A report commissioned by the arena Bank’s infoDev unit has cast fresh light on one of the vital more fascinating aspects of our brave new interconnected world: the virtual economy. The “third-party gaming services industry” — where wealthy but impatient players have somebody else grind away at online games for them in exchange for monetary reward — is without doubt one of the focal points of the study, chiefly due to it having generated revenues within the region of $3 billion in 2009 and now serving because the primary source of income for an estimated 100,000 young folks, primarily in countries like China and Vietnam. What’s encouraging about these findings is that almost all of the revenue from such transactions results in the rustic where the virtual value is produced, which contrasts starkly with one of the vital more traditional international markets, similar to that for coffee beans, where the study estimates only $5.5 billion of the $70 billion annual market value ever makes it back to the manufacturing country. The research also takes an intriguing have a look at the emerging phenomenon of microwork, which is composed of getting unskilled workers doing the internet’s version of menial work — checking images, transcribing bits of text, bumping up Facebook Likes (naughty!), etc. — and will also result in more employment opportunities for folk in poorer nations. To bounce back accustomed to the main points, check the links below or click past the break.
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