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Anvil
Issue Twenty Three
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*Welcome to Anvil, a fat-free newsletter and Web site providing
insight into online industry news, issues and trends.
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TOP
INDUSTRY NEWS
*Broadcast News
*Web Cemetery
DESIGN
*Netscape Designs For Corporate
*Consolidated Push
HOSTING
*AOL Goes NBC
*Reliability Is Job One
MARKETING
*Web Advertising Effectiveness Questioned
*Ad Agencies At A Loss
TOP
WEB PICKS
*Basement Industry
*Better Homes And Gardens Home Improvement Encyclopedia
*IBM Patent Server
*National Geographic Society Map Machine
*Netsurfer Digest
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TOP INDUSTRY NEWS
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*Broadcast News
As technology evolves and improves bandwidth issues, multimedia
applications increase in complexity. This trend is validated by
the recent launch of MSNBC DeskTop Video’s Business Video news service.
The service will allow live broadcast of audio and video business
news thanks to the deep pockets of Microsoft and NBC. The subscription-based
service, priced at $24.95 per month will carry Bloomberg business
news. Competition is stiff, though, in this infant industry. CNNfn
recently announced their plans for new financial Web shows. Digital
Jam and Business Unusual will provide streaming broadcast video
via Vxtreme software. Sony Online also announced their new test
site, Station@sony.com, that will provide a multitude of channels,
ranging from gameshows to music. The new site has already raised
a reported $1 million dollars in advertising revenue from Microsoft,
Sears and American Airlines.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,8655,00.html
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,8642,00.html
*Web
Cemetery
A recent Wall Street Journal article addresses the online graveyard
created when "dead" Web pages are not removed by their
owners, thus clogging search engines with outdated or irrelevant
information. Many of the numbers, provided by Alta Vista, are scary
at best. Nearly one-sixth or 5 million Web pages indexed by Alta
Vista haven’t been updated since early 1996. Going further back,
424,000 pages haven’t been updated since early 1995 and 75,000 since
before 1994. While the later numbers may seem small to some, many
of these neglected sites are some of the big players, including
Hair Club For Men, Armani, Keebler and L.L. Bean. The primary cause
for "digital death" is lack of funding or bandwidth. On
the other hand, it’s also cheaper and easier in some cases to leave
a site up than take it down, besides, it feeds the creator’s ego.
The key to minimizing cost and maximizing frequency of updates is
automation and site management. Web designers, whether internal
or external, should design templates for easy updates and help educate
site administrators with proper site maintenance and management
techniques.
http://interactive6.wsj.com/edition/current/articles/
SB858031646474204000.htm
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DESIGN
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*Netscape Designs For Corporate
Netscape’s move into corporate America was made public in a recent
white paper entitled "The Networked Enterprise." To help
validate their new strategy, Netscape announced a new product line
including a new browser code named Mercury, a management application
code named Compass and a server program code named Apollo. Mercury
will compete with Internet Explorer 4.0 by offering a single view
of data stored both locally and on the Web via a new "Hypertree"
approach. Compass, an agent-based technology, will aid users in
managing the large amount of data available on the Web. Apollo is
reported to offer enhanced e-mail, scheduling and centralized network
management capabilities.
http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/info/031097/info10_2960.html
*Consolidated
Push
Push technology is hot this week at Internet World in Los Angeles.
The major players, including PointCast, Marimba, BackWeb, Microsoft,
Intermind and Arrive, are all aggressively selling their technology.
To help counter the noise generated by the "push" technology
frenzy, IDC recently released a warning regarding the consolidation
of the industry. While this should be no surprise to experienced
Internet capitalists, many companies are still jumping on the bandwagon,
looking to make a quick buck. IDC cautions that by years’ end, there
will only be a small handful of significant push vendors. Early
bets are placed on the deepest pockets, mainly Microsoft and Netscape.
Technology isn’t the heart of the issue as much as effective marketing
and strategic partnerships. Current technology and partnership leaders
include PointCast, Marimba and BackWeb. PointCast, the industry
leader and founder, is a Windows application with the most impressive
interface and seamless delivery. BackWeb, also a Windows application
has survived primarily due to partnerships, mainly Microsoft. Marimba
is a Java-based application, which allows greater flexibility, even
with occasional bugs. IDC points to corporate intranets and extranets
as the key to survival for these applications. From a higher level
perspective, the winner will ultimately bring the most reliable,
open and scaleable solution to market and partner with channel providers
with the deepest content. In related news, Microsoft is proposing
a set of standards for push technology. So far, the channel definition
format (CDF) will be adopted by America Online and PointCast. Netscape
has yet to reply to the bold but questionable move by Microsoft.
http://www.nbnn.com/5.html
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HOSTING
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*AOL Goes NBC
To help combat the onslaught of Webcasting programming from the
likes of Microsoft and Sony, AOL recently hired the former head
of NBC’s entertainment division, Brandon Tartikoff to head the new
Greenhouse Networks Entertainment division. Tartikoff’s directive
will be to lead the development of online programming including
gameshows, talk shows, movie and music reviews, celebrity gossip
and online chat. To augment the division, AOL purchased LightSpeed
Media and licensed push technology from Firefly Network. Content
will be available free on the Internet with additional chat functionality
for AOL subscribers.
http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/info/031097/info18_21180.html
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/ct960.htm
*Reliability
Is Job One
Network World recently released the findings of their ISP study.
Overall, the results were not alarming, yet offer insight into purchasing
decisions. Reliability ranked number one in importance when selecting
an ISP. Customer support and security followed closely behind reliability.
When ranking current ISPs, respondents preferred MCI for current
or future usage followed by AT&T and PSI. Most common uses for
ISP’s services include Internet access, Web server applications,
firewall security, remote access and intranet. The most revealing
trend: intranet usage.
http://www.merc.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=1884367-183
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MARKETING
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*Web Advertising Effectiveness Questioned
The effects of advertising have long been disputed, yet budgets
are at an all time high. While the Web offers advertisers greater
tracking ability, companies are slow to dedicate substantial budgets
to the new medium. The choice is almost a no-brainer for Internet
companies. As a provider of Internet access, AT&T WorldNet Service
currently spends about 25 percent of its ad budget online. Surprisingly,
high tech companies like Silicon Graphics and Bell Atlantic are
much slower to adopt and limit their online ad spending for the
time being. The largest factor contributing to the slow adoption
is the lack of unified measurement and pricing structure. In order
to price, target markets must be defined and measured. Currently,
visits (equivalent to circulation in print) can be tracked by hits,
page views or user sessions. Once the advertiser decides to go with
a particular site, banner ad impressions are measured by views or
click-throughs. Due to the fluid nature of the Web, pricing structures
are still being worked out. So far, the best bet looks to be banner
ad networks like DoubleClick, which can offer highly targeted ad
space on a wide array of sites.
http://www.netb2b.com/cgi-bin/cgi_article/monthly/97/03/01/article.2
*Ad
Agencies At A Loss
A recent survey of 300 marketing executives conducted by Advertising
Age revealed traditional advertising firms are not as popular for
interactive work as are Web developers. A quote by author Debra
Aho Williamson says it all, "The survey shows that marketers
view their ad agencies as just another name in a roster of suppliers
- not particularly better, and sometimes worse, than their new-media
competition. Agencies that once thought they could dominate the
market must now fight tooth and nail for every scrap of business."
So far, the perception is validated as Web developers like Vivo
Media are moving into the ad agency model more effectively than
ad agencies are able to move into Web development. While 29 percent
of respondents prefer ad agencies, Web developers are a close second
with 26 percent, and a remaining majority of 23 percent prefer to
do their Web work in-house. The survey also revealed a potentially
disturbing trend for both ad agencies and Web developers: 46 percent
of respondents plan on bringing more Web work in-house in the future.
http://www.mmp.co.uk/mmp/informer/netnews/HTM/311n1e.htm
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TOP WEB PICKS
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*Basement Industry
A site for the graphically inclined. A seemingly random collection
of thoughts and images come together in a strange and captivating
new way. Site features include: the eerie music of Fragmented, Vacuity
Magazine, Stratagem, MirrororriM, Mind Over Matter and BlueNitesEroticSecrets
Records.
http://www.basementindustry.org/
*Better
Homes And Gardens Home Improvement Encyclopedia
Spring is just around the corner, and it’s time to start all those
home improvement projects. Better Homes and Gardens has a one-stop
online resource for many of the basics including: the basics, house
structure, decks, plumbing, electric and phone, yard structures
and landscape. Additional site features include a tool dictionary,
handy project calculator and a chance to win a $500 gift certificate.
http://www.bhglive.com/homeimp/
*IBM
Patent Server
With this World Wide Web server, IBM lets you access over 26 years
of U.S. Patent & Trademark Office patent descriptions as well
as the last seventeen years of images. The first entries date back
to January 5, 1971. Users can search, retrieve and study over two
million patents.
http://patent.womplex.ibm.com/
*National
Geographic Society Map Machine
As expected, National Geographic’s implementation of Map Machine
is impeccable. The highly functional site includes maps, profiles,
facts and flags of countries, states and provinces, all available
for easy viewing or downloading. Additional site features include
map resources and links, political and physical maps and satellite
images.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/maps/cartographic.html
*Netsurfer
Digest
Netsurfer Digest is a free e-mail newsletter and Web site (similar
to Anvil) that offers the latest industry news and sites of interest.
Sections include Breaking Surf, Online Online Culture, Art Online,
Books & E-Zines, Surfing Science and Online Services.
http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html
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