February 25, 1999
NY Times: Caveat Emptor on the Web: Ad and Editorial Lines Blur.
...it is getting hard to find a source of information that does not have a financial stake in what users do with what they publish.
A List Apart: Rotating Banner Ads Stink.
Clickthrough rates on banners are low not only because banners are annoying, but because we've all learned, by sad experience, that those clicks usually take us to a humdrum page...
CBS MarketWatch: Internet mavens see more clutter by 2003.
By the year 2003, the Web will be more cluttered, more commercial and probably less private, Internet pundits predicted Wednesday.
ClickZ: Silicon Alley '99: Day 2.
But it was Esther that captured my imagination every time she opened her mouth. Her gift is her ability to crystallize the essential issues.
News.Com: Amazon tests shopping-portal strategy.
Success lies in providing something the brick-and-mortar stores can't do...
Editor & Publisher: What Newspapers Should Do (IMHO).
Steve Outing. Do whatever it takes, spend whatever it takes, to become the dominant local portal site — replacing Yahoo!, et al as an essential information-gathering tool for people in your local market.
PC Week: MSN 'personalization' key to Microsoft's e-commerce push.
The Central ID is based on the Passport personalization technology Microsoft picked up in last year's acquisition of Firefly Networks Inc.
Computer Shopper: Using Personalization to Make Web Sites More Profitable.
If you're able to provide a custom view of your site to each individual user, chances are that those users will be encouraged to make return visits.
Wired News: Here's the Deal with Priceline.
The trick with Priceline is to name a reasonable price.
News.Com: Compaq vs. Internet retailers.
Any company that doesn't offer customers a variety of ways to purchase products may only lose sales in the long run.
PC Week: Cooking up self-service support.
Companies pursuing the self-help support model, therefore, should focus on getting users over the cultural barrier to depending on technology...
News.Com: VRML looks to open source.
...3D browser and tools owner Platinum Technologies has signed a letter of intent with the Web3D Consortium to turn over the source code to those products...
Washington Post: Sites Find New Ways to Profit.
Often they mix free content with time-based, event-based and a la carte payment systems.
Upside: The Rise of Little Brother.
While Big Brother evokes the aura of an omnipotent high-tech police state, Little Brother is more banal.
ZDNN: E-commerce study slams Web sites.
Click-Here e-commerce report from Shelley Taylor & Associates. [BarnesandNoble.Com spokesman] "When we launched the Web site, we did look at what was working for us in the stores and what made sense there..."
Forbes: A computer in every shirt collar?
The new technology is known as ferroelectric random access memory, or FRAM...
News.Com: Infoseek latest portal to plan frequent-use rewards.
Some analysts think giving away freebies, another effort to buy loyalty, is just a marketing ploy, and not a very effective one.
Wired News: Web Phone: Sizzle But No Steak.
The absence of compelling content may be a serious obstacle to the wide adoption of smart phones and alternative handheld devices.
ZDNN: Internet2: Test bed or boondoggle?
Among the project's detractors are several industry observers who describe Internet2 as the equivalent of a publicly funded playground reserved for the exclusive use of university faculty and computer science majors.
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