2008: Year of the virtual world for kids?

Move over Second Life. Kid-focused virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Webkinz, and a string of site start-ups loom as the new and hot Web playgrounds for 2008.

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It Will Pay You To Learn The Economics Of Free

The last several days, I’ve been following an interesting thread at Chris Anderson’s blog, The Long Tail. Anderson is writing a new book titled Free. In the world’s hypercompetitive economic environment, the most outrageous price of all is zero, and the economics of zero is fascinating. The story that captured my attention was his post early this month—Next: Free Cars. Anderson tells a story about Shai Agassi who is starting a new venture to become the largest electric car company in the world. The catch: the car is free, but you’ll pay for the electricity. And what really hooked me was one of Agassi’s comments:

The cost of the average used car in Europe is now cheaper than the cost of gasoline to drive it for a year.

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Mobile Banking: Ready for Prime Time?

The mobile banking arena is heating up, and, just in time for the holidays, so too is the marketing push from banks to get people to use the service. American Banker (registration required) reported that Wachovia and SunTrust have launched new services, and AT&T Corp. will unveil today new handsets with preloaded mobile banking software. 

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Computers Outrank Peace/Happiness for Top Holiday Gift

What’s your top most wished-for holiday gift? A new national survey suggests that Americans favor computers first, peace and happiness second, big screen televisions third, followed by clothes and then money. 

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Surfing the Friendly Skies with Broadband

“Getting away from it all” soon could become more difficult, thanks to an announcement by Alaska Airlines this week to test in-flight broadband service. 

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