E-Commerce: Selling Products of India via the Internet
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Suggests approaches to selling products from India online: using micro sites instead of a single general store, writing informational articles to rank higer in search engines, Froogle listing, PPC ads, and ads on India portal sites. Date: Jul 14, 2004, 09:32 PST"

Miscellaneous: Web Marketing Today Influences E-Businesses Worldwide
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Web Marketing Today may well be the most influential marketing periodical in the world, reaching readers in over 200 countries. Dr. Ralph Wilson is editor of this largest and perhaps oldest of the e-commerce e-zines published today. Approximately 25% of readers come from outside the United States. Date: Jul 7, 2004, 16:46 PST"

Site Design: Testing Animated vs. Non-Animated Buttons
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Guesses that an animated button to attract attention to an offer will work better than a static one. Explains that A/B split testing can help determine this, but observes that enough traffic is necessary to get reliable findings. Date: Jul 7, 2004, 14:19 PST"

E-Mail Marketing: E-mail Messages with Dynamic Content
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Explains the difference between simple e-mail merging and inserting dynamic content into e-mails, based on customer preferences, demographics, and buying patterns. Mentions several software programs and ASP applications. Date: Jul 7, 2004, 13:50 PST"

Local Marketing: Building Relationships with Young Parents via E-Zine
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"A local church developed a local Parenting Tips e-zine designed to help younger parents and their families -- and build a relationship with the church as a provider of trusted and timely information. Subscriptions were obtained through sign-ups at a local family fair and articles in local periodicals. Date: Jul 7, 2004, 10:28 PST"


Google Features Picasa Link On Homepage For Some
From: www.webpronews.com

"Quickly following up to their (http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20040713PhotoCompanyAcquiredbyGoogle.html)purchase of digital photograph software company Picasa, Google has introduced a link on their homepage inviting visitors to download the software for free. That is, the ad/link is appearing for some."

Microsoft Purchases Email Search Engine Lookout
From: www.webpronews.com

"MSN, Internet portal of Microsoft, has announced that they have acquired the email search tool company, Lookout. The software MSN purchased has the ability to search for files and desktop data within Microsoft email client, Outlook."

IAB Study Finds Contextual Advertising Effective At Branding
From: www.webpronews.com

"A study conducted by Nielsen//Netratings and IAB has found that high-ranking advertisements on SERPs can be an effective tool for branding products. IAB commissioned N//N to conduct the survey, called the Internet Search Brand Effectiveness Research."

Microsoft To Allow Competitor IMs Access To Enterprise Chat Server
From: www.webpronews.com

"Microsoft is expected to announce today that their Live Communications Server (LCS) 2005 is expected to ship during the 4th quarter of 2004. The company also announced that they would open up communication on its enterprise instant messenger server to competitors Yahoo and AOL."

Microsoft Adds Improved Anti-Virus Protection For Hotmail
From: www.webpronews.com

"As the fight for email dominance continues, it seems each major player is bringing more to the table in order to one-up the other. With email being a major source of virus infections, any update to anti-virus protection is bound to draw attention. And so, Microsoft has announced that they will improve Hotmail's tools to combat viruses that are spread through email."


Online Games a Massive Pain
From: www.wired.com

"Just a couple of years ago, every major game company was developing a massively multiplayer online game, based on the attractive business premise. But after many disappointments in recent months, the industry is realizing these games can become tar pits. By Daniel Terdiman."

EBay Tests Digital Music Waters
From: www.wired.com

"The online auctioneer experiments with download sales. Also: A Hello Kitty robot is planned for November release.... Fiat and Microsoft will build telematics systems into Fiats.... BT and Yahoo to offer VoIP.... and more."

Make a Killing From Antiterrorism
From: www.wired.com

"Business is booming as law enforcement reaches for military technology. But getting federal money is far from easy. Randy Dotinga reports from the Homeland Security Conference in San Diego."

Cable Debate Generates Static
From: www.wired.com

"A House subcommittee hears what's good and bad about roll-your-own cable, but little is expected to happen until the FCC weighs in. Michael Grebb reports from Washington."

Macs, Music Boost Apple's Profits
From: www.wired.com

"Apple Computer more than triples its quarterly earnings compared with the same period last year. Sales of Macs, iPods and iTunes all contributed to the profit."


AT&T Doesn't Want My Money
From: webword.com

" So, I went to the AT&T store to pay my mobile phone bill. I knew I'd be right near the store so I took my statement, my phone and my wallet. I walked up to the desk, pulled everything out, and started talking. Before I even finished my sentence the service representative stopped me short and said:

"I'm sorry but we don't accept payment here, but you can go to the Giant [grocery store] to pay it."

I just sort of stood there. Then I laughed and told him that was completely insane. He agreed, smiled, and told me that it has been that way a long time.

I felt like telling him that I would like to buy groceries instead. Maybe he would accept my money that way. I was strong; I resisted playing the sarcasm card.

Please tell me:

1. That I am right, and this is insane!
2. That there is a really good reason for this. (Explain it, please!)"

Designing Effective User Interfaces for Wireless Devices
From: webword.com

" Intel -- "In this paper we outline a technique for quantifying design and quality assurance for wireless development. While the specific example we use is a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) application, you can use the same set of principles and mathematical models to quantify other types of mobile and wireless applications. The model we suggest can be used as the specifications for a tool that evaluates various user interfaces for devices, particularly mobile and wireless devices."

Learn more..."

Macintosh At 20 -- MacWorld Boston Panel
From: webword.com

" "The conversation, at times amusing and insightful, didn't really offer a coherent picture of the history of the Mac, or even of its development, but it did underline the importance of computer-human interfaces."

...and...

"Jef Raskin is a professor at the University of Chicago, still working on human interface. Frustratingly, he was unable to provide any details about what he was doing, several times saying that it was too complicated to explain adequately, and would be like trying to explain the Mac interface to a DOS user back in 1982. He did conclude by saying that the secret of Human Interface design is that it be so consistent and mindless that you don't have to think about the computer."

Read more...

(Thanks for the pointer Thad Pasquale!)

"

Jef Raskin -- Unable to Explain an Interface?
From: webword.com

" A WebWord reader passed along some good information about the Macworld Conference & Expo in Boston. Apparently, Raskin was unable and perhaps even unwilling to describe a new interface he is working on right now. In fact, he said that he wouldn't describe the interface ("LEAP") because that is how he sells books.

Maybe Jef was joking and maybe not. I respect his work but I don't know him personally, so I don't know how he interacted with the audience. In any event, I followed the reader's link and it does seem that Raskin made some of the comments I described above.

As Raskin points out, explaining a GUI to people who only knew command line interfaces must have been very difficult. But, is THE or LEAP that revolutionary? That begs yet another question. What is coming next? What comes after the GUI? Voice interfaces with natural language? Thoughts?"

The Computer Ate My Vote
From: webword.com

" "Participants in the "Computer Ate My Vote" campaign said paperless voting systems are poorly programmed and prone to hackers, fraud and software bugs."

...and usability issues? Touch screen voting stinks, from what I have read.

Read the article...

"