Business Week calls it MySpace for the Office.

Visible Path is taking a different approach. While LinkedIn is aimed mostly at individuals who pay fees depending on the level of service, Visible Path sees companies as its main market. "Our business model is different because the enterprise pays, not the individual," says Brydon. "The value in our case accrues to the enterprise, although it also accrues to individuals who comprise the enterprise."

Ipsos Insight has come out with a study.

Today, the personal computer remains the dominant platform to access the Internet globally. However, Internet access via the mobile phone actually outpaces wireless access from a notebook PC in many of areas of the world – a statistic driven largely by the massive install base of mobile phones throughout the world as well as more developed wireless networks, according to The Face of the Web, the annual study of Internet trends by global market research firm Ipsos Insight.

Indeed, Internet browsing via a wireless device is showing robust growth in many global markets. France and the U.K are exhibiting the strongest growth in this trend, while Internet usage via mobile phone in Japan also continues to grow rapidly. Today, four in 10 adults browse the Internet on their wireless handset in Japan, double the rate from 2003. However, growth in Internet browsing on a mobile phone is flattening in other leading markets, such as the U.S. and Canada, where wireless Internet access via notebook PC appears to be emerging as the stronger out-of-home Internet platform.

News.com writes:

Online payment specialist PayPal, a unit of Internet auction giant eBay, has introduced PayPal Mobile to North America. The wireless version of its service enables users to buy goods and exchange money using their phones. Transactions are conducted by secure text message.
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Motorola is said to be targeting the market, as are startups Obopay and TextPayMe. And credit card companies, including Visa, are testing a contactless payment technology in phones called near field communication (NFC), which uses radio waves to transmit transaction data. In the NFC trials, participants use their phones to make purchases at a coffee shop, download a movie trailer in a DVD store, shop from their home TV and buy concert tickets from a smart poster.

Ryan Stewart writes: "In the coming months we will see a new wave of Rich Internet Applications that will blend the web application and the desktop application in exciting new ways. There are three technologies on the horizon that will change the way people use the web: LaszloSystems' OpenLaszlo, Microsoft's WinFX (codename Avalon) and Adobe's Flex 2."

MarketingSherpa offers a nice summary.

Dear Abhishek,

The past year has been an amazing one for you – and for India. Even as the stock market has risen about 70% during this period, India is now perhaps entering a golden phase – one not seen for many centuries. There’s tremendous worldwide interest in India – as a market, as a source of innovation, as a provider of human capital, and more. The India you will grow up in will be very different from the one I grew up in. Your India will be a world power – respected and admired. It is something that I could not have imagined a decade or so ago. But that’s how the world turns.

It is still an India that is poor – and one that will remain so at least for the first few decades of your life. We will need many years of rapid growth to make up for all those past errors. But India has to its advantage a democratic foundation, a young population, and a vast reserve of entrepreneurial talent. There’s a lot to be done, and hopefully, in your prime, you will be able to make a positive difference in your own way.

It is an exciting time to be living here. There’s so much change. Infrastructure is being built around – roads, improving airports, even the railways are now profitable and talking customer service! There’s a lot of investment coming into India. In the 1990s, one used to read about all the things that were happening in China. Hopefully, the next ten years will see people being surprised with India’s progress and development.

It is an India that is confident now. Yes, we still worry about our politicians, but we are not obsessed with them now. We are hungry for growth. We want the best – fast. The other day, we were at one of the malls in Mumbai and your mom remarked that pretty much every international brand now had a presence there. I guess she’s now only waiting for Wal-Mart to arrive!

India’s biggest challenges will be in the areas of education (200 million people need to learn to read), healthcare (making it affordable for all), energy (so we don’t increase the costs of our own development – and don’t pollute the planet). Rural development is critical to India’s future – and while there are investments happening in rural India, not all of it gets to what it’s intended for. And more often than not, the thinking itself about the decisions made is flawed.

Why am I telling you all this? You are still just a year old. You know something? There are times when I think you are as old as the New India that we are seeing! Your spirit and exuberance reminds me so much of our country. As you both grow up, I hope that same positive energy stays – and infects the world around.

Happy Birthday, Abhi. Here’s wishing you – and India – another great year.