Monday, June 20, 2005
MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines:
"Blinkx Adds Forbes.com Video To Content Cache
by Gavin O'Malley, Monday, Jun 20, 2005 6:00 AM EST
VIDEO SEARCH INNOVATOR BLINKX.TV TODAY is expected to announce a partnership with Forbes.com. The deal boosts Blinkx's growing database of searchable video content, and makes Forbes.com's content easier to find on the Web. Forbes.com's broad video network covers business, finance, and economic events; lifestyle, including travel, real estate, and personal finance; and breaking news. The network presents such subjects via C-level interviews, spot news, special reports, and coverage from the field.
Blinkx uses voice recognition software to transcribe the content of audio and video segments, so that users can search by words or phrases to find the exact broadcast material they're looking for.
The search engine returns screenshots of the videos, delivering users to Forbes' site to watch the ad-supported content. Non-exclusive relationships of this sort dramatically increase the amount of content that searchers can find, as well as search relevance.
Blinkx currently gives searchers access to videos from over 70,000 hours of online videos, with sources ranging from Reuters to Fox News to ESPN.
Last week, Blinkx said it entered into a similar agreement with content destination IFILM. The deal adds IFILM's array of short films, movie and video game trailers, and television clips to Blinkx's content cache.
Blinkx also will announce partnerships with a few major print brands this summer, according to a company spokeswoman."
"Blinkx Adds Forbes.com Video To Content Cache
by Gavin O'Malley, Monday, Jun 20, 2005 6:00 AM EST
VIDEO SEARCH INNOVATOR BLINKX.TV TODAY is expected to announce a partnership with Forbes.com. The deal boosts Blinkx's growing database of searchable video content, and makes Forbes.com's content easier to find on the Web. Forbes.com's broad video network covers business, finance, and economic events; lifestyle, including travel, real estate, and personal finance; and breaking news. The network presents such subjects via C-level interviews, spot news, special reports, and coverage from the field.
Blinkx uses voice recognition software to transcribe the content of audio and video segments, so that users can search by words or phrases to find the exact broadcast material they're looking for.
The search engine returns screenshots of the videos, delivering users to Forbes' site to watch the ad-supported content. Non-exclusive relationships of this sort dramatically increase the amount of content that searchers can find, as well as search relevance.
Blinkx currently gives searchers access to videos from over 70,000 hours of online videos, with sources ranging from Reuters to Fox News to ESPN.
Last week, Blinkx said it entered into a similar agreement with content destination IFILM. The deal adds IFILM's array of short films, movie and video game trailers, and television clips to Blinkx's content cache.
Blinkx also will announce partnerships with a few major print brands this summer, according to a company spokeswoman."
MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines:
"Google Expands CPM Program
by Shankar Gupta, Monday, Jun 20, 2005 6:00 AM EST
GOOGLE WILL NOW ALLOW ALL advertisers to take advantage of recent upgrades to the AdSense network, giving them the ability to target their contextual ads to any publisher site within the AdSense network, pay on a cost-per-impression basis, and serve image and animated ads. When the program launched in beta in April, it was only available to a few select marketers. 'Now, you can select specific content sites where you want your ads to show,' said Bismarck Lepe, the product marketing manager for AdWords. 'This will allow you to precisely communicate with those individuals who are most likely to be interested in your offerings.'
Advertisers who bid on a price-per-impression basis will compete directly in Google's keyword auction system with cost-per-click bidders, because Google will combine the pay-per-click rate with the ad's click-through rate to yield an estimated price-per-impression figure. That estimate will be compared to the marketer's cost-per-thousand impression bid.
Although advertisers will be able to serve animated ads onto AdSense network sites, there will be a strict editorial policy on the types of animated ads that can be used. Google will not accept Flash animations, or ads that strobe or loop more than three times.
When the product was first unveiled for beta testing in April, eMarketer analyst David Hallerman said that the move to image ads and impression-based pricing represented a bid for the branded advertising market. 'To give the advertiser the ability to choose a publisher--and to charge it on the CPM basis, which could be better for both parties, and moving on to allow graphical elements--are really the first major moves into some sort of branding advertising, which is one of the steps they need to diversify their income stream,' he said."
"Google Expands CPM Program
by Shankar Gupta, Monday, Jun 20, 2005 6:00 AM EST
GOOGLE WILL NOW ALLOW ALL advertisers to take advantage of recent upgrades to the AdSense network, giving them the ability to target their contextual ads to any publisher site within the AdSense network, pay on a cost-per-impression basis, and serve image and animated ads. When the program launched in beta in April, it was only available to a few select marketers. 'Now, you can select specific content sites where you want your ads to show,' said Bismarck Lepe, the product marketing manager for AdWords. 'This will allow you to precisely communicate with those individuals who are most likely to be interested in your offerings.'
Advertisers who bid on a price-per-impression basis will compete directly in Google's keyword auction system with cost-per-click bidders, because Google will combine the pay-per-click rate with the ad's click-through rate to yield an estimated price-per-impression figure. That estimate will be compared to the marketer's cost-per-thousand impression bid.
Although advertisers will be able to serve animated ads onto AdSense network sites, there will be a strict editorial policy on the types of animated ads that can be used. Google will not accept Flash animations, or ads that strobe or loop more than three times.
When the product was first unveiled for beta testing in April, eMarketer analyst David Hallerman said that the move to image ads and impression-based pricing represented a bid for the branded advertising market. 'To give the advertiser the ability to choose a publisher--and to charge it on the CPM basis, which could be better for both parties, and moving on to allow graphical elements--are really the first major moves into some sort of branding advertising, which is one of the steps they need to diversify their income stream,' he said."
MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines:
"CNN.com Launches Free Video With Sponsorships From Chase, GM
by Gavin O'Malley, Monday, Jun 20, 2005 6:00 AM EST
CNN.COM THIS MORNING IS SET to launch its free video initiative, with banking giant Chase and car manufacturer General Motors as initial sponsors, said Greg D'Alba, executive vice president-COO of CNN Advertising Sales and Marketing. He added that the Web site currently is engaged in 'upfront' discussions--or talks about advance sales for the upcoming 'season'--with more than 50 national advertisers. 'We're seeing more interest in video than we did 25 years ago when we got into cable, because everyone is embracing this technology and its potential,' D'Alba said. 'Everybody was calling cable a revolution back then, but today this technology is seen as part of a larger evolution.'
Chase and GM's luxury brand Cadillac each will have category exclusivity, tagged promotional spots on all CNN Networks, and promotional banners throughout CNN.com--as well as the opportunity to run 30-second on-air creative prior to content. Both will also be able to air long-form lead-out creative and a 728 X 90 web banner, according to a CNN spokeswoman.
Access to CNN.com's broadband video--which is woven throughout the site on section fronts, special reports, and story pages--previously cost $4.95 a month. CNN.com's initiative to make its video content available, while a bid for more traffic and ad dollars, also reflects the background of CNN President Jonathan Klein. He came to the Turner Broadcasting unit from the FeedRoom, a company he founded that builds broadband Web sites and streams online content.
Visitors will be able to view various on-demand videos across a variety of topics, including politics, world news, business, sports, entertainment, science, and technology. A specially designed video player--attached to a 728 x 90 banner--will allow users to search and organize videos. CNN also plans to offer marketers the opportunity to run ads up to 30 seconds long.
But CNN hasn't completely separated itself from the paid subscription model. In the fall, CNN.com will offer a subscription-based service that will deliver multiple live video streams, access to CNN's video archives, and user-customized options. A price for the service has not yet been set.
CNN.com claims to rank as the leading online news and information site, attracting an average of 23 million unique users each month.
While CNN averaged more unique visitors over the past 12 months than any other online news source, in April, CNN drew a unique audience of 20,783--behind MSNBC and Yahoo! News, each of which drew about 23,000 unique visitors--according to Nielsen//NetRatings. CNN does not consider Yahoo! News or AOL News--which ranked fourth in April according to comScore--'competitors, since they are aggregators, while CNN publishes only its own content,' according to a CNN spokeswoman."
"CNN.com Launches Free Video With Sponsorships From Chase, GM
by Gavin O'Malley, Monday, Jun 20, 2005 6:00 AM EST
CNN.COM THIS MORNING IS SET to launch its free video initiative, with banking giant Chase and car manufacturer General Motors as initial sponsors, said Greg D'Alba, executive vice president-COO of CNN Advertising Sales and Marketing. He added that the Web site currently is engaged in 'upfront' discussions--or talks about advance sales for the upcoming 'season'--with more than 50 national advertisers. 'We're seeing more interest in video than we did 25 years ago when we got into cable, because everyone is embracing this technology and its potential,' D'Alba said. 'Everybody was calling cable a revolution back then, but today this technology is seen as part of a larger evolution.'
Chase and GM's luxury brand Cadillac each will have category exclusivity, tagged promotional spots on all CNN Networks, and promotional banners throughout CNN.com--as well as the opportunity to run 30-second on-air creative prior to content. Both will also be able to air long-form lead-out creative and a 728 X 90 web banner, according to a CNN spokeswoman.
Access to CNN.com's broadband video--which is woven throughout the site on section fronts, special reports, and story pages--previously cost $4.95 a month. CNN.com's initiative to make its video content available, while a bid for more traffic and ad dollars, also reflects the background of CNN President Jonathan Klein. He came to the Turner Broadcasting unit from the FeedRoom, a company he founded that builds broadband Web sites and streams online content.
Visitors will be able to view various on-demand videos across a variety of topics, including politics, world news, business, sports, entertainment, science, and technology. A specially designed video player--attached to a 728 x 90 banner--will allow users to search and organize videos. CNN also plans to offer marketers the opportunity to run ads up to 30 seconds long.
But CNN hasn't completely separated itself from the paid subscription model. In the fall, CNN.com will offer a subscription-based service that will deliver multiple live video streams, access to CNN's video archives, and user-customized options. A price for the service has not yet been set.
CNN.com claims to rank as the leading online news and information site, attracting an average of 23 million unique users each month.
While CNN averaged more unique visitors over the past 12 months than any other online news source, in April, CNN drew a unique audience of 20,783--behind MSNBC and Yahoo! News, each of which drew about 23,000 unique visitors--according to Nielsen//NetRatings. CNN does not consider Yahoo! News or AOL News--which ranked fourth in April according to comScore--'competitors, since they are aggregators, while CNN publishes only its own content,' according to a CNN spokeswoman."
Ebay shares sink on talk Google eyeing PayPal rival:
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of eBay Inc. (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) fell about 3 percent on Monday on concerns that Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) may offer an 'online wallet' service that rivals eBay's PayPal.
The move comes amid news reports that Google this year may launch 'Google Wallet,' an electronic-payment service that could help the Internet-search company diversify revenue. Like PayPal, the service could let users pay for purchases on Web sites by funding accounts from their credit cards or checking accounts..."
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of eBay Inc. (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) fell about 3 percent on Monday on concerns that Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) may offer an 'online wallet' service that rivals eBay's PayPal.
The move comes amid news reports that Google this year may launch 'Google Wallet,' an electronic-payment service that could help the Internet-search company diversify revenue. Like PayPal, the service could let users pay for purchases on Web sites by funding accounts from their credit cards or checking accounts..."
Thursday, June 16, 2005
del.icio.us:
"social bookmarks
- del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily add web pages you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only among your own browsers and machines, but also with others.
- Once you've registered for the service, you add a simple bookmarklet to your browser. When you find a web page you'd like to add to your list, you simply select the del.icio.us bookmarklet, and you'll be asked for information about the page. You can add descriptive terms to group similar links together and add notes for yourself or for others.
- You can access your list of links from any web browser. Your links are shown to you with those you've added most recently at the top. In addition to viewing by date, you can also view all links with a specific keywords (you define your own keywords as you add the links), or search your links for keywords.
- What makes del.icio.us a social system is its ability to let you see the links that others have collected, as well as showing you who else has bookmarked a specific site. You can also view the links collected by others, and subscribe to the links of people whose lists you find interesting..."
"social bookmarks
- del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily add web pages you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only among your own browsers and machines, but also with others.
- Once you've registered for the service, you add a simple bookmarklet to your browser. When you find a web page you'd like to add to your list, you simply select the del.icio.us bookmarklet, and you'll be asked for information about the page. You can add descriptive terms to group similar links together and add notes for yourself or for others.
- You can access your list of links from any web browser. Your links are shown to you with those you've added most recently at the top. In addition to viewing by date, you can also view all links with a specific keywords (you define your own keywords as you add the links), or search your links for keywords.
- What makes del.icio.us a social system is its ability to let you see the links that others have collected, as well as showing you who else has bookmarked a specific site. You can also view the links collected by others, and subscribe to the links of people whose lists you find interesting..."
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Office 12 jumps to XML | InfoWorld | News | 2005-06-06 | By Ed Scannell:
"Forthcoming version of Office to adopt XML file formats for better data interoperability
By Ed Scannell - June 06, 2005
In a move that could bring a chorus of both cheers and jeers, Microsoft (Profile, Products, Articles) has committed to adopting XML technology as the default file format in the next version of Office, expected to enter beta testing this fall.
The Microsoft Office Open XML Formats will become the defaults for the versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Office 12, the code name for the upcoming version of the application suite. The new technology reportedly gives Office users higher levels of data interoperability at the client and server levels.
XML file formats bring several technical benefits to Office, including better security, improved error recovery, and significantly reduced file sizes.
The move marks the first time since 1997 that Microsoft has changed the file formats in Office. The previous switch caused compatibility issues for users with older versions of Office. Although Microsoft officials said there should be no such major disruptions this time, some industry observers expect some difficulty in making the transition.
“There likely will be pain with backward compatibility, especially among those people who have built significant integrations with the current version of Office. But it should get easier with XML, where they are talking about publishing the schemas and information on the XML patterns,” said Jim Murphy, a senior research analyst at AMR Research.
“This is one of those moves where they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. If they stuck with the traditional binary file format and offered the XML file format as an option, people would criticize them for not being sincere,” said Peter O’Kelly, a senior analyst at Burton Group.
However, O’Kelly and others see the decision to use the XML file formats as more than lip service.
“This is more than just getting the ‘ Good Housekeeping Seal’ of standards approval. They are actually improving upon the binary file format they had before, like the ability to significantly compress files. It is taking their commitment to XML as a file format to the next level,” O’Kelly said."
"Forthcoming version of Office to adopt XML file formats for better data interoperability
By Ed Scannell - June 06, 2005
In a move that could bring a chorus of both cheers and jeers, Microsoft (Profile, Products, Articles) has committed to adopting XML technology as the default file format in the next version of Office, expected to enter beta testing this fall.
The Microsoft Office Open XML Formats will become the defaults for the versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Office 12, the code name for the upcoming version of the application suite. The new technology reportedly gives Office users higher levels of data interoperability at the client and server levels.
XML file formats bring several technical benefits to Office, including better security, improved error recovery, and significantly reduced file sizes.
The move marks the first time since 1997 that Microsoft has changed the file formats in Office. The previous switch caused compatibility issues for users with older versions of Office. Although Microsoft officials said there should be no such major disruptions this time, some industry observers expect some difficulty in making the transition.
“There likely will be pain with backward compatibility, especially among those people who have built significant integrations with the current version of Office. But it should get easier with XML, where they are talking about publishing the schemas and information on the XML patterns,” said Jim Murphy, a senior research analyst at AMR Research.
“This is one of those moves where they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. If they stuck with the traditional binary file format and offered the XML file format as an option, people would criticize them for not being sincere,” said Peter O’Kelly, a senior analyst at Burton Group.
However, O’Kelly and others see the decision to use the XML file formats as more than lip service.
“This is more than just getting the ‘ Good Housekeeping Seal’ of standards approval. They are actually improving upon the binary file format they had before, like the ability to significantly compress files. It is taking their commitment to XML as a file format to the next level,” O’Kelly said."
Firefox reintroduces 7-year-old security flaw | InfoWorld | News | 2005-06-07 | By Matthew Broersma, Techworld:
"New versions of Mozilla browsers vulnerable to spoofing attacks
By Matthew Broersma, Techworld
June 07, 2005
New versions of the Mozilla Foundation's (Profile, Products, Articles) browsers have reintroduced a seven-year-old flaw that makes them vulnerable to spoofing attacks, security advisory company Secunia said Monday..."
"New versions of Mozilla browsers vulnerable to spoofing attacks
By Matthew Broersma, Techworld
June 07, 2005
New versions of the Mozilla Foundation's (Profile, Products, Articles) browsers have reintroduced a seven-year-old flaw that makes them vulnerable to spoofing attacks, security advisory company Secunia said Monday..."
Advertising Up, Confidence Shaky:
"Published: June 09, 2005
(After June 17, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
A new survey finds most businesses aren't very confident about measuring their Web marketing. Cookies are the reason why.
Internet advertising appears to be the picture of health. The latest report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau shows online ad spending totaled over $2.8 billion for the first quarter of 2005, the highest quarterly total ever. One of the main reasons marketers give for the growth of online ad spending is that the effectiveness of online ads can be better measured than print, radio or television ads.
But according to a new report from WebTrends, the 'Web Marketing Confidence Survey,' only a few marketers are 'very confident' in the measurements of their Web marketing efforts.
When it comes to measuring Web marketing, 43% of the marketing professionals said they were 'fairly confident,' while only 5% said they were 'very confident.' The remaining marketers were split, with 26% being 'moderately confident' and 26% admitting to 'flying blind.'
There are several reasons for their uncertainty, and they have to do with the use and misuse of cookies.
A number of firms have found that many consumers don't understand cookies — and are increasingly deleting or blocking them, creating tracking problems. But marketers, as well, often lack a basic understanding of their sites' cookie strategy and Web analytics best practices. The WebTrends survey found:
* 39% of respondents said they have "no idea" what method their web site is currently using to identify unique visitors
* Only 19% of respondents utilize legitimate first-party cookies — the recommended best practice to track unique visitors
* 13% identify visitors by IP address only — a largely inaccurate method to track visitors and their behavior
* Only 20% have a comprehensive set of metrics to measure campaign performance
* 52% are still only looking at clickthrough rates or nothing at all
It's little wonder that marketers are uncertain as to whether or not Web metrics represent an accurate picture of campaign performance and visitor behavior.
The WebTrends study notes that cookie-dependent analytics solutions rely on cookies to identify one unique browsing session from another, which is tough to do when third-party cookies are being rejected or deleted on a regular basis. Shaky measurements result:
* Inaccurate Visitor Metrics. At its most fundamental level, if an internet user has configured his browser security settings to automatically reject third-party cookies, that visitor will not be properly counted. This could be anywhere from 12%to 28% of Internet users.
* Deceiving Retention-Based Metrics. Taking this one step further, if "John Doe " visits a web site on May 15 and accepts the third-party cookie, he will be recognized as a new visitor. But if JD deletes his third-party cookies on May 16th and returns to the site on May 17th, the analytics solution will again identify him as a new visitor. This results in an under-representation of retention-based metrics, such as repeat visitor rate or loyalty index.
* Inaccurate Conversion Metrics. Cookie deletion also has an impact on the conversion rate for new visitors versus repeat visitors. Repeat visitor rates can be under-counted and new visitor rates over-counted, skewing conversion rate metrics by which a site's overall effectiveness is measured.
* Unreliable Campaign, Search and Merchandising Reports. In addition to tracking the behavior of a visitor to the site in general, many analytics providers correlate visitor response and site interaction to a specific campaign, search engine or product in an attempt to understand precisely which campaign or merchandising offer inspired the user to take an action. Much of this information relies on data stored in a cookie. If the cookie is rejected or deleted from the internet user 's browser, reports designed to identify latent or deferred conversion to a campaign or merchandising offer will be misrepresented. And, the longer the conversion is tracked, the more likely it is that the metrics are inaccurate — as the likelihood the user will delete the third-party cookie increases. "
"Published: June 09, 2005
(After June 17, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
A new survey finds most businesses aren't very confident about measuring their Web marketing. Cookies are the reason why.
Internet advertising appears to be the picture of health. The latest report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau shows online ad spending totaled over $2.8 billion for the first quarter of 2005, the highest quarterly total ever. One of the main reasons marketers give for the growth of online ad spending is that the effectiveness of online ads can be better measured than print, radio or television ads.
But according to a new report from WebTrends, the 'Web Marketing Confidence Survey,' only a few marketers are 'very confident' in the measurements of their Web marketing efforts.
When it comes to measuring Web marketing, 43% of the marketing professionals said they were 'fairly confident,' while only 5% said they were 'very confident.' The remaining marketers were split, with 26% being 'moderately confident' and 26% admitting to 'flying blind.'
There are several reasons for their uncertainty, and they have to do with the use and misuse of cookies.
A number of firms have found that many consumers don't understand cookies — and are increasingly deleting or blocking them, creating tracking problems. But marketers, as well, often lack a basic understanding of their sites' cookie strategy and Web analytics best practices. The WebTrends survey found:
* 39% of respondents said they have "no idea" what method their web site is currently using to identify unique visitors
* Only 19% of respondents utilize legitimate first-party cookies — the recommended best practice to track unique visitors
* 13% identify visitors by IP address only — a largely inaccurate method to track visitors and their behavior
* Only 20% have a comprehensive set of metrics to measure campaign performance
* 52% are still only looking at clickthrough rates or nothing at all
It's little wonder that marketers are uncertain as to whether or not Web metrics represent an accurate picture of campaign performance and visitor behavior.
The WebTrends study notes that cookie-dependent analytics solutions rely on cookies to identify one unique browsing session from another, which is tough to do when third-party cookies are being rejected or deleted on a regular basis. Shaky measurements result:
* Inaccurate Visitor Metrics. At its most fundamental level, if an internet user has configured his browser security settings to automatically reject third-party cookies, that visitor will not be properly counted. This could be anywhere from 12%to 28% of Internet users.
* Deceiving Retention-Based Metrics. Taking this one step further, if "John Doe " visits a web site on May 15 and accepts the third-party cookie, he will be recognized as a new visitor. But if JD deletes his third-party cookies on May 16th and returns to the site on May 17th, the analytics solution will again identify him as a new visitor. This results in an under-representation of retention-based metrics, such as repeat visitor rate or loyalty index.
* Inaccurate Conversion Metrics. Cookie deletion also has an impact on the conversion rate for new visitors versus repeat visitors. Repeat visitor rates can be under-counted and new visitor rates over-counted, skewing conversion rate metrics by which a site's overall effectiveness is measured.
* Unreliable Campaign, Search and Merchandising Reports. In addition to tracking the behavior of a visitor to the site in general, many analytics providers correlate visitor response and site interaction to a specific campaign, search engine or product in an attempt to understand precisely which campaign or merchandising offer inspired the user to take an action. Much of this information relies on data stored in a cookie. If the cookie is rejected or deleted from the internet user 's browser, reports designed to identify latent or deferred conversion to a campaign or merchandising offer will be misrepresented. And, the longer the conversion is tracked, the more likely it is that the metrics are inaccurate — as the likelihood the user will delete the third-party cookie increases. "
MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines:
"NetApplications: 8 Percent Of Web Users Now Browse With Firefox
Thursday, Jun 9, 2005 6:00 AM EST
FIREFOX'S MARKET SHARE GREW TO 8 percent last month--up from 7.38 percent in April and 5.59 percent in the beginning of the year, according to a report released Wednesday by NetApplications, an Alisa Viejo, Calif.-based Web site monitoring and measurement company. The growth appeared to come at the expense of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which saw market share drop to 87.23 percent from 88 percent in April and 90.31 percent in January. NetApplications compiled data using its HitsLink.com analytics service. Last month, consulting firm Janco Associates estimated that Firefox had captured an even greater market share than NetApplications--10.28 percent of browsers, as of the end of April. --Wendy Davis"
"NetApplications: 8 Percent Of Web Users Now Browse With Firefox
Thursday, Jun 9, 2005 6:00 AM EST
FIREFOX'S MARKET SHARE GREW TO 8 percent last month--up from 7.38 percent in April and 5.59 percent in the beginning of the year, according to a report released Wednesday by NetApplications, an Alisa Viejo, Calif.-based Web site monitoring and measurement company. The growth appeared to come at the expense of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which saw market share drop to 87.23 percent from 88 percent in April and 90.31 percent in January. NetApplications compiled data using its HitsLink.com analytics service. Last month, consulting firm Janco Associates estimated that Firefox had captured an even greater market share than NetApplications--10.28 percent of browsers, as of the end of April. --Wendy Davis"
Net Stocks: Online ads on track to top $11 billion in 2005 - Internet Services - Internet - Company Announcements - General:
"Google gets another $330 price target
By Bambi Francisco, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- If online advertising revenue continues to grow as quickly as it did in the first quarter, the industry could see advertising sales above $11 billion this year.Online advertising sales grew by 26% to $2.8 billion in the first quarter, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. That's 4.3% above fourth-quarter advertising sales, and the ninth straight quarterly gain.
As online ad revenue shows no sign of abating, investors continue to warm up to online advertising companies.
EBay (EBAY: news, chart, profile) gained 2% to $38.58 in early trading Monday. The online marketplace operator can participate in the upside of online advertising, now that it's buying Shopping.com (SHOP: news, chart, profile) , a leading comparison-shopping site.
Analysts also expect eBay to beat second-quarter estimates when it reports next month.
'In the short term, the current quarter [for eBay] is looking better,' said David Edwards, an analyst at American Technology Research, referring to improvements in the U.S. and German markets. Listings are tracking 4% to 5% above his estimates. And, even if eBay keeps its outlook flat or unchanged, that won't be a negative, he predicted.
Edwards raised his price target on eBay to $50 last week.
Watch interview with Edwards
Edwards also likes eBay's acquisition of Shopping.com as it gives eBay sellers another platform for their wares, especially in-season products. A lot of sellers that have their own Web sites can sell their in-season products on Shopping.com while selling discounted or liquidated items on eBay.
Yahoo (YHOO: news, chart, profile) rose just over 0.5% while Google (GOOG: news, chart, profile) gained just over 1%.
Google sales could hit $865 million in the second quarter, with international markets rising faster than affiliate partner sales, according to Jordan Rohan, an analyst at RBC Capital.
That sales figure is above the current consensus of $831 million.
Rohan raised his price target to $330 from $280. He believes that cash flow will grow by 8% to $590 million, well above the consensus expectations of $551 million, he noted. Rohan also introduced an earnings estimate for 2007 of $9.40 per share.
Over the last six weeks Google shares have increased by about 7% a week, or 44% altogether. On Friday, UBS became the second bank to establish a $350 target, but the first to establish a 2007 per-share outlook. CSFB slapped a $350 price target on Google earlier this week. UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter predicts Google can earn $9.02 per share in 2007."
"Google gets another $330 price target
By Bambi Francisco, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- If online advertising revenue continues to grow as quickly as it did in the first quarter, the industry could see advertising sales above $11 billion this year.Online advertising sales grew by 26% to $2.8 billion in the first quarter, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. That's 4.3% above fourth-quarter advertising sales, and the ninth straight quarterly gain.
As online ad revenue shows no sign of abating, investors continue to warm up to online advertising companies.
EBay (EBAY: news, chart, profile) gained 2% to $38.58 in early trading Monday. The online marketplace operator can participate in the upside of online advertising, now that it's buying Shopping.com (SHOP: news, chart, profile) , a leading comparison-shopping site.
Analysts also expect eBay to beat second-quarter estimates when it reports next month.
'In the short term, the current quarter [for eBay] is looking better,' said David Edwards, an analyst at American Technology Research, referring to improvements in the U.S. and German markets. Listings are tracking 4% to 5% above his estimates. And, even if eBay keeps its outlook flat or unchanged, that won't be a negative, he predicted.
Edwards raised his price target on eBay to $50 last week.
Watch interview with Edwards
Edwards also likes eBay's acquisition of Shopping.com as it gives eBay sellers another platform for their wares, especially in-season products. A lot of sellers that have their own Web sites can sell their in-season products on Shopping.com while selling discounted or liquidated items on eBay.
Yahoo (YHOO: news, chart, profile) rose just over 0.5% while Google (GOOG: news, chart, profile) gained just over 1%.
Google sales could hit $865 million in the second quarter, with international markets rising faster than affiliate partner sales, according to Jordan Rohan, an analyst at RBC Capital.
That sales figure is above the current consensus of $831 million.
Rohan raised his price target to $330 from $280. He believes that cash flow will grow by 8% to $590 million, well above the consensus expectations of $551 million, he noted. Rohan also introduced an earnings estimate for 2007 of $9.40 per share.
Over the last six weeks Google shares have increased by about 7% a week, or 44% altogether. On Friday, UBS became the second bank to establish a $350 target, but the first to establish a 2007 per-share outlook. CSFB slapped a $350 price target on Google earlier this week. UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter predicts Google can earn $9.02 per share in 2007."
"Thursday, June 9, 2005
Search For Information Wasting Professionals' Time
Anthea Stratigos, CEO of Outsell, reporting on the survey results, "2001 vs. 2005: Research Study Reveals Dramatic Changes Among Information Consumers," concludes that professionals are shifting away from their Internet research methods of just four years ago to more efficiently gather information and get on with their jobs. They are now looking more to their peers and colleagues, "alerting" services, and other conveniences.
According to the new survey, 67 percent of professionals now go to the open Web for information, versus 79 percent in 2001. Fifteen percent rely on their corporate intranets (up from 5 percent), and nine percent consult their colleagues (up from 5 percent). In addition when seeking information fewer now prefer to get it themselves (51% down from 68%) preferring to rely on regularly scheduled updates, members of their team, or their library.
Today's professionals spend 53 percent of their time seeking out information. Four years ago, knowledge workers were able to spend 58 percent of their time analyzing and applying what they had found. Collectively, the time spent gathering and looking for information translates to an estimated. 5.4 billion lost hours per year for US corporations.
Comparing the new research with results from 2001 shows a number of trends, says the report:
* Today's users are backing off from self-service models and relying more on information intermediaries
* Users of all kinds are increasingly interested in competitive information
* The time users spend gathering information has increased from 8 to 11 hours per average workweek, and that "gathering time" has also increased in relation to the time spent analyzing and applying it.
* Another change in this period is a strong consolidation of search engine preferences around Google, compared to the six search engines that reached reasonable numbers in 2001
* Discretionary spending for content is down among end users, a trend that puts fee-based commercial vendors at risk compared to ad-based ones
For more information."
Search For Information Wasting Professionals' Time
Anthea Stratigos, CEO of Outsell, reporting on the survey results, "2001 vs. 2005: Research Study Reveals Dramatic Changes Among Information Consumers," concludes that professionals are shifting away from their Internet research methods of just four years ago to more efficiently gather information and get on with their jobs. They are now looking more to their peers and colleagues, "alerting" services, and other conveniences.
According to the new survey, 67 percent of professionals now go to the open Web for information, versus 79 percent in 2001. Fifteen percent rely on their corporate intranets (up from 5 percent), and nine percent consult their colleagues (up from 5 percent). In addition when seeking information fewer now prefer to get it themselves (51% down from 68%) preferring to rely on regularly scheduled updates, members of their team, or their library.
Today's professionals spend 53 percent of their time seeking out information. Four years ago, knowledge workers were able to spend 58 percent of their time analyzing and applying what they had found. Collectively, the time spent gathering and looking for information translates to an estimated. 5.4 billion lost hours per year for US corporations.
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Comparing the new research with results from 2001 shows a number of trends, says the report:
* Today's users are backing off from self-service models and relying more on information intermediaries
* Users of all kinds are increasingly interested in competitive information
* The time users spend gathering information has increased from 8 to 11 hours per average workweek, and that "gathering time" has also increased in relation to the time spent analyzing and applying it.
* Another change in this period is a strong consolidation of search engine preferences around Google, compared to the six search engines that reached reasonable numbers in 2001
* Discretionary spending for content is down among end users, a trend that puts fee-based commercial vendors at risk compared to ad-based ones
For more information."
Online Ad Sales Continue to Billow:
"Published: June 07, 2005
First quarter online ad sales reached a record high, marking more than two years of strong quarterly growth.
According to the latest 'Internet Advertising Revenue Report' from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Internet advertising totaled over $2.8 billion for the first quarter of 2005.
Online ad spending for the quarter increased 26% over the year-ago quarter and 4.3% over the fourth quarter of 2004.
'Marketers continue to recognize the relevance of interactive as an integral part of their marketing mix,' said Greg Stuart, CEO of the IAB. 'The continued and steady growth we have experienced over the past two years is a clear indication that this medium delivers results and is fast becoming accepted as part of the mainstream.'
Tom Hyland of PwC concurred. 'While the online audience gets bigger and broader, the TV audience continues to fragment, even as the cost of advertising spots rises,' he said. 'Add the growth of broadband in the home, which enables advertisers a platform to deliver rich media, and brand advertisers have a new mass audience to target.'
eMarketer is projecting that online advertising will rise nearly 34% in 2005 to $12.9 billion, outstripping the 32.5% growth of 2004.
Last week Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for 2005 online ad spending, predicting a 28% expansion to $12.3 billion, or 4.4% of total US ad spending. Forrester Research also revised its numbers — going even higher — to estimate that total US online advertising and marketing this year will reach $14.7 billion. (However, Forrester's figure lumps in commercial e-mail spending along with the media buys for online advertising.)
'When you look at the past two years, first quarter online ad spending was the lowest of the four quarters,' said David Hallerman, Senior Analyst at eMarketer. 'So there's little doubt that when the final numbers come in for 2005, it will be a record year.'
For more information on online advertising and marketing, see eMarketer's Targeting Online Customers report."
"Published: June 07, 2005
First quarter online ad sales reached a record high, marking more than two years of strong quarterly growth.
According to the latest 'Internet Advertising Revenue Report' from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Internet advertising totaled over $2.8 billion for the first quarter of 2005.
Online ad spending for the quarter increased 26% over the year-ago quarter and 4.3% over the fourth quarter of 2004.
'Marketers continue to recognize the relevance of interactive as an integral part of their marketing mix,' said Greg Stuart, CEO of the IAB. 'The continued and steady growth we have experienced over the past two years is a clear indication that this medium delivers results and is fast becoming accepted as part of the mainstream.'
Tom Hyland of PwC concurred. 'While the online audience gets bigger and broader, the TV audience continues to fragment, even as the cost of advertising spots rises,' he said. 'Add the growth of broadband in the home, which enables advertisers a platform to deliver rich media, and brand advertisers have a new mass audience to target.'
eMarketer is projecting that online advertising will rise nearly 34% in 2005 to $12.9 billion, outstripping the 32.5% growth of 2004.
Last week Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for 2005 online ad spending, predicting a 28% expansion to $12.3 billion, or 4.4% of total US ad spending. Forrester Research also revised its numbers — going even higher — to estimate that total US online advertising and marketing this year will reach $14.7 billion. (However, Forrester's figure lumps in commercial e-mail spending along with the media buys for online advertising.)
'When you look at the past two years, first quarter online ad spending was the lowest of the four quarters,' said David Hallerman, Senior Analyst at eMarketer. 'So there's little doubt that when the final numbers come in for 2005, it will be a record year.'
For more information on online advertising and marketing, see eMarketer's Targeting Online Customers report."
Asian Online Markets Heat Up:
"Published: June 07, 2005
A new eMarketer report, Asia-Pacific E-Commerce , analyzes the retail e-commerce environment in a huge but still rapidly expanding market.
Japan is the biggest market in the region with sales last year of $38.4 billion, making it roughly one-third the size of the US market. Second is South Korea at $6.3 billion, followed by China and Taiwan tied for third, each with about $1.1 billion in sales.
'China is not the biggest market — not yet — but it clearly has the most promise,' said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the report. 'Only 7.2% of China's population is online, and broadband penetration is low.'
Even with its minimal penetration rate, China already ranks second in the world in total Internet users.
The e-readiness rankings, published annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit, assess the e-business environment of the world's 65 largest economies according to a broad set of social, economic and technological criteria. An important component of a country's e-readiness score is its ability to support a retail e-commerce environment. This is measured by the extent of Internet connectivity and technology infrastructure in a country. The share of retail commerce conducted on the Internet, the logistics support and online payment systems are also part of the equation, as well as the legal and policy environment and the availability of e-commerce technical support and tools.
The Asia-Pacific region's overall ranking is bolstered by high Internet connectivity scores in Hong Kong (6th), Australia (10th) and Singapore (11th) and by innovativeness in products and services in South Korea (18th) and Japan (21st). However, the region is pulled down by poor performances from China (54th) and India (49th).
Connectivity and technology infrastructure measures are accorded the most weight among the six major categories used in the e-readiness rankings. One element of connectivity is the access individuals have to the Internet.
To compare, the US has the world's largest Internet subscriber base (170.1 million in 2004), but a host of Asia-Pacific countries, namely, China, Japan, South Korea and India, also have sizeable online populations. And China and India are clearly at the earliest stages of growth.
'During the 2004-2008 period, eMarketer estimates that the US Internet population will grow at a slight 2.6% annual rate,' says Mr. Grau. 'This is because more than six out of ten Americans are already online. By now, those that are offline are unlikely to get connected. In contrast, China's Internet population, according to our estimates, will grow during the 2004-2008 period by over 14.3% on an annual basis. Droves of Chinese citizens are being introduced to the Internet daily.'
A second significant connectivity measurement that builds upon a country's Internet usage is its broadband penetration rate.
Numerous research studies show that broadband users are more avid online shoppers than dial-up users. The governments of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore have been instrumental in setting policies that encourage private sector innovation in the area of information communication and technology. This, as well as the popularity on online gaming, especially in South Korea, but also in Japan and China, has been a force behind consumer broadband adoption. eMarketer estimates that last year 73.0% of all households in South Korea had a broadband Internet connection. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore are all ranked ahead of the US in this important driver of online shopping.
'A new middle class is emerging eager to consume the myriad products and services that are available online — and not just those offered by Chinese e-tailers, either,' says Mr. Grau. 'iResearch, a Chinese market research firm, estimates that China's e-commerce market will be worth $6.5 billion by 2007, nearly a six-fold increase over 2004.'"
"Published: June 07, 2005
A new eMarketer report, Asia-Pacific E-Commerce , analyzes the retail e-commerce environment in a huge but still rapidly expanding market.
Japan is the biggest market in the region with sales last year of $38.4 billion, making it roughly one-third the size of the US market. Second is South Korea at $6.3 billion, followed by China and Taiwan tied for third, each with about $1.1 billion in sales.
'China is not the biggest market — not yet — but it clearly has the most promise,' said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the report. 'Only 7.2% of China's population is online, and broadband penetration is low.'
Even with its minimal penetration rate, China already ranks second in the world in total Internet users.
The e-readiness rankings, published annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit, assess the e-business environment of the world's 65 largest economies according to a broad set of social, economic and technological criteria. An important component of a country's e-readiness score is its ability to support a retail e-commerce environment. This is measured by the extent of Internet connectivity and technology infrastructure in a country. The share of retail commerce conducted on the Internet, the logistics support and online payment systems are also part of the equation, as well as the legal and policy environment and the availability of e-commerce technical support and tools.
The Asia-Pacific region's overall ranking is bolstered by high Internet connectivity scores in Hong Kong (6th), Australia (10th) and Singapore (11th) and by innovativeness in products and services in South Korea (18th) and Japan (21st). However, the region is pulled down by poor performances from China (54th) and India (49th).
Connectivity and technology infrastructure measures are accorded the most weight among the six major categories used in the e-readiness rankings. One element of connectivity is the access individuals have to the Internet.
To compare, the US has the world's largest Internet subscriber base (170.1 million in 2004), but a host of Asia-Pacific countries, namely, China, Japan, South Korea and India, also have sizeable online populations. And China and India are clearly at the earliest stages of growth.
'During the 2004-2008 period, eMarketer estimates that the US Internet population will grow at a slight 2.6% annual rate,' says Mr. Grau. 'This is because more than six out of ten Americans are already online. By now, those that are offline are unlikely to get connected. In contrast, China's Internet population, according to our estimates, will grow during the 2004-2008 period by over 14.3% on an annual basis. Droves of Chinese citizens are being introduced to the Internet daily.'
A second significant connectivity measurement that builds upon a country's Internet usage is its broadband penetration rate.
Numerous research studies show that broadband users are more avid online shoppers than dial-up users. The governments of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore have been instrumental in setting policies that encourage private sector innovation in the area of information communication and technology. This, as well as the popularity on online gaming, especially in South Korea, but also in Japan and China, has been a force behind consumer broadband adoption. eMarketer estimates that last year 73.0% of all households in South Korea had a broadband Internet connection. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore are all ranked ahead of the US in this important driver of online shopping.
'A new middle class is emerging eager to consume the myriad products and services that are available online — and not just those offered by Chinese e-tailers, either,' says Mr. Grau. 'iResearch, a Chinese market research firm, estimates that China's e-commerce market will be worth $6.5 billion by 2007, nearly a six-fold increase over 2004.'"
MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines:
"Google: B2B Buyers Rely On Search
by Shankar Gupta, Tuesday, Jun 7, 2005 6:00 AM EST
GOOGLE MONDAY UNVEILED A REPORT stating that buyers of technology goods for businesses turn primarily to search engines--both paid listings and natural results--for decisions at every stage of the buying process. The study broke down the buying process into three parts--research, consideration and comparison, and purchase. During the research phase, according to the study, respondents use search 30 percent more frequently than print magazines and trade publications, the second-most often-used source. In the consideration and comparison phase, search engines were used 21 percent more often than trade publications and magazines, which were again the second-most used source, and five times more often than e-mail newsletters, which were the least-often used. And in the purchase stage of the buying process, search engines were used by 21 percent of buyers as their primary resource, with trade publications, content Web sites, and trade shows trailing at roughly 13 percent each..."
"Google: B2B Buyers Rely On Search
by Shankar Gupta, Tuesday, Jun 7, 2005 6:00 AM EST
GOOGLE MONDAY UNVEILED A REPORT stating that buyers of technology goods for businesses turn primarily to search engines--both paid listings and natural results--for decisions at every stage of the buying process. The study broke down the buying process into three parts--research, consideration and comparison, and purchase. During the research phase, according to the study, respondents use search 30 percent more frequently than print magazines and trade publications, the second-most often-used source. In the consideration and comparison phase, search engines were used 21 percent more often than trade publications and magazines, which were again the second-most used source, and five times more often than e-mail newsletters, which were the least-often used. And in the purchase stage of the buying process, search engines were used by 21 percent of buyers as their primary resource, with trade publications, content Web sites, and trade shows trailing at roughly 13 percent each..."
MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines:
"AOL Offers IM Users Free E-Mail
by Gavin O'Malley, Tuesday, Jun 7, 2005 6:00 AM EST
AS PART OF ITS EFFORTS to reach an online audience beyond its subscription base, America Online Monday debuted free e-mail with nearly limitless storage for AOL Instant Messenger users. Dubbed AIM Mail, the service is part of an updated version of the AIM 5.9 software, which enables users to access their e-mail with a single click and use their screen name as the e-mail address. AOL also announced its plans to begin offering unlimited e-mail storage for regular AOL subscribers before the end of the summer. Along with the updated AIM, users can have up to 400 entries in their Buddy List, and can store more contact information on each one..."
"AOL Offers IM Users Free E-Mail
by Gavin O'Malley, Tuesday, Jun 7, 2005 6:00 AM EST
AS PART OF ITS EFFORTS to reach an online audience beyond its subscription base, America Online Monday debuted free e-mail with nearly limitless storage for AOL Instant Messenger users. Dubbed AIM Mail, the service is part of an updated version of the AIM 5.9 software, which enables users to access their e-mail with a single click and use their screen name as the e-mail address. AOL also announced its plans to begin offering unlimited e-mail storage for regular AOL subscribers before the end of the summer. Along with the updated AIM, users can have up to 400 entries in their Buddy List, and can store more contact information on each one..."
MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines:
"Fathom: Keyword Prices Fall In May
by Shankar Gupta, Tuesday, Jun 7, 2005 6:00 AM EST
MORTGAGE-RELATED SEARCH TERMS DROPPED IN price by 30 percent, leading an overall decrease in average keyword prices of 15 percent from April to May, to an average of $1.66 from $1.95, according to the Fathom Online Keyword Price Index, released today. This fall comes after an increase of 11 percent in keyword prices from March to April, led by mortgage spiking with a 20 percent increase. The keyword prices of the monitored categories prices fell across the board, except for automotive terms, which increased by 7 percent to $1.50. The largest category price drops were mortgage, which plummeted 30 percent to $4.52, and investing, which fell 11 percent to $1.81. The drop in mortgage-related keyword prices heavily weighted the overall average drop--without including the mortgage-related keywords, the decrease in overall keyword price was 3.29 percent, a Fathom spokesperson said..."
"Fathom: Keyword Prices Fall In May
by Shankar Gupta, Tuesday, Jun 7, 2005 6:00 AM EST
MORTGAGE-RELATED SEARCH TERMS DROPPED IN price by 30 percent, leading an overall decrease in average keyword prices of 15 percent from April to May, to an average of $1.66 from $1.95, according to the Fathom Online Keyword Price Index, released today. This fall comes after an increase of 11 percent in keyword prices from March to April, led by mortgage spiking with a 20 percent increase. The keyword prices of the monitored categories prices fell across the board, except for automotive terms, which increased by 7 percent to $1.50. The largest category price drops were mortgage, which plummeted 30 percent to $4.52, and investing, which fell 11 percent to $1.81. The drop in mortgage-related keyword prices heavily weighted the overall average drop--without including the mortgage-related keywords, the decrease in overall keyword price was 3.29 percent, a Fathom spokesperson said..."
Monday, June 06, 2005
ACM News Service:
"'Web Future Is Not Semantic, or Overly Orderly'
CIO Insight (05/05) Vol. 1, No. 53, P. 25; Nee, Eric
Eric Nee disputes World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) director Tim Berners-Lee's vision of a Semantic Web in which computers can comprehend the meaning of information through the encoding of metadata within every piece of online content. He also dismisses the concept of an intelligent Semantic Web agent that can carry out complex tasks with the capability of a human being as impossible. Berners-Lee's strategy for imbuing meaning in Web content is to develop new standards for posting such content, but the W3C's Resource Description Framework (RDF), RDF Schema, and Web Ontology Language (OWL) standards have not been universally welcomed. OWL and RDF have a steep learning curve, take a long time to use, and are unworkable, according to experts such as XML developer and Sun Microsystems technology director Tim Bray. In contrast to Berners-Lee's approach, Google creators Sergey Brin and Larry Page developed software that infers the meaning of content using different indicators, thus avoiding the need to change processes for posting content. 'I'd rather make progress by having computers understand what humans write, than by forcing humans to write in ways that computers can understand,' Brin told InfoWorld's 2002 CTO Forum. Challenges the Google approach fails to address can be tackled by other technologies--RSS and XML, for instance--that are simpler to use than Semantic Web standards. Nee predicts that the Internet will evolve not into Berners-Lee's highly ordered Semantic Web, but into 'a patchwork quilt of homegrown solutions and standards.'
Click Here to View Full Article"
"'Web Future Is Not Semantic, or Overly Orderly'
CIO Insight (05/05) Vol. 1, No. 53, P. 25; Nee, Eric
Eric Nee disputes World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) director Tim Berners-Lee's vision of a Semantic Web in which computers can comprehend the meaning of information through the encoding of metadata within every piece of online content. He also dismisses the concept of an intelligent Semantic Web agent that can carry out complex tasks with the capability of a human being as impossible. Berners-Lee's strategy for imbuing meaning in Web content is to develop new standards for posting such content, but the W3C's Resource Description Framework (RDF), RDF Schema, and Web Ontology Language (OWL) standards have not been universally welcomed. OWL and RDF have a steep learning curve, take a long time to use, and are unworkable, according to experts such as XML developer and Sun Microsystems technology director Tim Bray. In contrast to Berners-Lee's approach, Google creators Sergey Brin and Larry Page developed software that infers the meaning of content using different indicators, thus avoiding the need to change processes for posting content. 'I'd rather make progress by having computers understand what humans write, than by forcing humans to write in ways that computers can understand,' Brin told InfoWorld's 2002 CTO Forum. Challenges the Google approach fails to address can be tackled by other technologies--RSS and XML, for instance--that are simpler to use than Semantic Web standards. Nee predicts that the Internet will evolve not into Berners-Lee's highly ordered Semantic Web, but into 'a patchwork quilt of homegrown solutions and standards.'
Click Here to View Full Article"
USATODAY.com - Going where no search engine has gone before:
"By Dibya Sarkar, Federal Computer Week
Connotate Technologies uses information agents to extract data from Deep Web
Google, one of the most popular search engines, at best can index and search about 4 billion to 5 billion Web pages, representing only 1% of the World Wide Web.
But officials from Connotate Technologies, a company based in New Brunswick, N.J., said they have developed technology that can mine and extract data from the Deep Web, which contains an estimated 500 billion Web pages, and deliver it in any format and through any delivery mechanism. The Deep Web refers to content in databases that rarely shows up in Web searches..."
"By Dibya Sarkar, Federal Computer Week
Connotate Technologies uses information agents to extract data from Deep Web
Google, one of the most popular search engines, at best can index and search about 4 billion to 5 billion Web pages, representing only 1% of the World Wide Web.
But officials from Connotate Technologies, a company based in New Brunswick, N.J., said they have developed technology that can mine and extract data from the Deep Web, which contains an estimated 500 billion Web pages, and deliver it in any format and through any delivery mechanism. The Deep Web refers to content in databases that rarely shows up in Web searches..."
Investor's Business Daily: Breaking News: "Rothken Law Firm: California Court Gives Green Light to Lawsuit Against Yahoo!, Google, FindWhat and Other Search Engines for Alleged Illegal Involvement in Internet Gambling Advertising; Plaintiffs' Case to Move Forward
SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 03, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Defendants, including Yahoo!, Google, FindWhat and other major search engine websites lost their motion to strike core allegations in plaintiffs' complaint in the case of Cisneros et al v. Yahoo! et al (San Francisco County Superior Court). These allegations ask the Court to provide a remedy against the search engine's alleged illegal advertisement of Internet gambling. The Court made a ruling that allows the case to move forward...
SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 03, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Defendants, including Yahoo!, Google, FindWhat and other major search engine websites lost their motion to strike core allegations in plaintiffs' complaint in the case of Cisneros et al v. Yahoo! et al (San Francisco County Superior Court). These allegations ask the Court to provide a remedy against the search engine's alleged illegal advertisement of Internet gambling. The Court made a ruling that allows the case to move forward...
Google unveils new range of services and personalized search pages:
"Google recently unveiled a personalized homepage prototype, allowing users to display their Gmail (the firm�s email service), local weather, cinema times, headlines from the BBC and the New York Times, stock quotes and other services all on what looks like a standard Google search page. The prototype emerged from a project called Fusion, in which the company has been looking at ways of bringing together the roughly 50 disparate services it has launched in the past few years. Other features include the brand-new Google Earth, a service using 3-D digital technology to plan travel routes; Google Scholar, a search engine for scientific, medical and technical journals; Google Print, which searches the text of books; Google News, which aggregates news services and the Froogle shopping search. Google has digitized 15 million books from the collections of Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, the University of Michigan and the New York Public Library. The search engine is planning to do the same thing with images of world heritage sites. Be sure to read the related article, Google library project named as one of ten most important emerging technologies for humanity by futurist Mike Adams."
"Google recently unveiled a personalized homepage prototype, allowing users to display their Gmail (the firm�s email service), local weather, cinema times, headlines from the BBC and the New York Times, stock quotes and other services all on what looks like a standard Google search page. The prototype emerged from a project called Fusion, in which the company has been looking at ways of bringing together the roughly 50 disparate services it has launched in the past few years. Other features include the brand-new Google Earth, a service using 3-D digital technology to plan travel routes; Google Scholar, a search engine for scientific, medical and technical journals; Google Print, which searches the text of books; Google News, which aggregates news services and the Froogle shopping search. Google has digitized 15 million books from the collections of Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, the University of Michigan and the New York Public Library. The search engine is planning to do the same thing with images of world heritage sites. Be sure to read the related article, Google library project named as one of ten most important emerging technologies for humanity by futurist Mike Adams."
Money Plans - LookSmart Acquires Furl.net : Onlypunjab.com Team-:
"LookSmart, an Internet search company, yesterday announced the acquisition of Furl, a service that enables users to save a full-text copy of any page on the Web, then search and share that data.
LookSmart plans to maintain Furl.net as a free service, generating revenue from relevant sponsored listings on search and content pages. They also announced that the company will provide 5 gigabytes (GB) of storage for each user's public archive, enough for tens of thousands of archived and searchable items. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
'Furl's technology and desktop toolbar are a perfect fit with LookSmart's search strategy,' said Kevin Krim, vice president of Web properties for LookSmart. 'Similar to our parental control software product Net Nanny and our FindArticles service, Furl.net helps people search and interact with high-quality sets of data specific to their needs.'
'Until now, the only way you could save a permanent copy of a Web page was to print it out, save it to your desktop or email a copy of it to yourself,' said Mike Giles, founder of Furl.net. 'With Furl, you can easily save any page and then find it again instantly by searching the full text of your personal archive.'
Furl allows members to save copies of online articles, product information, electronic receipts, favorite web sites and other interesting pages. Members can instantly search their personal archive and the entire Web, through the Furl toolbar or directly at Furl's website. Furl is also compatible with several browsers..."
"LookSmart, an Internet search company, yesterday announced the acquisition of Furl, a service that enables users to save a full-text copy of any page on the Web, then search and share that data.
LookSmart plans to maintain Furl.net as a free service, generating revenue from relevant sponsored listings on search and content pages. They also announced that the company will provide 5 gigabytes (GB) of storage for each user's public archive, enough for tens of thousands of archived and searchable items. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
'Furl's technology and desktop toolbar are a perfect fit with LookSmart's search strategy,' said Kevin Krim, vice president of Web properties for LookSmart. 'Similar to our parental control software product Net Nanny and our FindArticles service, Furl.net helps people search and interact with high-quality sets of data specific to their needs.'
'Until now, the only way you could save a permanent copy of a Web page was to print it out, save it to your desktop or email a copy of it to yourself,' said Mike Giles, founder of Furl.net. 'With Furl, you can easily save any page and then find it again instantly by searching the full text of your personal archive.'
Furl allows members to save copies of online articles, product information, electronic receipts, favorite web sites and other interesting pages. Members can instantly search their personal archive and the entire Web, through the Furl toolbar or directly at Furl's website. Furl is also compatible with several browsers..."
Yahoo! Mindset: "Introducing Intent-driven Search Search sorted the way you want..."
BetaNews | Yahoo 'Mindset' Classifies Search Links:
"By David Worthington, BetaNews - June 2, 2005, 12:19 PM
Yahoo has taken a new mindset on how it classifies search results. Yahoo Mindset is a text classification system that segregates Web pages into two categories: commercial or information. This is accomplished by using advanced algorithms that 'learn' how to interpret unclassified Web pages by examining human behavior.
Yahoo Labs is providing a beta preview of the technology that is more or less in its infancy. From a technical standpoint, the machine learns like a baby does mimicking adult behavior. Variable training algorithms and tests sets provide what Yahoo describes as a 'seed set' of basic knowledge that advances the learning process through trial and error.
When a test fails, the machine reverts back to its training set and tries again; when it does right, the knowledge in the training set grows.
Yahoo developers explained why Mindset was created in the Yahoo Search Blog. 'Sometimes you want to buy stuff and sometimes you just want to do research. In a typical search page, results point to commercial pages that are mixed together with non-commercial pages, so it's harder to find the type of information you're looking for. Mindset is our attempt to help solve that problem.'
The Mindset demo has a 'slide' that tells the users whether search results are commercial or non-commercial. The blue bar is commercial; the orange bar is informational. The bar's position along its scale infers how sure the AI is about its classification.
More technical information may be found at the Mindset research site.
For now, Yahoo is gathering feedback to determine whether or not its users like the demo and if they find it to be useful. 'This is strictly a research tool that came out of Yahoo! Research Labs in Pasadena, CA. We're constantly testing new technologies and ideas in Search and other areas to ensure that our users are getting the best experience possible,' a Yahoo spokesperson told BetaNews."
"By David Worthington, BetaNews - June 2, 2005, 12:19 PM
Yahoo has taken a new mindset on how it classifies search results. Yahoo Mindset is a text classification system that segregates Web pages into two categories: commercial or information. This is accomplished by using advanced algorithms that 'learn' how to interpret unclassified Web pages by examining human behavior.
Yahoo Labs is providing a beta preview of the technology that is more or less in its infancy. From a technical standpoint, the machine learns like a baby does mimicking adult behavior. Variable training algorithms and tests sets provide what Yahoo describes as a 'seed set' of basic knowledge that advances the learning process through trial and error.
When a test fails, the machine reverts back to its training set and tries again; when it does right, the knowledge in the training set grows.
Yahoo developers explained why Mindset was created in the Yahoo Search Blog. 'Sometimes you want to buy stuff and sometimes you just want to do research. In a typical search page, results point to commercial pages that are mixed together with non-commercial pages, so it's harder to find the type of information you're looking for. Mindset is our attempt to help solve that problem.'
The Mindset demo has a 'slide' that tells the users whether search results are commercial or non-commercial. The blue bar is commercial; the orange bar is informational. The bar's position along its scale infers how sure the AI is about its classification.
More technical information may be found at the Mindset research site.
For now, Yahoo is gathering feedback to determine whether or not its users like the demo and if they find it to be useful. 'This is strictly a research tool that came out of Yahoo! Research Labs in Pasadena, CA. We're constantly testing new technologies and ideas in Search and other areas to ensure that our users are getting the best experience possible,' a Yahoo spokesperson told BetaNews."
USATODAY.com - Google shares gallop higher:
"By Adam Shell, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Who says real estate is the only place to make big money? Investors who own shares of Google (GOOG), the dot-com darling of the moment, are raking in gains at such a furious pace, it's hard not to flash back to the go-go 1990s.
Google, basking in the adoration of suddenly fawning analysts who seem to be in a competition to place the highest price target on the red-hot stock, is now within striking range of $300 per share, five months after it first crossed $200. Shares of the Internet search engine rose $10.73, or 3.9%, to $288 Wednesday, a 31% gain since the beginning of May alone.
The driving force behind Wednesday's rally was a potent combination of momentum buying and good, old-fashioned salesmanship from a leading Wall Street firm when Credit Suisse First Boston boosted its price target on Google to $350 from $275.
Up-and-coming:
Less than 10 months after going public, Google is the fifth-most-valuable company on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Company
Market value (in billions)
Microsoft $279
Intel $169
Cisco $125
Dell $99
Google $80
Source: USA TODAY research..."
"By Adam Shell, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Who says real estate is the only place to make big money? Investors who own shares of Google (GOOG), the dot-com darling of the moment, are raking in gains at such a furious pace, it's hard not to flash back to the go-go 1990s.
Google, basking in the adoration of suddenly fawning analysts who seem to be in a competition to place the highest price target on the red-hot stock, is now within striking range of $300 per share, five months after it first crossed $200. Shares of the Internet search engine rose $10.73, or 3.9%, to $288 Wednesday, a 31% gain since the beginning of May alone.
The driving force behind Wednesday's rally was a potent combination of momentum buying and good, old-fashioned salesmanship from a leading Wall Street firm when Credit Suisse First Boston boosted its price target on Google to $350 from $275.
Up-and-coming:
Less than 10 months after going public, Google is the fifth-most-valuable company on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Company
Market value (in billions)
Microsoft $279
Intel $169
Cisco $125
Dell $99
Google $80
Source: USA TODAY research..."
Money Plans - Online Discounts Get Easier with Specialized Search Engine : home server-:
"..for locating discounts and rebates comes a specialized search engine called MetaSavings.com (http://www.metasavings.com). It indexes the rebate pages of major retailers, as well deals from popular and aesthetically pleasing affiliate sites. In short, it’s a way to search hundreds of discount and rebate pages in one shot. Using our previous example of the PDA, a quick search on metasavings for 'PalmOne Tungsten' shows a handful of results. The top three are rebate pages for OfficeMax, Circuit City and Target. From the results, I now know that these three places carry a $50 rebate for my PDA, saving me the hassle of wading through each of these sites individually..."
"..for locating discounts and rebates comes a specialized search engine called MetaSavings.com (http://www.metasavings.com). It indexes the rebate pages of major retailers, as well deals from popular and aesthetically pleasing affiliate sites. In short, it’s a way to search hundreds of discount and rebate pages in one shot. Using our previous example of the PDA, a quick search on metasavings for 'PalmOne Tungsten' shows a handful of results. The top three are rebate pages for OfficeMax, Circuit City and Target. From the results, I now know that these three places carry a $50 rebate for my PDA, saving me the hassle of wading through each of these sites individually..."
Money Plans - Ask Jeeves Buys Bloglines : Onlypunjab.com Team-:
"Reported earlier on Napsterization, Ask Jeeves, Inc., is integrating Bloglines into their search system. While no official announcement has been made on the company websites, the blogosphere has been buzzing with speculation over what this could entail.
Bloglines, founded in 2003 by Mark Fletcher, the former CEO of ONElist, is an online news aggregator to subscribe and manage information, such as news feeds, weblogs and audio. Ask Jeeves is a provider of information retrieval technologies, available to consumers as websites, downloadable search-based applications and portals."
"Reported earlier on Napsterization, Ask Jeeves, Inc., is integrating Bloglines into their search system. While no official announcement has been made on the company websites, the blogosphere has been buzzing with speculation over what this could entail.
Bloglines, founded in 2003 by Mark Fletcher, the former CEO of ONElist, is an online news aggregator to subscribe and manage information, such as news feeds, weblogs and audio. Ask Jeeves is a provider of information retrieval technologies, available to consumers as websites, downloadable search-based applications and portals."
The American Thinker: "Tech note: desktop searching part deux
June 4th, 2005
“MSN Search Toolbar” web & desktop searching
...Today we look at Microsoft’s freebee offering “MSN Search Toolbar”, the latest and greatest from everybody’s buddy, Bill – Gates, that is. Whatever your opinion of Microsoft, its product offerings or Microsofties, the Toolbar is worth taking the time to download, install, and having your hard drive go through its indexing torture test. For, wonder of wonders, the thing actually works!..."
June 4th, 2005
“MSN Search Toolbar” web & desktop searching
...Today we look at Microsoft’s freebee offering “MSN Search Toolbar”, the latest and greatest from everybody’s buddy, Bill – Gates, that is. Whatever your opinion of Microsoft, its product offerings or Microsofties, the Toolbar is worth taking the time to download, install, and having your hard drive go through its indexing torture test. For, wonder of wonders, the thing actually works!..."
New Media Knowledge - Does MSN Search Hit The Spot?:
"Is MSN's new search facility good at finding local information? And can global search match the relevancy for consumers and business of local search supported by local indexing teams...
Launched in the UK in December 2004, Seekport is an innovative European search technology company that has developed a UK-specific search engine to deliver significantly higher hit quality than US-centric search offerings such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Search.
Seekport’s www.seekport.co.uk search engine offering is enabled by the company’s innovative search technology and the high level of quality and relevancy that comes from having local index teams. But what are the strengths of local search in comparison to global offerings?.."
"Is MSN's new search facility good at finding local information? And can global search match the relevancy for consumers and business of local search supported by local indexing teams...
Launched in the UK in December 2004, Seekport is an innovative European search technology company that has developed a UK-specific search engine to deliver significantly higher hit quality than US-centric search offerings such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Search.
Seekport’s www.seekport.co.uk search engine offering is enabled by the company’s innovative search technology and the high level of quality and relevancy that comes from having local index teams. But what are the strengths of local search in comparison to global offerings?.."
Largest Google Bomb Ever Discoverd by Yooter InterActive - addict3d.org:
"Source: http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/6/emw24768...
Yooter InterActive has discovered the largest Google Bomb ever. With 130 Million results in Google, Bloggers manage to rank George Bush #1 for the keyword 'failure'."
"Source: http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/6/emw24768...
Yooter InterActive has discovered the largest Google Bomb ever. With 130 Million results in Google, Bloggers manage to rank George Bush #1 for the keyword 'failure'."
Arutz Sheva - Israel National News:
"Google Coming to Israel
22:52 Jun 05, '05 / 27 Iyar 5765
(IsraelNN.com) Internet search giant Google is opening an Israeli subsidiary to broaden its business in the Jewish State.
Two business development managers from the Google branch in London visited Israel last week and met with managers of major portals and Hebrew language Web sites to examine the possibility of future business partnerships.
Google is now in the process of hiring people to head up its Israeli branch."
"Google Coming to Israel
22:52 Jun 05, '05 / 27 Iyar 5765
(IsraelNN.com) Internet search giant Google is opening an Israeli subsidiary to broaden its business in the Jewish State.
Two business development managers from the Google branch in London visited Israel last week and met with managers of major portals and Hebrew language Web sites to examine the possibility of future business partnerships.
Google is now in the process of hiring people to head up its Israeli branch."
Contextual Search with Firefox:
"By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor - June 6, 2005
Found something on a web page you'd like more information about? A nifty plugin for Firefox lets you highlight text and search using any of Firefox's built-in search engines with a simple right click of your mouse.
I've written before about the excellent native search capabilities offered by the Firefox browser, and how you can easily add your own favorite engines via plugins that install in seconds..."
"By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor - June 6, 2005
Found something on a web page you'd like more information about? A nifty plugin for Firefox lets you highlight text and search using any of Firefox's built-in search engines with a simple right click of your mouse.
I've written before about the excellent native search capabilities offered by the Firefox browser, and how you can easily add your own favorite engines via plugins that install in seconds..."
IOL: Computers / IT:
"Google's long memory stirs privacy concerns
June 06 2005 at 06:42AM - By Andy Sullivan
Washington - When Google's 19-million daily users look up a long-lost classmate, send email or bounce around the Web more quickly with its new Web Accelerator, records of that activity don't go away.
In an era of increased government surveillance, privacy watchdogs worry that Google's vast archive of Internet activity could prove a tempting target for abuse.
Like many other online businesses, Google tracks how its search engine and other services are used, and who uses them. Unlike many other businesses, Google holds onto that information for years..."
"Google's long memory stirs privacy concerns
June 06 2005 at 06:42AM - By Andy Sullivan
Washington - When Google's 19-million daily users look up a long-lost classmate, send email or bounce around the Web more quickly with its new Web Accelerator, records of that activity don't go away.
In an era of increased government surveillance, privacy watchdogs worry that Google's vast archive of Internet activity could prove a tempting target for abuse.
Like many other online businesses, Google tracks how its search engine and other services are used, and who uses them. Unlike many other businesses, Google holds onto that information for years..."
Xinhua - English:
"Accoona unveils Chinese edition
BEIJING, June 6 -- Accoona, world's largest online business search engine, unveiled its Chinese Business Search Engine Monday, which integrates a powerful business database search function, hence building up an efficient platform for cooperation between Chinese and global enterprises.
The Accoona Business Search Engine boasts the world's most comprehensive free online business information database of up to 35 million companies around the world, including millions of Chinese enterprises. It delivers the most relevant business search results using artificial intelligence technology that has the ability to 'Super-Target' the results.
'Accoona's giant business database and advanced artificial intelligence search technology will help both Chinese and American business people to get better and faster information on the World Wide Web,' said Zhao Qizheng, minister of China's State Council Information Office.
'I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulation to Accoona for building another convenient business information bridge between the East and West,' he added..."
"Accoona unveils Chinese edition
BEIJING, June 6 -- Accoona, world's largest online business search engine, unveiled its Chinese Business Search Engine Monday, which integrates a powerful business database search function, hence building up an efficient platform for cooperation between Chinese and global enterprises.
The Accoona Business Search Engine boasts the world's most comprehensive free online business information database of up to 35 million companies around the world, including millions of Chinese enterprises. It delivers the most relevant business search results using artificial intelligence technology that has the ability to 'Super-Target' the results.
'Accoona's giant business database and advanced artificial intelligence search technology will help both Chinese and American business people to get better and faster information on the World Wide Web,' said Zhao Qizheng, minister of China's State Council Information Office.
'I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulation to Accoona for building another convenient business information bridge between the East and West,' he added..."
ebrary Ships New Reader; Patent Pending Software Revolutionizes PDF Viewing, Navigating and Searching Online:
"PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 6, 2005--ebrary(R) (www.ebrary.com), a leading information services and technology provider, today announced that it has launched a new version of the ebrary Reader(TM), its free software application that turns static PDF files into research-ready documents that can be cross-referenced and searched online. Available today at http://site.ebrary.com/lib/anysite/Download, the ebrary Reader features even more functionality to make the research experience richer and more productive including customizable bibliographical citation formats and refined InfoTools(TM) search. The new Reader also now supports both Firefox and Mozilla Web browsers in addition to Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator... "
"PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 6, 2005--ebrary(R) (www.ebrary.com), a leading information services and technology provider, today announced that it has launched a new version of the ebrary Reader(TM), its free software application that turns static PDF files into research-ready documents that can be cross-referenced and searched online. Available today at http://site.ebrary.com/lib/anysite/Download, the ebrary Reader features even more functionality to make the research experience richer and more productive including customizable bibliographical citation formats and refined InfoTools(TM) search. The new Reader also now supports both Firefox and Mozilla Web browsers in addition to Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator... "
Google tests tool to aid Web indexing - News - CNETAsia:
"Google has launched an experiment designed to speed the flow of Web site information to the search giant's index.
The program, called Sitemaps, is free to site administrators and owners, whether they manage single-page or corporate sites.
'This collaborative crawling system will allow our crawlers to optimize the usefulness of Google's index for users by improving its coverage and freshness,' the company said on the Sitemaps site.
Google's latest feature comes as competitors in the search industry continue to look for ways to gain greater traction among surfers.
Sitemaps, which is currently in beta, calls for Web administrators to place a Sitemaps-formatted file on their Web servers. This allows the Google crawlers to see which pages are present on a site and which have been changed.
In order to use the tool, known as the Sitemap Generator, a Web administrator must create an XML file, know how to transfer files to a Web server and know how to run scripts. Sitemap Generator requires Python 2.2 or higher, according to Google.
The company notes, however, that using Sitemaps will not influence a site's ranking on Google's search listings."
"Google has launched an experiment designed to speed the flow of Web site information to the search giant's index.
The program, called Sitemaps, is free to site administrators and owners, whether they manage single-page or corporate sites.
'This collaborative crawling system will allow our crawlers to optimize the usefulness of Google's index for users by improving its coverage and freshness,' the company said on the Sitemaps site.
Google's latest feature comes as competitors in the search industry continue to look for ways to gain greater traction among surfers.
Sitemaps, which is currently in beta, calls for Web administrators to place a Sitemaps-formatted file on their Web servers. This allows the Google crawlers to see which pages are present on a site and which have been changed.
In order to use the tool, known as the Sitemap Generator, a Web administrator must create an XML file, know how to transfer files to a Web server and know how to run scripts. Sitemap Generator requires Python 2.2 or higher, according to Google.
The company notes, however, that using Sitemaps will not influence a site's ranking on Google's search listings."
What eBay Could Learn From Craigslist - New York Times:
"By RANDALL STROSS - Published: June 5, 2005
THESE days, triple-digit annual growth rates are rare among major Web sites. Meet that rarity: Craigslist.
Exceptional, too, is the ability to draw 10 million unique visitors each month without ever relying on venture capital and equity markets. Or the ability to attain fourth place among general-interest portals without ever spending a penny on marketing..."
"By RANDALL STROSS - Published: June 5, 2005
THESE days, triple-digit annual growth rates are rare among major Web sites. Meet that rarity: Craigslist.
Exceptional, too, is the ability to draw 10 million unique visitors each month without ever relying on venture capital and equity markets. Or the ability to attain fourth place among general-interest portals without ever spending a penny on marketing..."
ZDNetIndia.com : Forging an anti-terrorism search tool.:
"Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com, June 03, 2005
The government is counting on new search technology to sniff out terrorists.
Google is the No. 1 free tool to snoop on friends or strangers. But government agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration are investing in a new search engine being developed at the University of Buffalo to do some of their more sensitive detective work.
The technology, released as a prototype in recent weeks, is designed to mine a corpus of documents for associated ideas or connections--connections between two unrelated concepts, for example, that would otherwise go unseen or would take countless hours of investigative work to discover. The project was specifically funded for anti-terrorism efforts and initially was used for searching over data within the 9/11 Commission report and public Web pages related to the suicide bombings carried out by terrorists who hijacked three U.S. commercial planes..."
"Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com, June 03, 2005
The government is counting on new search technology to sniff out terrorists.
Google is the No. 1 free tool to snoop on friends or strangers. But government agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration are investing in a new search engine being developed at the University of Buffalo to do some of their more sensitive detective work.
The technology, released as a prototype in recent weeks, is designed to mine a corpus of documents for associated ideas or connections--connections between two unrelated concepts, for example, that would otherwise go unseen or would take countless hours of investigative work to discover. The project was specifically funded for anti-terrorism efforts and initially was used for searching over data within the 9/11 Commission report and public Web pages related to the suicide bombings carried out by terrorists who hijacked three U.S. commercial planes..."
