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Anvil
Issue Two
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*Welcome to the second issue of Anvil - a weekly newsletter providing
insight into online industry news, issues and trends. In this week’s
issue:
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TOP
INDUSTRY NEWS
*Seattle, WA; New York City, NY; and Silicon Valley, CA; were recently
named in Wall Street Journal articles as the leading cities for
Internet-related startups.
*Netscape has countered Microsoft in a bold move toward robust,
open software solutions.
*A slew of new companies are combining Internet access with cable
TV in an attempt to reach a currently untapped market of non-PC
users.
*MedicaLogic, a leading provider of integrated medical software
solutions, has recently debuted their new site at http://www.medicalogic.com.
DESIGN
*In the war to control the desktop, Microsoft and Netscape continue
to make technological advancements in multimedia offerings for the
Web.
DESIGN
*The rush to develop corporate intranets and put Web browsers on
every desktop is displacing proprietary services such as America
Online, CompuServe, Prodigy and The Microsoft Network (MSN).
*Internet security and reliability are hot buttons with today’s
users.
MARKETING
*Many marketers and Webmasters are struggling to understand and
communicate site statistics and what they mean.
TOP
WEB PICKS
*c/net news.com- http://www.news.com/
*Wall Street Journal Interactive: http://www.wsj.com
*TotalNEWS: http://www.totalnews.com/
*WorldPages: http://www.worldpages.com/
*Deep Thoughts of the Day: http://www.eecs.nwu.edu/cgi-bin/deepthought
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TOP INDUSTRY NEWS
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*Seattle, WA; New York City, NY; and Silicon Valley, CA; were recently
named in Wall Street Journal articles as the leading cities for
Internet-related startups. The Internet industry is experiencing
higher than average job growth and salary base in these locations
as talent and skill gravitate toward eager investor dollars. Industry
giants like Microsoft and Netscape play a major role in attracting
young professionals searching for new opportunities. Many of these
talented workers are lured to these locales by the stability and
easy money of large corporations. At least some are willing to sacrifice
financial stability for the opportunity to be the next Microsoft.
For more information, members of WSJ Interactive can check out these
articles:
http://interactive6.wsj.com/edition/current/articles/OnlineExtra.htm
http://interactive6.wsj.com/edition/current/articles/Online.htm
*Netscape
has countered Microsoft in a bold move toward robust, open software
solutions. Netscape has released a variety of packages including
workgroup software that it hopes will woo corporate customers away
from Microsoft and Lotus products. The new Netscape Communicator
products, which cost $49 and $69, will add more robust e-mail, file
sharing, group scheduling and audio software to Netscape’s 4.0 browser
and server software. On another front, Netscape joined Progressive
Networks to announce an alliance of 40 companies that support Real
Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), a proposed open standard for delivering
real-time media over the Internet. Netscape also announced browser
support for ActiveX, Office Documents and BackOffice features in
their new version of SuiteSpot, which now has some fairly compelling
audio conferencing, encryption and collaboration capability available.
Netscape also released the specification for the JavaScript language
to ECMA, a Geneva, Switzerland-based standards body. This is in
response to Microsoft releasing the ActiveX specification to The
Open Group several weeks ago and their complaint that Java is a
proprietary software development tool. For more information, be
sure to check out:
http://home.mcom.com/newsref/pr/newsrelease260.html
http://home.mcom.com/comprod/announce/overview.html
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,4462,00.html
*A
slew of new companies are combining Internet access with cable TV
in an attempt to reach a currently untapped market of non-PC users.
WebTV, a set-top Web browser box developed by Phillips, is the first
to market with a product that makes surfing the Web more affordable.
For $300, users can get connected to the Web via cable and a wireless
remote control. While this technology has only been available for
a few weeks, many manufacturers are following close behind. Now
that the Web is available to a much larger audience, the issue of
programming has arisen, much like the early days of the Information
Superhighway. Following the trend to make the Web more like television,
Internet service provider DIGEX recently announced a spin-off, ISP-TV,
which will work with other Net access companies to deliver live
video shows online. ISP-TV, which has been quietly running in beta
on the DIGEX site, will distribute free live video over six other
Internet service providers, using the CU-SeeMe video-conferencing
software. Another new player, WorldGate Communications, has developed
a cable television-based Internet access service that works without
requiring PCs or revamped set-top boxes (like WebTV). Consumers
will pay around $4.95 a month for the high-speed connection direct
to their television screens, which will include hyperlinks to the
Web sites of advertisers and television shows, chat lines, email,
and an online community center of Web sites offering local events,
entertainment options, and classified ads. Keep your eyes open for
more startups of this nature. For more information, be sure to check
out:
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,4478,00.html
http://www.digex.net
http://www.webtv.net/
http://futurenet-online.com
http://www.tvol.com/
*MedicaLogic,
a leading provider of integrated medical software solutions, has
recently debuted their new site at http://www.medicalogic.com. This
content-rich site offers product and company information as well
as white papers and technical support.
http://www.medicalogic.com
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DESIGN
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*In the war to control the desktop, Microsoft and Netscape continue
to make technological advancements in multimedia offerings for the
Web. Some of the most promising advances are included as new JavaScript-based
features in Netscape Navigator 3.0. The new Navigator edges ever
closer to becoming a complete multimedia client by bundling the
LiveAudio and LiveVideo player consoles with 3.0. These enhancements
allow site designers to use the <EMBED> command to integrate
audio and video formats like AIFF, AU, MIDI, WAV, and AVI directly
into an HTML page, effectively providing native support for these
formats. Navigator 3.0 also comes complete with a QuickTime plug-in
for Windows and Mac that finally gives streaming capabilities to
the widely used video format. With technologies continuing to push
toward the seamless integration of multimedia in Web pages, improved
compression techniques emerging at a fast pace, and the promise
of broadband connections looming on the horizon, one thing is clear:
Web-based multimedia will continue to grow in maturity and popularity.
For now, if your resources are limited, it’s wise to invest cautiously
in future technologies and keep a watchful eye on the resources
you already have in place.
http://www.microsoft.com
http://www.netscape.com
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HOSTING
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*The rush to develop corporate intranets and put Web browsers on
every desktop is displacing proprietary services such as America
Online, CompuServe, Prodigy and The Microsoft Network (MSN). With
corporations busy installing T-1 lines and Web servers, CIOs are
looking to Internet service providers (ISPs) that can offer value-added
services such as Web hosting. On a related note, Prodigy will soon
be launching their all-new look and feel as an ISP, rather than
an online service. Time will tell if their new venture into hostile
waters will succeed. For more information, be sure to check out:
http://www.pcweek.com/news/1014/14wri.html
*Internet
security and reliability are hot buttons with today’s users.
With the threat of credit card number fraud and backbone brownouts
looming ahead, major telecommunications players like MCI, AT&T
are turning up the heat. AT&T recently introduced a suite of
Internet commerce services headlined by SecureBuy Service, a Web
catalog storefront and transaction processing package based on OM-Transact
software from Open Market Inc. The important factor is AT&T’s
standard guarantee to refund some charges for the service if a sales
transaction is lost or not completed. This money-back promise implies
that the Internet--or at least the part that AT&T will use to
process transactions--is now reliable enough for commerce. MCI is
currently including a clause in it’s contracts with Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) which will require minimum performance standards.
For more information, be sure to check out:
http://techweb.cmp.com/iw/601/01iutra.htm
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MARKETING
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*Many marketers and Webmasters are struggling to understand and
communicate site statistics and what they mean. It is very important
to understand that generating statistics from site traffic is an
art, rather than an exact science. While there are many factors
and variables to consider when calculating site statistics, some
of which can be misleading, valuable information can still be obtained.
The original method of judging number of visitors was with ’hits.’
This number can give a quick idea of traffic, it is also very inaccurate,
as it only reveals the total number of successful requests for information
from the Web server, of which there can be many for each page viewed.
Factors affecting ’hits’ include the number of html files and graphics
requested for each page. A site with frames will greatly affect
hits, as each frame requires a separate file- usually between three
and five files total for each page. A more accurate number has since
been developed, ’pages viewed,’ which incorporates the number of
hits divided by the number of information requests. While the ratio
varies from site to site and page to page, the average hits to page
views ratio is 2:1. While the pages viewed number cannot tell how
many users are accessing how many pages, it has been adopted as
the industry standard for measuring site traffic until better statistical
packages are developed.
http://www.vivo-media.com
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TOP WEB PICKS
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*c/net’s news.com- http://www.news.com/
Superb resource for computer and online industry news and information.
Simple but effective content delivery includes hotlinks to related
stories, audio and video enhancements as well as a searchable article
archive. Like other news delivery systems, there is a free customized
news feature which requires registration, not to worry, they do
not divulge the data to third parties. This site also includes links
to cnet’s other sites: cnet.com, search.com and shareware.com, all
very useful.
*Wall
Street Journal Interactive: http://www.wsj.com
This fee-based subscription site, free until the end of the year
via Microsoft Explorer 3.0 browser (available at http://www.microsoft.com).
This is perhaps the most popular site on the Web for timely business
and
World news. There is also a very handy customizable news and stock
portfolio feature. Other free subscription sites available via Internet
Explorer 3.0 include ESPN Sportszone and InvestorsEdge.
*TotalNEWS:
http://www.totalnews.com/
A comprehensive directory listing with links to all news and information
resources for various subjects, from entertainment to politics.
This is a one-stop launch pad worth bookmarking.
*WorldPages:
http://www.worldpages.com/
"The world’s largest electronic online business directory"
with listings for Canada and the US, and many other countries in
the near future. Features include mapping for directions and a built-in
thesaurus for broad topic searches.
*Deep
Thoughts of the Day: http://www.eecs.nwu.edu/cgi-bin/deepthought
A super resource for escaping daily stress. The site updates every
ten seconds, providing new and interesting insights into daily life
from Jack Handy.
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JOKE OF THE WEEK
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*A son begs his father to drive him to school in the morning after
missing the bus.
"You should be ashamed, " the father told his son, "
When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he used to walk ten miles every
day to get to school."
"Really?" the kid said, "Well when Lincoln was your
age, he was president of the United States."
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