May 4, 1999
devhead: How to Structure Your Website.
Jakob Nielsen. Giving users a sense of place is essential for Web usability. It is very disconcerting to users when they begin to feel lost in cyberspace.
News.Com: Justice Department expands NSI antitrust probe.
NSI last week received a Justice Department letter confirming the government agency's intention to look into NSI's publicly available Whois database.
ZDNN: Mainstream brands target the Web.
But the game is different for Web sites, few of which are willing to put unnecessary barriers between themselves and potential audiences -- and that includes detailed registration processes.
Web Techniques: Next-Generation IP Service Platforms.
Smart networks factor out common functions -- authentication, billing, security -- move them from the individual servers into the network, and provide them for all content services in a simple, standard manner.
ZDNN: Micropayments draw Big Money names.
The two -- Bloomberg business news service and Morningstar, an investment information service -- are part of "Sell Anywhere," a new affiliate network for content publishers that aims to generate revenues from one-time visits to sites.
Red Herring: Qpass takes a cut of digital content.
...Mr. Willis says that to become profitable, the Qpass network requires at least several hundred content creators and several thousand consumers.
NY Times: Record Label Will Distribute Music Online.
"The demand is there, and demand is being filled now by independent labels and illegal content," Kenswil said. "It's crazy for us to not recognize demand and move."
PC World: My Agent Will Call Your Agent.
Scientists there are using computer simulations and mathematical theories to model an "information economy" consisting of billions of preprogrammed intelligent agents that roam the Internet...
The Economist: The end of privacy.
Privacy is a residual value, hard to define or protect in the abstract. The cumulative effect of these bargains—each attractive on their own—will be the end of privacy.
News.Com: Computing companies urged to simplify.
[Donald Norman] "Embedded processors promise a revolution in consumer goods, but only if you adopt human-centered design philosophy..."
News.Com: Hybrid deals growing in online ads.
In these hybrid deals, which accounted for 54 percent of ad revenue, the advertisers paid lower rates for each banner but paid the Web sites a "bounty" when surfers clicked through their ads.
Editor & Publisher: International News Markup Language is Endorsed.
"NITF makes our life enormously easier and our customers can spend more time improving their content rather than converting data."
PC World: All the News Fit to Post.
[Arthur Sulzberger, chairman of the New York Times] "Trust is not just about content," he said. "It's about delivery and speed ... it's a wire-service mentality."
Adweek: Ford Marketing Chief David Ropes.
When you allow customers to engage and help themselves ... they feel empowered. And they feel good about you in the process.
Editor & Publisher: NY Times Publisher Gives Advice For Digital Age.
The first epiphany is listen to creative ideas, implement change, and embrace those changes.
Business Week: A Marketing Force as Wide as the Web: E-Mail.
Topica, which launched its service in February, is creating a megalist of E-mail discussion groups that advertisers can use to reach the audience they want.
News.Com: W3C, others seek accessible Web.
Contrary to some published reports, section 508 does not apply to Web sites created by companies that do business with the federal government.
Wired News: Buy.com Rolls with the Punches.
At the heart of the issue is whether Buy.com's business model is practical. The company sells goods below cost, hoping to make up the loss with advertising revenue.
Boston Globe: Web search site says it'll be most comprehensive ever.
Burns also said the new search system developed by his firm will enable the company to eventually create the first index of the entire World Wide Web.
Wired News: Net Overloads US Patent Agency.
Critics fear the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) -- despite its key role in the information age -- just doesn't get the Internet.
Wired News: AOL Reworks Spam Team.
...anti-spam experts worry that recent job cuts by AOL will gradually weaken the Internet service provider's ability to snuff out junk email campaigns launched from its accounts...
Upside: Keeping the E-book Shut.
If standardization and pricing aren't handled right, the electronic book industry runs the danger of repeating the fate of the PDA...
PC World: Why Bother With Berlitz?
The only obvious difference between the two implementations is that Go Network's is more direct. With Go, each page is translated automatically as you click through links.
Interactive Week: DejaNews To Stop Tracking Addresses.
Rather, DejaNews officials say, they kept the logs to track how often people clicked on e-mail links to respond to others' postings, an important measure of the service's success.
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