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Google
Still Has AFP In Its News
Agence France-Presse complained bitterly about its content being retrieved by
Google News and asked them to stop doing so; apparently Google is still pulling
AFP content into News.
Airline
Blasted For Using Adjective On Website
Hawaiian Airlines is crying foul over a new-kid-on-the-block rival airline's keyword
optimization techniques, claiming trademark infringement. And sure enough, interisland
flight competitor Go was busted using the adjective "Hawaiian" several times on
the website.
Yahoo!
Pays Film Students In Back-Pats
Yahoo! has invited fledgling filmmakers to submit 12-second video advertisements
to promote the website's new look. Grand-prize for best short: two thumbs up,
credit for a job well done, and a place among the featured videos.
RFID
Technology Vulnerable To Malware
RFID tags may become commonplace in the future, but not a lot of people are looking
forward to widespread implementation. There was already concern that these "smart
barcodes" would allow consumers' habits to be more easily tracked, and that the
technology could facilitate identity theft.
Netscape's
New Look Unpopular With Some
Netscape remodeled its home page in recent days - the site describes itself as
"undergoing exciting changes." But apparently a lot of people don't like the alterations.
There's even a little note down at the bottom of one page, saying, "If the new
Netscape isn't for you, make sure to check out the free AOL.com."
India
Blocks Access Major Blog Sites
The Indian government was accused of censorship after the Department of Telecommunications
was found to have given directives to regional Internet service providers to block
access to blogspot.com, typepad.com and geocities.
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Tuesday July 18, 2006 |
The Hub will be the retailing giant's online attempt to win over the online teen crowd and bolster its flagging fortunes in the hotly competitive apparel market.
Editor's Note: Can a rigorously policed, corporate-branded networking site bring in teens who have come to loathe the seamier side of social networking? Is the only way a site can grow one that generally follows Aleister Crowley's "Do what thou wilt" as an operating principle? Profile your thoughts at WebProWorld.
 Hanging
out at Wal-Mart really does take place. For every Big Apple and L.A., there are
hundreds of small towns and cities where the only thing to do on a Saturday night
is cruise around the parking lot of Wal-Mart.
That may or may not transfer to The Hub, a heavily controlled online networking site run by Wal-Mart. An AdAge report noted the arrival of The Hub, and has pretty much dismissed the site's chances for catching on with the younger crowd, courtesy of comments from some dubious teens.
Wal-Mart wants to call participants in the site "Hubsters." It's a play on hipsters, only not as hip. Apparently no one at Wal-Mart's Bentonville, AR, headquarters, or its ad firm, GSD&M of Austin, TX, bothered to do a web search for "hubster," as the term is most commonly used by middle-aged women referring to their husbands.
It's even more apparent when searching for "walmart hubster." Really. Click here to see.
Wal-Mart has paired with Sony, another name that isn't exactly etched positively in the minds of a young audience. The duo have provided some enticements to encourage participation in The Hub, though.
Similar to the Yahoo ad contest our Jason Lee Miller discussed recently, Wal-Mart has invited its young audience to create a page or submit a video to The Hub. Unlike Yahoo's oh-so-generous backpats, Wal-Mart is offering real prizes, like a trip to Los Angeles to meet with a Creative Professional in the business.
Quite frankly, our lives would be complete if the winner chose to meet with Yahoo's media kingpin, Lloyd Braun.
However, participating in The Hub involves obeying a lengthy list of requirements set down by Wal-Mart. Teens aged 13-17 need their participation supervised by a parent or legal guardian. Wal-Mart will also review content submitted before it is posted to the site, a practice that elicited this wry comment from AdAge writer Mya Frazier:
So a subversive, ironic ad by a savvy teen on how her dad's hardware shop closed down after the retail Goliath rolled into town would likely be "otherwise objectionable" to Wal-Mart.
Aww, come on, Chevy had so much fun with its Chevy Apprentice campaign, too.
Maybe since the rigid conformity and control being enforced by Wal-Mart will be seen as so uncool that teens will participate in it ironically, and one of them will walk off with the big prize for a video he or she creates. It'll be something to talk about on a MySpace blog, anyway.
About
the Author:
David is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. |
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Tina Bean, director of sales and marketing for online analytics firm, VisiStat,
has a great pitch. Invoking the image of "the grumbly IT guy" (you know you have
one), Bean says VisiStat's software-as-a-service model (SaaS) can rescue you from
spending the better part of the afternoon with him.
"We were created out of frustration for what you currently find on the shelf," said Bean before speaking of eyes involuntarily rolling backwards to avoid focusing on another server log printout.
VisiStat, in contrast, brings that information to the desktop. Instead of a printout, it looks a bit like email, and has lots of nifty charts and graphs your boss likes so much.
The information provided on screen is from a real-time refreshing data stream that shows what visitors are reading that moment, where they came from, what language they speak, how they found your website, and what they're clicking.
"Users don't have to spend hours massaging data to make a report," said Bean. "It instantly creates a report you can put on your CEO's desk."
Read
the Entire Article
About
the Author:
Jason is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. |
|
Search Indexes Too Fat?
While there's little argument about the usefulness of search engines, there has
been a great deal of debate concerning the content of the major search engine
indices and how much of it is useful and how much is useless spam. This discussion
was taken a little further by a poster who asked whether or not search engine
bloat would be the death of these services. What do you think? Can Google, et
al, survive the perception of being spam-laden? Or do you see this as being a
non-issue? Let us know in WebProWorld.
|| Chris||
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Request
a proposal and receive a free keyword
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Search
Will Die From Chronic Obesity
A few years ago a "culture" became established in the world of search that I believe
will ultimately destroy the major search engines and possibly the major directories.
The concept that "content is king" was a nice idea, but what we actually got was
"VOLUME of content is king" though I would argue even that... Then the notion
was introduced that inbound links to a site effectively constituted "Votes" for
the sites suitability in relation to basic elements used in the text of those
inbound links - so links became king.
Upon realising what was going on, SEO pro's started to try to take advantage of
this new trend in search and started to use various means to increase their sites
content volume and (probably more crucially) the volume of links (votes) pointing
to it. Some resorted to duplicating content in blocks and found themselves penalised
for that (sometimes unfairly) and a mechanism was introduced to "hold-back" new
sites that appeared to gain new inbound links too many and too quickly (sandboxing).
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WebPro Question: |
Do people already uss RSS threads for recipical linking? Instead of just offering
a link into someones site do people create interesting RSS feeds to be submitted
in RSS exchanges? Would it act as a normal link into your site also?
- Steven1976a
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