November 2, 1999
Mappa.Mundi Magazine: I see business as usual.
Scott Adams. Today we say "I drove to work" and don't need to add "in a car" because it is assumed. Cyberspace, multimedia, the Internet and a host of other words will leave the language in twenty years as they also become assumed as the normal way of doing things.
Web Techniques: You Asked for It!
The customer service solutions emerging to fill this niche have their roots in several disciplines in computer science. They're enjoying a resurgence in applications including knowledge management, user-interface design, case-based reasoning, and good old-fashioned FAQ lists.
Forbes: Computer, Heal Thyself.
Kmart Corp. began moving its workers off old mainframes and onto PCs three years ago. But the switch had a dark side--calls to the company's help desk exploded. Only 40 tech-support people must field calls from a base of 7,500 users...
Web Techniques: You Rang, Erlang, and the Poisson Problem.
"The difference is that most know security is a hard technical problem and few consider CS (customer service) as such. Both CS and security include a technical and social element, and companies need to think more systemically, or holistically, about CS."
SJ Mercury: Chinese database is a gift to humanity.
Dan Gillmor. Digital Heritage Publishing Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company, has turned the enormous collection into an equally enormous database, adding the kinds of tools that will enhance scholarship: searching, annotation, hyperlinking and much more.
Web Techniques: Masters of Our Shifting Paradigm.
[Tim Berners-Lee] He adds: "The essence of working together in a Weblike way is that we function in groups." Don't think of mass markets. Think of groups that get work done -- groups of two, ten, or twenty. Think about how quickly such groups might form and dissolve when the task at hand is accomplished.
First Monday: FM Interviews: Howard Rheingold.
Access to the raw tools for many to many communication is not sufficient. You need to know how to use them. We would all be better off if the flamers, lamers, and spammers who destroyed so much of Usenet and many other virtual communities would sit in front of their keyboards.
Wired News: The Internet's 'Living Treasure'.
A 45-year-old veteran programmer, Smith retired a couple of months ago from Phar Lap, the software company he helped build and still owns but no longer runs. He started looking at Internet security issues as a hobby about three years ago, uncovering bugs and security holes in email clients and browsers.
- Forbes: From September 27, 1999; Go head and sue!
It's a sad fact, but whenever someone is cited as an expert in one publication, he is almost sure to be quoted in another--and another and another.
Mappa.Mundi Magazine: Web Site Maps from Dynamic Diagrams.
There is the perennial problem of what level of detail to display on the map; how can you show local detail for practical navigation, whilst also giving the global context of the site.
InfoWorld: Mobile technologies like Bluetooth to push e-commerce.
The large number of mobile phone users, combined with emerging technologies, including wireless application protocol and Bluetooth, means that at least 40 percent of consumer e-commerce transactions outside of North America will take place from mobile devices by 2004...
Forbes: 24/7 Media gets patent for online ad technology.
At the same time, the patent gives 24/7 Media a weapon against DoubleClick, which threatened its competitors with lawsuits when it won a similar patent for its DART targeting and ad delivery technology in September.
NY Times: Online Retailers Emptying Their Wallets on Advertising.
Convinced that this holiday season will be make-or-break, e-retailers are burning through resources as they race one another to bring their names to consumers through TV advertising.
Editor & Publisher: Digital Design Will Impact Newspapers.
The prototypes included plenty of visuals, "portal" approaches with chunks of information and many points of entry on the front page, and cross-promotion and even new tools to enable for quick transition to reading online.
Seattle Times: Shoe fetish? Nordstrom has your fit.
Less successful, in our view, was the "sole's desire" quiz which aims to show customers shoes that may match their mood, based on their answers to five bizarre questions. (Here's one: "I relate most strongly to feeling: masculine; feminine; none of the above." Hmmm.)
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