June 17, 1999
NY Times: Banner Ads Are Under the Gun -- and on the Move.
Now, ads seem to spread over a typical Web page like ivy: mixed in with the content in the middle of a page, off in the right margin of the browser window, or in pop-up windows that appear out of the blue.
News.Com: Sony eyes new online course.
The e-commerce plan, which is expected within three months, will allow dealers to once again sell Sony consumer goods over the Web and will "likely" involve direct sales from Sony.
Boston Globe: No worry of being 'Amazoned'.
Staples is trying. The company has created a number of features in its Web business that do not exist elsewhere. On-line customers, for instance, can easily get a history of their past purchases. They can get e-mail reminders to reorder.
Internet Week: eBay Retrenches.
eBay's failures could be a harbinger of problems that, left unchecked, could cause problems at other auction sites or even other e-commerce sites that eventually will handle similar patterns of personalization and transaction traffic...
Forbes: Adobe Targets the Net
A key to Adobe's future success may be its ability to develop programs for specific segments of the market rather than trying to force consumers to buy a $630 program like PhotoShop.
Washington Post: .Com Live Interview with Jakob Nielsen.
...talking about the top mistakes of Web design, how the Internet architecture is evolving, and how the structure and design of the Web affects the way people use it.
News.Com: AOL sharpens ICQ ambitions.
[Ted Leonsis, president of AOL's Interactive Properties Group] "This year is really a year to make [turn] that time online into page views, page views into impressions, and impressions into dollars..."
Freedom Forum: On flaming, Part 2: A code of ethics for dealing with flames.
Jon Katz. A tech or not, the writer has to accept the fact that some, if not most, of his ideas will turn out to be incomplete, illogical, even wrong. This is the very different reality of the interactive writer: the willingness not only to receive criticism, but also to accept and study it.
Adweek: Selling Simplicity.
"As the Net grows, it grows disproportionately," says Schiavone. "There's more garbage than there is good stuff. There's a sales axiom: too many choices create inaction."
XML.Com: E-Book Standards Edge Forward.
After OBE 1.0 is completed, work will start on version 2.0, which will be strictly XML-compliant and reflect a rigorous separation of content and presentation format.
InfoWorld: Microsoft banks on ClearType to spur electronic books.
....the technologies will launch a lot of new areas such as eBooks, tablet PCs, ePads and ePaper, with eBooks to come out of the gate first with "major announcements" in about six months.
RCFoC: The Money Spinner.
...these moves (and others) towards cutting the cord for both mobile and fixed Internet users make the end result -- pervasive, Internet Anywhere access -- not a "maybe" but only a "when."
Wired News: Cheaper Net Access in Japan?
But Net users in Japan shouldn't hold their breath awaiting a break in prices. Flat-rate access likely won't be introduced before 2001...
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