Since it launched in 2005, YouTube has become one of the few Internet properties that's much more than a domain name. Like Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, and Twitter, YouTube has become an essential service of the Internet. It's a utility, a social network, a search engine, a source of online storage, and an endless source of consternation for content owners. Some quick numbers:
YouTube now gets two billion views per day, 30% of which come from the US. The three most popular videos are Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," at 196 million views and change, with "Charlie bit my finger" and "The Evolution of Dance" following behind at 186 million and 143 million, respectively. About 24 hours of video are uploaded every minute these days, and it'd take 1,700 years to watch all the video currently available. The challenges YouTube faces in the future are both familiar and foreign. How to make money, for one thing, a challenge the site has not yet overcome (that's about the nicest way I could possibly say that--it's YouTube's birthday, after all, and I don't want to be rude). How to provide mainstream, for-profit content is another challenge, one that's the subject of constant work, from Vevo to the new movie rental service.
Then there's the challenge of the "third screen." YouTube has already conquered the first two; the computer was the first, and fell easily enough, while the mobile device was beaten thanks to the iPhone and YouTube's sister product, Android. But the TV, the third screen, has never successfully been defeated by a computer product, including Boxee, Apple TV, and Windows Media Center. According to the New York Times, Google will be announcing more details on their attempt at the I/O conference this week.
For their part, YouTube is celebrating the milestone with a special commemorative site, featuring guest curators offering their favorite video picks (among the curators are Conan O'Brien, Pedro Almodovar, and LonelyGirl15). Conan's take? Our nation's obsession with YouTube is "probably why our country's economy is in the toilet," because we're all "watching monkeys in propeller hats flush themselves down a toilet" (parallel!). So from us, happy birthday, YouTube.
Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in San Francisco (no link for that one--you'll have to do the legwork yourself).
Multilingual Web content has been around for years. Now Web domain names in non-Latin languages are finally arriving--including Arabic addresses launched in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates earlier this month; Cyrillic, launched in Russia last Thursday; and soon Chinese--easing Web access for hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Credit: Technology Review
"This is the biggest change in the Internet in 40 years," says Tina Dam, senior director of international domain names for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, which is working on implementing 21 international applications for domain names in 11 languages. "You should have seen the Russian celebration of this, it was so emotional. Suddenly their own language can be used."
The first complete Cyrillic address is http://президент.рф, meaning "president.rf" for the office of the president of the Russian federation. While the "http://" part remains in Latin characters, users will not have to type them to reach their destination.
As the change opens up the Internet, it also potentially opens up new security issues, though ICANN says it has tried to anticipate and prevent them. Web addresses formerly based only on 37 characters--A though Z, the 10 numerical digits, and the dash symbol--can now use 90,000 characters from several languages, many of these being Chinese characters. And just as a capital "O" and a zero look similar, various characters within other languages do, too.
Some security experts say that the plethora of new address possibilities could give phishers--scammers who use phony websites to trick people into handing over personal information--ways to create links that appear to be from recognized addresses. As a result, ICANN has already set a rule that any one address must only draw from one language. So while the Russian letters for C, V, and E, for example, are visually indistinguishable from their Latin counterparts, nobody will be able to create a hybrid address to exploit this. E-mail is not fully functional yet with the international domain names, but the technical protocols are being tested.
"One of the biggest principles of the Internet is the uniqueness principle," Dam says. "Computers will know the difference. But if people can't see the difference and don't know what address we are clicking on, we will have a break in the uniqueness principle."
Strictly speaking, multilanguage domain names have been possible for a decade. But, crucially, this was not true of the top-level domain--such as ".com" and ".gov," or country names like ".cn" for China or ".ru" for Russia--until recent weeks. Since few people used hybrid domain names in non-Latin languages over the past decade, the real security tests lie ahead.
Meanwhile, the software industry has some catching up to do. One example: it is common in many applications and e-mails for Latin-based Web addresses to automatically become highlighted in blue as a hyperlink. But this doesn't always happen with the new non-Latin addresses, because commonly used software does not recognize the new multilingual top-level domains for what they are. The major Web browsers, however, have all been updated.
"Nobody thought it was going to happen and didn't develop software that is capable of handling these new top level domains," says Veni Markovsi, the Russian and eastern European representative to ICANN.
Nevertheless, the impact will be enormous around the world, he says. "Think what would have happened if the Internet was created in China, and we in the U.S. needed to write the Web address in Chinese. And suddenly the world Internet community says, 'Well, now you can type your Web address in Latin characters.' That is the same feeling is for people who don't know Latin [letters]. Suddenly you will have people who might get online because they are not going to be afraid of the keyboard."
RENOVATING your home is often an aesthetic choice, but if done right, it can enhance both the abode's rental worth as well as its resale value.
Whether it's something minor (such as changing the faucet on your kitchen sink) or a major reconstruction (like adding a new floor to your home), some renovations will help recoup your returns near instantly, while others might be nothing more than an investment disaster.
Know what you want
Before getting started, it's important to decide whether the house you intend to renovate is for keeps.
“If you don't intend to sell or rent, than you're limited only by your imagination,” says KL Interior Design executive designer Robert Lee. “For the investor who's looking to rent or re-sell some day, he should realise that some renovations, though appealing to him, may end up making the house less marketable to a potential buyer or tenant,” he says.
Lee recalls a client many years ago who insisted on having nearly everything in one of the rooms in pink. “It was for his daughter. He wanted pink drapes, a pink carpet, wall, door, everything. Many years later, his daughter moved out of the home and they were looking to rent out the room but had problems finding a tenant.”
Making upgrades or changes to your home can be a costly affair. According to Lee, renovations can cost more and take longer to complete than initially envisaged.
“A lot of people that decide to renovate their home are often taken aback by how much it actually costs. When this happens, they go for relatively unknown contractors who, though cost less, tend to cut corners and give you a cheaper but less durable product,” he says.
Lee recalls a neighbour who wanted to install a new kitchen cabinet and sink but was “not willing to pay beyond a certain amount.”
“She paid RM1,500 but after only three years, the sink was shaking in its place, water was seeping into the cabinet and the wood started rotting. She ended up paying RM3,000 for a new cabinet, which, after five years, is still going strong.
“It's better to fork out a little more for something that lasts a long time. My neighbour could have just paid RM3,000 initially for a good job but because she was thrifty, she ended up paying RM4,500.”
Lee says people who want to renovate their home but are worried about the costs should do thorough research and find the best price.
Home improvements do not have to be expensive to look good and marketable. Home-Deco Art Sdn Bhd director Rachel Tam says the key to efficient spending is to spend wisely.
“The kitchen paint might be peeling but that doesn't mean you have to spend RM20,000 just to make it look good. All it may need is a fresh coat of paint and perhaps some of the appliances may need renewing,” she says.
Tam says that those looking to sell their homes should “know their limits” when it comes to making renovations.
“If you're living in a mid-to-high-end neighbourhood and plan to sell your home, it's best to limit renovations to a certain level,” she says.
“It's pointless to spend RM500,000 on renovations when the market rate for the average home within the area is just RM250,000. You're not going to make your money back when you sell.”
Lee gives an example of a client who installed a swimming pool in the yard of his home, which was located in a mid-income neighbourhood. “This guy was living in a corner single-storey terrace house. With the added space he had, he had a pool built. But when he wanted to sell the house, he had difficulties because nobody wanted to pay more for something which would require added maintenance,” he says.
For those looking to rent, knowing the type of tenant you are targeting is important too. Some tenants are only willing to pay so much.
Says Lee: “If you're living near a college or university and are targeting students as tenants, don't expect them to pay for the high-horsepower air-conditioning you installed in the room you are letting. This might be more appropriate if you are renting out to someone who's working.”
Renovations that pay
Freelance real-estate agent cum property investor Kamarul Ariff reckons that renovations made to the kitchen and bathroom are great ways to enhance the resale value of a property.
“Nowadays, people are finding more ways to beautify their kitchens and bathrooms. It's also what a lot of people look at first before buying a home.”
Ariff says renovation works can range from upgrading appliances, changing the flooring or a total make-over. “Compared to renovating the living area or a master bedroom, the kitchen or bathroom is generally smaller and tend to cost lesser - making it easier and faster to recoup your cost,” he says.
He also says building a new room or an extension, though costly, can provide good, long-term returns. “It costs a lot but then you'll be able to rent it out. You'll be recover your money in no time,” he says.
