Working from home has its perks, but it’s important to have a break now and then. Sometimes I clear my brain with a computer game, one of my favorites is an online version of Scrabble, “Betapet”.  It’s a Swedish version of the game and I have many friends in the game.

One of them is working on a ship, at the moment on it’s way to Rotterdam. I guess life on a ship can get pretty boring when you’re not working, not that much to do. However, on this ship, they have an active Internet connection!  It’s obviously a satellite link, but the connection is shared via a wireless network. This means that the crew can stay in touch with friends and family, use chat and email and even play online games.

Even though the technology isn’t exactly new, I still find it amazing.  I’m at home, playing a game with someone that’s on a ship at sea, literally in the middle of nowhere.

In Sweden, you can get wireless access to the Internet via 3G cell operators. For a flat-rate fee of less than 200SEK (appx $30) per month, you can connect to the world from your laptop. You get a decent, up to 7Mbit, connection that works in most parts of the country (well, there are some white spots on the coverage maps).

And it’s just the beginning.

Yeah, I like Amazon.  I’ve been a customer for 10 years and it’s possible to make money from the affiliate program.  But the former “book store” does have a few cards hidden up their sleeve.

Robert Scoble wrote an interesting post about Internet companies that runs their whole business without having any servers.  Read it to find the connection to the world famous book store.

In my opinon, Google has earned its place as the number 1 search engine. The geeks over at Google are bright and top notch, delivering innovative solutions like Google maps and Gmail.  Adwords was ground-breaking when it was released, it made it possible for small businesses to utilize web advertising with good control over the costs and results.

The downside is that Google may be growing into a monopoly. Google’s share of the search engine marketing continues to grow at the expense of its main competitors. Yahoo & MSN just don’t cut a good slice of the cake.

This dominance of online advertising, with the success of AdSense and the lack of alternatives, raises the possibility of a Google monopoly in online advertising.  They might end up governing the whole Internet and will have great powers to influence the success of other companies trying to make a buck from Internet users.

A company that grow too much may crumble from it’s own weight.  Recently, Cringley listed a few signs that this may already be happening:  The Next Microsoft

I’ve seen some of the signs myself. Sites I’m involved in are getting traffic from Adwords with keywords that are not in the campaign. For some reason, the Google algorithm decides that the keyword is relevant and displays the ad. The advertiser will be paying for the click, but the landing page may not at all be prepared for visitors searching for this particular keyword and no conversion is made. Stuff like this may cause the advertiser to leave Adwords and search for other options, but what if there are no alternatives?

Well, it’s not as exciting as it sounds. It’s not a phone, but an open platform, “Android”. Andy Rubin is behind it and it seems that he reused some ideas and principles from Sidekick.

Android is based on a Linux kernel and the platform is released as part of the Open Handset Alliance, among the members you’ll find Intel, Nvidia, T-Mobile, LG, Motorola and eBay (!). The first device using the Andriod platform is expected “next year” so I guess it could become a great christmas gift in 2008…

(read more at the Google blog)