online shop is powered by Canadian software TBM BookManager, which – according to its website – helps more than 400 bookstores across Canada and internationally. The first version of the point-of-sale software came out in 1986, and twenty years later it has a database of more than four million titles and added functionality that lets independent book stores create their own online store.
It may not be the type of Internet business that gets Web 2.0 enthusiasts excited. But to me, this is what much of the power of the Internet is really about – making self-service easy and simple for the interests of individuals and niche markets.
There’s an interview with TBM BookManager founder and president Michael Neil in the March print edition of book trade magazine “Quill and Quire”. I’ll see if I can pick up a copy next time I am in The Sleuth.
I’m giving JAlbum a try
For years I’ve been putting photos on my little personal homepage so my family and friends in Germany can see what we’re up to here in Toronto. I’ve tried Corel (Jasc) Photo Album, which wasn’t great, and Google’s Picasa, which was an okay if somewhat limited experience. And Flickr still doesn’t seem all that appealing to me, despite its great blog integration. But now I found JAlbum. It looks like a great free software tool that allows a lot of flexibility and is written for the exact purpose of creating photo albums on the web, so I will give it a try. It just seems to be in contrast to many of the other digital imaging tools which are treating web album creation as an afterthought. I’ve just started using JAlbum. Let’s see how it goes.
Canada’s Top 300 Technology Companies according to Branham
The Branham Group announced their annual listing of the top 300 Canadian technology companies. Not a lot of suprises in 2006 but it provides a good overview of the Canadian market. Categories include:
• Top 25 Multinationals
• Top 20 Movers and Shakers
• Top 25 Up and Comers
• Top 25 Canadian Software Companies
• Top 25 Canadian IT Professional Services Companies
• Top 10 Canadian IT Security Companies
• Top 10 Canadian xSPCompanies
• Top 10 Canadian Wireless Solution Providers
• Top 25 ICT Hardware and Infrastructure Companies