October 2003

Internet Advertising Report: Microsoft Outlook 2003 Puts Open Rates in Question:

“The issue lies in the way Outlook 2003 handles images and links in HTML messages. In previous versions, graphics and links were delivered to the computer and appeared in Outlook’s preview pane (in default mode). Now, HTML, images and rich media are cached on the server and downloaded only when the message is actually opened. This protects users from viewing possibly objectionable images; prevents invisible executables from opening in preview mode; and scotches directory harvesting of e-mail addresses. Users must either manually click to load a message’s images and links, or turn off the image-caching feature in the preferences. “

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Guardian Online: Google fights for top spot:

“Google will raise billions when it goes public in a few months, but Jack Schofield wonders if it will be overtaken by competitors.”

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CNET.com: Cyberpiracy north of the border:

“CNET News.com spoke to Michael Geist, the Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, about copyrights, spam and other topics. Geist is also technology counsel to Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, and he writes a newspaper column on cyberlaw.”

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CBC News: CanWest outlines new online strategy:

“CanWest Interactive has provided more details of its previously-announced plan to charge for access to some of its online news and information content.”

(via PaidContent.org)

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New York Times: Google Studies Creation of Book Database:

“Google.com has begun talks with book publishers to compile a searchable database of the contents of thousands of volumes, a publishing executive briefed on the project said yesterday.”

Well that didn’t take long. Amazon just announce their service last week and Google is hot on the trail. My guess is Google will have a tougher time with publishers than Amazon.com because they don’t have as clear a connection to hard-copy book sales. Amazon can of course argue that the “search in the book” feature increases sales. How does Google make the argument?

BTW, if you haven’t read Wired’s article on Amazon yet, you should. Great reading.

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Nick Usborne reports that his “White Collar Spam” post has created a meme that has officially launched itself into our collective conscience. Nick used the term in a post related to over-extension of permission by legitimate e-mailers. Seth Godin picked up the idea and linked to Nick. Now Saul Hansell of the NT Times as used the term in ‘Big Companies Add to Spam’.

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PaidContent.org: The Minced Meat Music Pie: RealNetworks’ Sean Ryan:

“[So if margins are not great, how do you make money?] You make money by subscriptions: it is a better business…it is a continual, annuity business. You bundle a la carte downloads on top of that. You don’t necessarily make money in any of those by themselves; you make money in total. For example, the assets we used to build Rhapsody are the same that power RadioPass, the free music experience, and the upcoming store. So we spread the work of encoding, of creating metadata, of taking credit cards etc across four different services, and then international services. So you start spreading your costs across different yet related products, and two, through distribution and marketing.”

This is a great interview with lots of insights for those interested in where online music is headed. Anyone who’s used Rhapsody knows that Sean Ryan “gets it”.

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I didn’t know you could do this, but Google seems to have added another new feature, this time allowing you to ask for definitions of terms but entering something like define:best practice into the search box.

While I like the fact that Google is doing everything it can to keep the interface simple, I think we might be reaching the point where this is ineffective. Many say that Google is becoming the operating system of the Internet. If this is so, my fear is that it is MS-DOS – command line rather than GUI.

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kottke.org: Guidelines for focusing on learning:

“1. Release the need to be right.

2. Welcome one another’s thoughts and opinions.

3. Suspend judgment.

4. Listen for understanding, not rebuttal.

5. Make personal statements by using ‘I’ rather than ‘you’.

6. Clarify first what was said before you challenge someone.

7. Take time to reflect.

8. Lean into discomfort.

9. Respond first to what was said before making your point.

10. Have fun.”

Jason goes on to point out how few of us to any of this.

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Seth’s Blog: My note to Susan:

“You say to the prospect: I will work with you to build a four-page engine of revenue. The idea: the client loads it up with targeted traffic that he buys by regularly trying and testing adwords and other relevant, measurable media. Then, I will regularly, constantly tweak (or redesign) the four page site to turn those strangers into friends (and maybe, if your product is great and your followup is appropriate, you can turn those friends into customers).”

This is another great article by Seth. Read the whole thing.

If you (or someone you know) is doing what Seth is suggesting, let me know.

(I would however object to Seth’s “Further proof that the web is now officially a direct marketing business” comment. While this is true, it implies that the web is now officially NOT something else. The web is many things and can be bent and twisted to meet many needs. Direct marketing is just one aspect. Small point, but an important one – always ignore statements that say “the web is…“.)

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Dave Winer said “Google’s directory of weblog tools. None of the tools I wrote made the list… Google, this makes you look like a total asshole company.”

Google’s Directory is based on DMOZ Open Directory, but filtered through Google’s PageRank so that the most relevant links rise to the top. I don’t think Google has any say about what goes in the Open Directory in the first place. But it does decide what goes in its edited version.

Let’s compare:
Google’s Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Tools > Publishers
Open Directory’s Computers > Internet > On the Web > Weblogs > Tools > Publishers

Sure enough, Radio.Userland is in the Open Directory and not in Google’s. Furthermore, Blogger is number 1 on Google, but listed alphabetically in Open Directory. And Google only lists 37 links while Open Directory lists 52.

So maybe Dave has a point.

How does Google decide what gets in its directories? They use PageRank. So maybe Dave’s problem is that his corporate web site gets far fewer links than Blogger.

Since we can’t see PageRank directly, let’s take a look at what Alexa says:

It seems that Radio Userland doesn’t appear in the Google directory because it shouldn’t. Blogger’s 3 month average page rank on Alexa is 714. Radio Userland’s is 7,885. If the site was more popular I’m sure it would rate a link in this directory (note that Movable Type is number two in the Google Directory, reflecting it’s rank at 6672 over the last 3 months – once again, according to Alexa.)

Doing a comparison of Google’s link count for Blogger, Movable Type, and Userland we see:

Movable: 116,000
Blogger: 62,500
Userland: 33,500

Of course PageRank combines number of links with quality of those links to determine page rank, so it may be that Blogger has better quality links. That may explain why Blogger outranks Movable despite the larger number of inbound links.

In any case, I don’t see any reason Dave should be calling Google a “Total Asshole Company”.

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Contentious Weblog: The Challenge of RSS Evangelism:

“I love being an RSS evangelist. I tell everyone I know why RSS feeds are so cool. They think I’m a geek. I don’t care, they’ll thank me for it later.

But I’ll admit it… I get so frustrated trying to explain to people why I think RSS feeds are so cool and important – because most people don’t know what the heck they are. It’s kind of like explaining the Web in 1992, I guess. Unless you’re into weblogs, chances are you probably haven’t heard of RSS.

I’m forever trying to bridge this knowledge gap, but that’s hard when RSS feeds are still so clunky to learn to use compared to the Web and e-mail.”

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PressThink’s What’s Radical About the Weblog Form in Journalism? is not only great reading in itself, it is also a great example of the power of comments on active sites. After finishing the relatively brief “top ten reasons” Jay Rosen provides in the original post, check out the dozens and dozens of intelligent concurring, dissenting, and amplifying comments that readers have added.

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Tom Coates has a great article on dealing with bad behavior in online communities (Everything in Moderation: On stealth moderation or “Blame the technology”…). This post should be read by everyone blogging with open comment areas.

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