Most likely future micro-payments will take the pre-funded account approach. That is, people will pay $20 or something to an online escrow account, and then when they purchase content they will be charged unobtrusively until they have no more cash in the account.
You can see the beginnings of this at sites like Clitmap.com, a site that has a virtual economy and assigns you a certain number of free credits when you sign up. After you use up the credits by "buying" views of photos, you have to pay for a real account or post your own photos to earn more credits.
I appreciate the comments, but really, the (American) legal issues involved in doing this are not a big concern. I was kinda hoping the Slashdot crowd might weigh in on how this could be done *technically*. Oh well.....
First of all, the language is Portuguese, of course. Second, even if you assume that all non-profits should have to give up their.com domain names, why should corinthians.com have to give their domain name to THIS company. There must be hundreds of companies world-wide that use the word "corinthians", why should any one but the first to register have precedence?
Though the poorest country in South America might seem a poor choice for an offshore tech wonderland, I highly recommend it. Here's why: 1. The tech sector here is exploding. When I arrived just over a year ago there were three Internet Cafes in this metro area of 1 million. Now there are over 30, with 12 near our office (the information about most of these can be found at our website tunarionline.com). Rental of computers at these places is generally less than US $1 per hour. Unlimited dial-up access can now be had for $10. Half-a-year ago nobody even offered it. 2. The telecom monopoly is about to die. The big teleco is just about to officially lose its monopoly on sending data (voice or bits) out of the country, its domination has already ended unofficially. There is a huge opportunity opening up for ISP and related services. 3. It's still wide open. With an extremely modest investment our web design company (Tunari.com has already gained reasonable publicity. While we might have had to struggle for years or spend millions on advertising in the US just to kiss the ass of an Amazon.com, in Bolivia there is still no giant famous Internet retailer, auctioneer, classified site, and so on, though I suspect there will be soon. 4. It's still a little wild. While US senators seem to be competing to see who can limit Internet freedom the most, Internet regulation here is at least two years off. Pirated CDs (software, music), should you desire, can be had at dozens of locations. Whole families share motorcycle rides without helmets. Lawyers here are glorified clerics, lawsuits are extremely rare. 5. The living's. Food and housing are dirt cheep (full-time live in maids run US $100 a month). The locals are patient with "gringos", and they speak a slow, easy to understand Spanish. They will tell you your Spanish is "muy bien" even when you know it still sucks. The local newspaper is of Chicago Tribune caliber. The climate is good, and they have the largest, sprawlingist, get-anything-you-want market in South America.
Slashdot Mirror
Most likely future micro-payments will take the pre-funded account approach. That is, people will pay $20 or something to an online escrow account, and then when they purchase content they will be charged unobtrusively until they have no more cash in the account.
You can see the beginnings of this at sites like Clitmap.com, a site that has a virtual economy and assigns you a certain number of free credits when you sign up. After you use up the credits by "buying" views of photos, you have to pay for a real account or post your own photos to earn more credits.
I appreciate the comments, but really, the (American) legal issues involved in doing this are not a big concern. I was kinda hoping the Slashdot crowd might weigh in on how this could be done *technically*. Oh well.....
Check out confluence.org, where people can post photos and descriptions of every long. lat. combination on the globe.
First of all, the language is Portuguese, of course. Second, even if you assume that all non-profits should have to give up their .com domain names, why should corinthians.com have to give their domain name to THIS company. There must be hundreds of companies world-wide that use the word "corinthians", why should any one but the first to register have precedence?
Though the poorest country in South America might seem a poor choice for an offshore tech wonderland, I highly recommend it. Here's why: 1. The tech sector here is exploding. When I arrived just over a year ago there were three Internet Cafes in this metro area of 1 million. Now there are over 30, with 12 near our office (the information about most of these can be found at our website tunarionline.com). Rental of computers at these places is generally less than US $1 per hour. Unlimited dial-up access can now be had for $10. Half-a-year ago nobody even offered it. 2. The telecom monopoly is about to die. The big teleco is just about to officially lose its monopoly on sending data (voice or bits) out of the country, its domination has already ended unofficially. There is a huge opportunity opening up for ISP and related services. 3. It's still wide open. With an extremely modest investment our web design company (Tunari.com has already gained reasonable publicity. While we might have had to struggle for years or spend millions on advertising in the US just to kiss the ass of an Amazon.com, in Bolivia there is still no giant famous Internet retailer, auctioneer, classified site, and so on, though I suspect there will be soon. 4. It's still a little wild. While US senators seem to be competing to see who can limit Internet freedom the most, Internet regulation here is at least two years off. Pirated CDs (software, music), should you desire, can be had at dozens of locations. Whole families share motorcycle rides without helmets. Lawyers here are glorified clerics, lawsuits are extremely rare. 5. The living's. Food and housing are dirt cheep (full-time live in maids run US $100 a month). The locals are patient with "gringos", and they speak a slow, easy to understand Spanish. They will tell you your Spanish is "muy bien" even when you know it still sucks. The local newspaper is of Chicago Tribune caliber. The climate is good, and they have the largest, sprawlingist, get-anything-you-want market in South America.