NetAid
"The Internet has become a powerful force for change-not just for business, but
for helping people. NetAid is a first-of-its-kind initiative that will demonstrate that
power." (Cisco Systems).
By the time you read this article "NetAid" should be a
house-hold name and if you haven't heard of it, where have you been? On Saturday October
9th 1999, the Internet version of LiveAid - NetAid - will be webcasted to the World from http://www.netaid.org
This charitable event is being taken very seriously, so much so that on
Wednesday 8th September 1999, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Tony Blair had a
video-conference for the official launch of NetAid.org .To enable this to run smoothly on
the Net, some major companies have become involved: Cisco Systems http://www.cisco.com, the world leaders in Internet
technology, KPMG http://www.kpmg.com , a world
leader in Internet-based solutions and the United Nations Development Programme, http://www.undp.org
Combined, these companies will provide the infrastructure and technical
expertise that will ensure NetAid's success. NetAid Statistics...
1. Streaming capability will be 10 times greater than any prior Webcast - 125,000
simultaneous live streams - accommodating a viewing capacity of more than 10 million
people over the course of the concert (approx. 10 hours).
2. The Web site will have the capacity to handle 60 million hits per hour
- 10X the peak of the last Olympics and 1998 Men's World Cup.
3. Able to handle 1000 secure e-payment transactions per second - the
most efficient large-scale e-commerce capability ever developed.
4. Distributed network architecture will include more than 1,500 servers
in 90 plus data centres world-wide.
Sorry for throwing these technical statistics at you, but this demonstrates
some scary hardware and software not seen on the Internet before. Excited? I'm quivering! (Vince
quivering? Nahhh!...Ed)
Anyway, back to the reason why this event is occurring. NetAid's
objectives are to end hunger, help refugees, save the environment, secure human |
rights, and relieve world debt - very similar to
previous attempts, but using different technology. Visitors to the NetAid web site can
donate money using secure credit card transactions or purchase tickets for the concerts
on-line.
To listen to the on-line concerts, you will have to download the RealPlayer
Plus G2 player available at: http://www.real.com
/products/player
The three concerts, NetAid Giants Stadium, NetAid Wembley and NetAid Geneva, will include
artists such as Bon Jovi, Jimmy Page, Counting Crows, Sting, Bryan Adams, David Bowie,
George Michael, The Corrs, Stereophonics, Robbie Williams, Des'ree, Texas and many more.
Quite a turn out! I just hope our ISPs over here in the UK will be able to handle the huge
numbers of users wishing to log-on at the same time. Taxi Web Sites
Lately I've been neglecting reporting on taxicab web sites, so this month I've
visited http://www.london-taxi.co.uk No
it's not LTI's site, it's a site owned by Jamie Owens -who is also heavily involved with
The Albany charity.
Jamie's site is very busy indeed and is a good site - well worth a visit. However, it has
one annoying sound file that is downloaded (at least it is annoying to me - you may like
it). I'm not a lover of web sites with sound unless it really adds to the visiting
experience - this one is more for atmosphere.
Jamie's site includes many sections that should prove popular, such as the
WebRing (a collection of similar web sites all linked together), Chat page, Story Board,
Message Board and Sales Board. He has obviously he's been working very hard on
london-taxi.co.uk and I'm sure it will turn into a very successful site. It is certainly
worth a visit. Jamie is also a subscriber to Dial-a-Cab.
Graphic 'Nickers'
I've visited many world-wide taxicab web sites and have been amazed that so many
of them have stolen my graphics that I've spent ages on developing, without even asking my
permission (Jamie's isn't one of them!). OK, I can't stop them, but it would be nice if
they asked before taking, especially when I've been commissioned by a client to design the
images.
Anyway, that's all from me for now. Don't forget to join me on Saturday 9th
October at
http://www.netaid.org |
