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Online Teaching as New Revenue Stream

In response to rapid growth within the industry of online education, UC Irvine Extension, the continuing education arm of the University of California, Irvine, has developed a new series of online courses entitled, "The Business of Teaching Online." The program is comprised of seven courses that explore new opportunities for professionals interested in earning income as online instructors, and focus on helping them develop a business in online teaching. The courses are designed to assist professionals new to the field, current educators, and corporate trainers create content for marketable courses and position themselves for paid instructor work -- to expand their horizons and their earning potential.

Online education is booming. For the past several years, online enrollments have been growing substantially faster than the overall higher education student body; and over 80 percent of students today have taken at least one online class. In fact, a recent study of more than 2,200 higher learning institutions showed that nearly 3.2 million students were taking at least one online course -- reflecting a substantial increase over the 2.3 million reported the previous year. It's a growth trend that shows no signs of leveling off, and it is opening the door to boundless opportunities for those interested in tapping into the business potential of online education.

Web-based Retailer Expands into Direct Mail

There's a message somewhere in the news that an online retailer, after a decade of online success, has decided to publish and distribute by direct mail its first dead trees catalog. Maybe it's just an urge to swim against the internet tide, or it could be a realization that e-commerce cannot serve all customers. Whatever the reason, Bare Necessities, a leading Internet retailer for brand name intimate apparel, is entering the direct mail business with the launch of its first print catalog.

The catalog provides a new way for customers to shop with Bare Necessities, whose web site is reported to be the largest Internet specialty retail website for branded intimate apparel. Bare Necessities launched its web site in 1998.

Report Examines Chinese Telecom Market

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets has announced the publication of China Telecom Analysis (2008-2012, a special report that provides research on the rapidly growing Chinese telecom market with forecasts to 2012.

China owns the world's largest telecommunication networks in terms of both network capacity and number of subscribers. As one of China’s core industries, the telecom industry has experienced double-digit growth for the past decade. The convergence of broadband telecom networks, digital TV networks, and the Internet, combined with the future deployment of 3G licenses in China, is expected to create tremendous opportunities for both domestic and foreign players in the telecom service industry. Also, the preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai are expected to add on these developments, according to "China Telecom Analysis (2008-2012)".

E-Commerce Expansion Vital to Online Retail

ChannelAdvisor, a major provider of e-commerce channel management solutions, today announced the results of a JupiterResearch study on marketing and sales strategies for online retailers. Sponsored by ChannelAdvisor and conducted by independent research firm JupiterResearch and Internet Retailer, the study provides in-depth insights into the fundamental issues driving multi-channel online retailing.

Seventy-five percent of online retailers surveyed cited multi-channel expansion as a key component in their marketing strategies. Ninety-eight percent report they market on at least two online channels.

"The results provide actionable information for retailers who are evaluating online programs including paid and organic search, and comparison shopping engines," said Brad Wolansky, Vice President Global E-Commerce of The Orvis Company. "We partnered with ChannelAdvisor for solutions to help us manage our paid search and comparison shopping engine initiatives and they have provided good value including higher ROI and predictable rates of success."

iPhone Web Application for Rental Cars

Payless Car Rental has launched an iPhone and iPod Touch optimized website. Payless, a low-cost rental car company, is one of the first car rental agencies to build a customized version of its website for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

"Payless saw the need to create a slimmed-down version of its new website for the iPhone and iPod Touch community," said Jeff Lin, Project Leader of Payless' web marketing strategy team. "Payless' iPhone interface adds convenience and loads up faster than a full website would on an iPhone or iPod Touch," he added. "By pointing their iPhone or iPod Touch to http://www.PaylessCarRental.com, iPhone and iPod Touch users can book a car in just three easy steps."

iPhone users make up nearly one-third of smartphone users in the U.S., and the Safari browser is already the most popular mobile browser in the United States. Since Apple launched the iPhone last June, the iPhone has catapulted to number two in U.S. smartphone market share, trailing only Research In Motion's Blackberry.

TechWeb Website to Study Internet's Impact

TechWeb, s global leader in business technology media, has launched the "IT Clan", an online information resource dedicated to exploring the impact of next-generation Internet technologies focused on enterprise IT. The IT Clan is part of Internet Evolution, TechWeb's provocative Website with a keen perspective on the future of the Internet.

The IT Clan's readership will comprise senior IT professionals and CIOs working within large enterprise organizations. Site users will receive access to exclusive, in-depth intelligence about the future of the Internet and its impact on the enterprise and their jobs.