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Posted 12:27 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
They Don't Think; They're Just a Bunch of Robots
Andrew Nachison on automated news
First there was Ananova, the British Press Association's computer-generated news reader (sold last year to wireless firm Orange for $144 million). Now artificial intelligence researchers are talking about the next logical step in news automation: Eliminate the reporters. Read a human-powered story about Author, the automated writing software, in The Guardian.Technology correspondent Stuart Millar writes: "Journalists need not start worrying about their jobs just yet. The developers said that Author still lacks one fundamental skill: The ability to tell fact from fiction."
Posted 11:21 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Super Mario: The E-mail Brochure
Steve Klein on sports e-mail marketing
Here's a new twist on e-mail marketing: The e-mail brochure. The Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League are featuring superstar owner Mario Lemieux in their preseason advertising campaign, which includes a slick e-mail brochure with the theme, "If you enjoyed the comeback, don't miss the sequel." The e-mail brochure, which was created in-house, includes moving images of Lemieux, the sound of a cheering crowd, music usually heard at Mellon Arena, and closes with a page of season-ticket prices and links."We're especially happy with doing this by Internet," said Tom McMillan, the team's vice president for marketing. "We feel it gives fans a chance to not only see our advertising but also keep it and refer to it anytime they want." Potential corporate customers are receiving a CD-ROM version of the brochure, which includes additional multimedia features.
Posted 6:42 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
The Weirdest Billionaire
Steve Outing on publicity of in-house Microsoft video
Have you seen the latest Steve Balmer video? It's a hoot. The Microsoft No.2 exec did a bizarre pep rally in front of the troops recently, and the evidence is all over the Web. In the video, Balmer prances around on stage hooting and grunting, apparently attempting to whip employees into a frenzy. It's comical (and demonstrates that the billionaire badly needs to spend some time at the health club), but also scary. Frankly, that performance would make me run and update my resume if I were a Microsoft employee. Being part of a corporate cult doesn't hold much appeal.The media hook to this item is that in the Internet age, it's wise to act rationally at internal corporate events. While such a bizarre performance is unlikely to make the network news, it can easily become a hit on the Internet. Internal antics now more than ever can quickly become public, and cause public embarrassment.
Posted 6:27 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Salon's Saviors
Steve Outing on webzine's new funding round
Perpetually troubled Salon.com has come up with a new round of funding to keep the popular webzine running (as reported here earlier this week). The Wall Street Journal has the details today: $2.5 million led by investment banker Bill Hambrecht, and also Adobe co-founder John Warnock, McKay Investment Group, and Hambrecht's firm, W.R. Hambrecht. News of the investment also coincided with Salon trimming another 14 people from its staff.
Posted 3:57 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Internet Is Key to Growth
Carla Passino on Reed Elsevier's online commitment
Reed Elsevier PLC believes that the Internet is key to achieving double-digit growth, according to the BBC Online. The Anglo-Dutch media group, which beat all expectations to report a 13% rise in interim pre-tax profits today, announced that it will continue to build on its online products. "We are increasingly confident that our strategy will deliver the superior growth and shareholder returns that we have targeted," said chief executive Crispin Davis. At a time when the online publishing industry is struggling, this is encouraging news.
Posted 11:23 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Update: Oregon Backs Off Restrictions
Steve Klein on sports media restrictions
The University of Oregon has decided that it will not limit the use of football highlights on television — a policy that would have impacted all media — according to an AP story. The school, which expects to take a run at a U.S. national football championship this season, had considered restricting use of highlights to protect a local station holding rights for use in a coach's show. Predictably, reaction was worse than the U. of Oregon Ducks suffer playing a road game. ESPN and the local TV station, which would have benefited under the proposed policy, "support the decision" to allow other broadcasters access to longer clips, said Bill Moos, Oregon's athletic director. "We listened to the concerns broadcasters brought to us and will continue a policy that is in the best interest of all parties involved."
Posted 10:08 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Can You Force Attention?
Katja Riefler on non-intrusive advertising
Let's continue the advertising debate. Robin "Roblimo" Miller, editor-in-chief of the Open Source Development Network, writes on Online Journalism Review about an interesting experiment his organization has done. OSDN publishes Slashdot, freshmeat, NewsForge, and other sites carrying news and information about open source and free software. They are almost entirely ad-supported but have rigid guidelines against intrusive ads that could annoy readers. They did an in-house study and discovered that on their site text-heavy banners scored much better than the animated ones on the same topic.
Posted 10:44 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
But First, a Word From Our Sponsor ...
Steve Outing on online advertising trends
I want you to go to Playboy.com. Don't look at the pictures. Look at the ad that you are forced to see before you get to the home page. This is a nice example of the direction I see rich-media advertising taking on the Web. It runs for 30 seconds, then takes you to the home page. In this particular ad, a talking Hugh Hefner plugs the advertiser (Jack Daniels Whiskey), then closes with, "Welcome to Playboy.com." You'll only see the ad one time during the month, because the site sets a cookie on your PC. And you can click a link to play the ad again if you wish.Is being forced to watch one 30-second commercial a fair price for getting to the Playboy.com home page and sampling its free content? (Playboy has a lot of for-fee content as well.) I think so, and this works because you will only be bothered by this ad once. Also, you could say the ad is entertaining (though sexist, of course). And integrating the Web site brand (Hefner character and Playboy BunniesTM) with the product message is cute. The down side is that while I experienced the ad just fine on my high-bandwidth connection, I shudder to think what it's like on a slow dial-up.
Posted 12:56 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Giving Credit Where It's Due
Jade Walker on promoting helpful online writers
The Writer is looking for scribes who make a difference. Simply nominate writers you feel have contributed to the publishing world by:
- Helping and influencing other writers either through their writing or teaching.
- Being instrumental in bringing about changes in the publishing field that benefit all writers.
- Increasing awareness of issues of concern to writers.
- Using their writing to help communities or humanitarian causes.
- Being innovative, introducing new forms, subject matter. or perspectives.
The Writer is looking for writers in all areas: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, copywriting, business writing, online writing, etc. E-mail your nominations. (Include name of the writer, the type of writing he/she does, the works he/she has published and where, your reasons for nominating the writer, a note on how the writer has made a difference, the writer's publishing affiliation, and your name and e-mail address. Deadline is August 25.
Posted 12:43 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
They Still Don't Get It
Rich Gordon on Big Music and the Net
I don't know whether there's an antitrust case to be made against the big music companies that are collaborating to offer digital downloads. But I think the major labels have something much bigger to worry about: The services they plan to launch aren't going to be successful. As explained in the Industry Standard recently, the services will charge a monthly subscription (say, $9.95/month) to download a certain number of songs — and if you discontinue the service, the songs will no longer be playable. It's basically a rent-a-song service, and at least for now, the songs can't even be moved to a second computer or portable device. I believe consumers will only sign up for a service if they can buy digital music — a whole album or just a single song — and then be able to copy it for personal use. (Just as they can now with CDs.) In the wake of Napster, it looks like Big Music is too paranoid to allow that. But I think anyone who charges for content — whether informational or entertainment — is going to fail bigtime if they try to limit people's ability to make copies for personal, non-commercial purposes.
Posted 12:36 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Surfing in the Park
Carla Passino on the world's first Internet bench
Picture this: A quaint English garden, tulips and roses gently fluctuating in the breeze, the ruins of a medieval Abbey looming in the background. You curl up on a bench to soak up the atmosphere. Then you open your laptop and log onto the Internet. Because you are sitting on the first-ever cyber-seat, brought to you by MSN.co.uk and the St Edmundsbury Borough council.Launched on August 6, the bench is located in the Abbey Gardens of Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk, where Magna Carta came into being. It allows up to four people to connect to the Internet at the same time. Now, I am a natural-born geek who spends upward of 60 hours a week online and accesses the Web anytime, anywhere. I am a die-hard fan of cyber-cafes, Internet points at the airport, and dedicated Internet sockets in hotels. But the day has yet to come when I will contemplate spending my time in a beautiful, historic garden glued to a computer screen. Still, if you want more information, the address to contact is internetbench@hotmail.com.
Posted 12:32 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Something New to Worry About: PDF Virus
Steve Outing on e-publishing tools
I suppose it was inevitable. A new virus has been found that travels in PDF files, the widely used e-publishing format from Adobe. This one's not bad — it doesn't infect people who use Acrobat Reader to view PDF files, only those with the Adobe Acrobat software that creates PDF — but it does ring alarm bells that the e-publishing format could be susceptible to spreading viruses throughout the Internet.
Posted 7:18 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Hitting the Wrong Notes
Steve Klein on the online music industry
Talk about the major music companies being tone death. Haven't they been following the Microsoft antitrust case? The U.S. Justice Department has begun an antitrust investigation into two rival online music services being developed by the world's largest music companies, according to an article in the Washington Post. The services are MusicNet (comprised of AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann AG, EMI Group, and Real Networks) and Pressplay (Sony, Vivendi Universal, and Microsoft). The investigation centers on potentially anti-competitive behavior by the five industry giants in music, which control 80% of the world's most popular music. The rival online music services want to generate revenue based on the concept popularized by Napster.
Posted 2:06 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Online Government Works in Maryland
Steve Klein on online government services
What's the best state in the U.S. for getting through governmental red tape online? Maryland offers more government services like drivers' license renewal, payment of government fees, and tax filing online than any other state, according to a study released by the Center for Digital Government, part of the for-profit magazine publishing company E.Republic. Maryland was the only state to score 100%. It was followed by Maine, Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Washington. "Maryland is giving its citizens the opportunity to do their business online and not stand in line," said Cathilea Robinett, executive director of the group, in an article in the Washington Post. Only the 25 highest-ranked states were released.
Posted 12:57 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Is Porn Our Last Hope?
Carla Passino on European publishers' porn move
In an attempt to drive revenue that smacks of desperation, European content sites are increasingly turning to porn. Joining the crowd is Spanish portal Ya.com, which has just teamed up with pornography giant Private Media Group to launch a porn channel, according to EuropeMedia.net. The move follows last week's announcement by British e-commerce Web site LastMinute.com that it will start selling adult products.Money has no smell, particularly at a time when online publishing is on its knees. But branching out into porn may not be a very wise choice for mainstream publishers. Despite the fabled profits that the online sex industry is supposedly making, the business is not as lucrative as it is cracked up to be. And covering adult material may hurt advertising revenues, since traditional advertisers don't often want to be associated with sex. All in all, there must be a better business model out there for online content providers.
Posted 12:17 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Salon Off Death Watch?
Steve Outing on webzine's struggle to survive
Salon will survive, says its founder. According to a column by Cynthia Cotts in the Village Voice, the celebrated but troubled webzine seems to have made it through the worst of the online media depression. Salon's David Talbot told Cotts that a new investor has been found that will fund the site through to profitability. Salon also dodged the bullet of NASDAQ delisting, at least temporarily; the market gave the stock more time to get above $1.
Posted 11:04 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
The Myth of Multitasking
Katja Riefler on new psychological research
Listen, all of you who are part of the modern multimedia multitasking workforce. Can't live without talking on the phone (best while driving), typing on your keyboard, watching TV, and hearing the radio all at the same time? Always looking for the next kick, that will involve even more senses in the media experience? Too bad. Scientists just found out that this is against human nature. We don't really multitask. We just switch from one task to another. And there is a switch in our heads that has only limited bandwidth. While switching we're not efficient. We lose time. And if we force ourselves to do to more than one thing at a time, quality suffers. So let's change our lives, shouldn't we?
Posted 1:35 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Stop Buttons on Ads — Yes!
Steve Outing on online advertising
The Internet Advertising Bureau has issued new guidelines for rich-media online ads. Let's hope the ad industry takes them seriously, because lots of advertising we've been seeing on the Web of late is getting out of hand. It's overly intrusive and doesn't respect the user. Among the worthy recommendations of the IAB are:
- Banners may expand when the user moves a cursor over the ad, but should automatically close when the cursor moves off the banner.
- A banner may expand if the user clicks on the ad, but it must include a clearly labeled Close button.
- Online ads with audio or video should include a clearly labeled Stop or Pause button.
- Audio or video is only allowed if a consumer clicks the ad.
Amen!
Posted 2:02 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
CS Monitor Preview
Andrew Nachison on a new design
The Christian Science Monitor, a pioneer in providing innovative online user experiences, will unveil a new design on Wednesday, but you can check it out now.
Posted 11:25 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Be Aware of Online Games...
Katja Riefler on Bild.de and Angela Ermakova
Bild.de, the online counterpart of Germany's biggest (tabloid) newspaper, faces a claim for damages worth US $90,000 from Angela Ermakova, lady-love of tennis star Boris Becker (and mother of his child). The online newspaper had published an online game in April named "Click the Ermakova." The task: follow the Russian model into the laundry chamber and hit her on the head. If you had been successful you got a message, "You lost 10 million DM very quicky." Otherwise we were requested to try again. Bild already has conformed to a preliminary injunction and deleted the game from its servers but still faces a trial in November. Other German newspapers have been more lucky with their game selections. The "Bundesdance-Show" at the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, for example, gets many hits and few complaints. (OK, it is brainless, stupid, and a pure waste of time, really. ...)
Posted 1:05 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Personalization Revisited
Norbert Specker on the evasive personalization success
The history of innovation is littered with ideas which — by common understanding — were "before their time." Well, that is one way to look at it. Another is: they just were not developed far enough to be successful. The history of online personalization, wonderfully relived by J.D. Lasica of the Online Journalism Review, has all the signs of "right idea — not quite perfect execution" so far. The accompanying update on new efforts, particularly within the news industry, is equally well researched. Recommended reading.
Posted 1:02 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Update: ACLU Complains
Steve Klein on sports coverage restrictions
You can add the American Civil Liberties Union to the list of organizations asking the University of Oregon to abandon a controversial plan to limit broadcasts of university sports events. ACLU of Oregon executive director Dave Fidanque said that the policy would violate both the U.S. Constitution and the Oregon Constitution's Bill of Rights. Journalists across the nation have called on the university to drop any policy change that would restrict how journalists cover UO games. The Society of Professional Journalists, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Radio-Television News Directors Association, the Associated Press Sports Editors, and the Oregon Association of Broadcasters have objected to the proposed rule, which remains under review by the Oregon athletic department. "To the extent that the final rule attempts similar restrictions based on the length of communication, or the forum of the communication, we believe the rule will rest on very shaky ground," Fidanque said in a letter to the university.For more on the controversy, you can read my original column.
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