Pew Internet, a research company that studies the impact the internet has on work and life, reports that visits to online classified websites rose by over 80% this year. They also found that 17% of internet users, or 25 million people, have sold things online. Those most likely to sell online are casual users with broadband connections. Of those, 26% are 29 to 40 years old, and 20% of the total are men. 21% of college students sell online.

www.pewinternet.org

With regard to podcast downloads, about 12% of internet users say they have downloaded a podcast to listen to later. 26 million Americans use the internet daily for news, and about 42% of Americans now have high-speed internet at home.

www.pewinternet.org

With the increase in high-speed access in the home and the rise in classified selling and buying, the prediction that this will be a peak online buying holiday season seems a reasonable speculation and that the online buying trend will continue to increase, particularly in retail, throughout 2007.

Click-to-call features are now popping up all across the web. On Google maps, click the call link next to the search results, you enter your phone number, and the vendor immediately calls you. There is also a send-to-phone feature that sends travel and road route directions directly to your phone.

www.google.com/maps

On Windows Live Local (http://local.live.com/), the click-to-call feature is called Call-for-Free. You enter your phone number on your search results, and your phone rings to connect you.

In another example, if you click on the Request for Quote button on the Autobytel.com website, the car dealership closest to you automatically call you to supply specific pricing.

http://www.autobytel.com

Skypecasts are voice calls that are pre-scheduled realtime discussions of up to 100 phones. Skype 2.5 Beta for Mac has also just been released (Nov 15, 2006), allowing you to send SMS messages using Skype. The Mac version also support free chats with up to 10 people conferencing.

http://skype.com

With higher bandwidth becoming available everywhere, it’s a natural to add voice and video to blogs and WIKIs.

For example, multiple group members could link up for online scientific discussions, sharing research. If the chats are retrievable visual and audio files, this creates a powerful repository of knowledge on specific topics, making publically available information that may not be otherwise retrievable.

Skype, a leader in the telephone-over-internet arena, just introduced a fabulous new upgrade to their software that allows you to embed audio and video into your blogs. And, you can hotlink your internet phone numbers on your website!

Imagine the convenience and, possibly, the spam. Your site visitors click on a link and it dials your phone for them, automatically.

Skype currently offers free long-distance phone calling over the internet, video conference calling, and computer to landline phone calls. Sign-up for a free Sky account here:

skype.com

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