December 22, 1999
NY Times: In Season of Giving, Europe Offers Special Challenges for Online Retailers.
Across Europe, too, retailers are hoping that this will be a breakthrough period for electronic commerce. But merchants in Europe have already found that varied laws, languages and customs are posing challenges that their American counterparts have largely not had to face.
SF Chronicle: E-Tailers Creating Last-Minute Frenzy.
Like entry into a secret club, consumers originally had to be directly solicited by the retailer to even learn of these deals. But Web sites quickly sprang up that gave away the passwords, an event the retailers have decided they welcome. ``If posting the password either attracts a new customer or encourages a returning customer to shop again, we're happy,'' said Amazon spokesman Bill Curry
Webmonkey: Will Browsers Ever Not Suck?
Jeffrey Veen. The reality, then, is that HTML just isn't cut out for the kind of interface and design work we demand today. The sloppy guesswork of our browsers may have bolstered early '90s document transfer, but we've clearly evolved beyond physics papers and online telephone directories.
WebWord.Com: Thinking Beyond Web Usability.
Interview with Donald Norman. Usability is always secondary. It's never the most important thing about an experience. I will accept poor usability if I get what I need, if the total experience is great. I will reject perfect usability if I am not rewarded with a useful, engaging experience.
ClickZ: End The Patent Wars.
That, in a nutshell, is the problem with offering patent protection to business processes like reverse auctions or one-click ordering. The patent in this case doesn't just protect the way you did something; it protects all ways of doing that thing. Rather than supporting innovation, business process patents stop it in its tracks.
MIT Technology Review: Dr. Email Will See You Now.
EchoMail, says Shiva, is a combination of pattern recognition techniques that, by decoding, routing and in many cases answering e-mail, lends his customers the “sensory and cognitive ability” needed to win customers online and keep their loyalty.
USA Today: Network Solutions eyes business split.
Network Solutions Inc., which runs the database that manages Internet addresses, said it's considering separating its registry and registrar businesses to be eligible to continue to operate the database for the federal government for another four years.
InfoWorld: WAP-enabled phones to get voice interface.
"It [makes PDAs] obsolete ..." Grant said. "People have to go out and purchase a PDA. They already have a cell phone." According to Grant, it will be apparent by the first quarter of 2000 that voice-based wireless technology will become dominant in the mobile phone industry.
Internet Week: Beenz.com And Mondex Team On Smart Card.
Beenz.com and Mondex International Ltd., a division of MasterCard International Inc., said yesterday that they are jointly developing a smart card capable of carrying both Mondex's own digital cash and beenz.
NY Times: AOL Extends Its Borders by Buying Mapquest.com.
[Jordan Rohan of Wit Capital] He added, "Many of AOL's users are not aware that free Web-based content exists outside of AOL. This enables AOL to get inside the walls. Other companies have to pay a lot to get inside those walls."
MIT Technology Review: Gifts that Keep Giving: Patents.
This Christmas, universities added patents to their wish list. In the latest trend in corporate philanthropy, large companies are giving away millions in unused intellectual property, and walking away with a tax write-off—and plenty of good will.
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