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Anvil
Issue Nine
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*Anvil is a weekly newsletter and Web site providing insight into
online industry news, issues and trends in easy to swallow caplets.
In this week’s issue:
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TOP
INDUSTRY NEWS
*Anvil Web Site
*The Richter Scale
*MTV Breaks the Rules
*U.S. Bank Launches New Web Site
DESIGN
*New Audio/Video Options for the Web
*Marimba Negotiates with Microsoft
HOSTING
*Web Accelerator Software Slows Net
*AimQuest Offers Roaming Capability to Local ISPs
MARKETING
*Web Ad Revenue Numbers Released
*Advertisers Look Beyond Banner Ads
TOP
WEB PICKS
*The Trip
*Meals Online
*Stirling Foods
*CLAUS.COM
*Festival of Lights
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TOP INDUSTRY NEWS
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*Anvil Web Site
The Anvil Web site is up and running. Run, don’t walk to the site
and check it out. Along with the current issue, the site includes
archived issues, contact and subscription information. Keyword search
functionality is in the works, as well as a few tricks and treats,
stay tuned.
http://www.anvil-media.com
*The
Richter Scale
The Richter Paradigm Computer (RPC), a new type of neural computer
with dozens of parallel processors, was recently demonstrated at
the St. Regis Hotel in New York. The computer is estimated to run
180 times faster than a Pentium 166. The computer will be presented,
marketed and manufactured by IDEO, a San Jose-based high-tech company
that will soon be listed on Nasdaq. IDEO is known for developing
the original mouse for Apple Computer and colorful computers for
Silicon Graphics. The RPC is based on Formulab Neuronetics cognitive
logic technology is currently used in industrial computer systems
and voicemail applications. The recent demonstration included a
performance comparison with a Pentium 166, the Neuro-card, which
will convert any PC into a professional level neural computer, and
the Neuronetic C++ software. The company is currently developing
an Internet server application logic card based on the Neuronetic
technology.
http://www.merc.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=651046-0d1
*MTV
Breaks the Rules
In a ground-breaking move, MTV Networks (Viacom Inc.) is in the
process of negotiating flat-fee rates from Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) for access to the MTV and Nickelodeon Web sites. While many
ISPs are up in arms over the cable television pricing model, some
industry experts applaud their creativity. If ISPs do not wish to
pay the multimillion dollar fees, MTV will allegedly block customer
access to the site. In this highly competitive and growing industry,
companies are seeking new, innovative ways to earn revenue, and
MTV may have found a winner.
http://www.wsj.com
http://www.mtv.com
*U.S.
Bank Launches New Web Site
U.S. Bank recently launched their redesigned Web site, complete
with free online banking options and a robust Northwest Access section.
Online banking options include UBANK ON-Line Express, which allows
users to monitor checking, savings and credit card account activity
via the U.S. Bank Web site. A similar service, BankNOW, is available
for American Online (AOL) users. UBANK ON-Line is also compatible
with Microsoft Money or Intuit’s Quicken via a free software download.
The Northwest Access section includes western history and trivia
as well as links to greater Northwest resource sites. The site,
redesigned by VIVOMEDIA, includes a new interface, navigational
stucture, and Java-scripted, self-verification forms.
http://www.usbank.com/
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DESIGN
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*New Audio/Video Options for the Web
OnLive! Technologies has developed breakthrough Internet technology
that, for the first time, turns any World Wide Web site into a community
by enabling groups of people to use their voices to talk online.
The company’s objective is to the leading provider of software applications
and tools enabling Web site operators to create more accessible
and immersive experiences for their end-users. The OnLive! product
line includes: OnLive! Talker, OnLive! Traveler and OnLive! Community
Server. VXtreme’s Web software features high-quality video, tight
integration with other on-screen HTML page elements, includes everything
you need from content creation to viewing, and is easy to deploy.
The family of products includes: Web Theater Server, Web Theater
Client and Web Theater Producer. VXtreme Interactive Player is a
low bandwidth version of Web Theater Client optimized for 28.8 -
56 Kbps Internet connections. VIP supports all other features of
Web Theater Client and is available as a free download. The Netscape
Media Server delivers high-quality streaming-audio publishing capabilities
to the enterprise in a cost-effective manner. Combined with other
Netscape products, the server seamlessly integrates audio with textual
and graphical content over a TCP/IP network.
http://www.onlive.com/
http://www.vxtreme.com
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/announce/dss_medi.html
*Marimba
Negotiates with Microsoft
After recently announcing an agreement with Netscape at Comdex,
Marimba is negotiating with Microsoft for a similar deal. If everything
works out for Marimba, Castanet Tuner will be bundled with Netscape
Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The Castanet software
suite offers tools and technologies for building and deploying Web
applications using Java. Currently in beta, Castanet will ship December
16. While the Tuner is free, the Transmitter-Basic package is $995
and supports 100 users, the Transmitter-Pro is $15,000 for unlimited
users.
http://www.marimba.com
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HOSTING
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*Web Accelerator Software Slows Net
According to Bob Metcalfe, networking expert, packets floating around
on the Internet are being lost at rates up to 80 percent during
high-traffic intervals (InfoWorld, November 25, p.42). To make up
for this bottleneck, software developers have created Web accelerator
software, which speeds up download time by caching all possible
Web pages while you make a decision where to go next. Datalytics’
Blaze Web Performance Pack and Peak Technologies’ Net.Jet claim
to accelerate the browsing experience up to five times. In the long
run, these products increase, rather than decrease download time,
by increasing the total number of packets traveling the Internet
backbone. If these products enter the mainstream, the Internet could
be facing collapse sooner than later. Visit the sites below for
an up-to-date count of lost packets and bottleneck trends.
http://www.ra.net/statistics/
http://www.compute.merit.edu/netnow/
http://www.datalytics.com/blaze/
http://www.peak-media.com/netjet/netjet.html
*AimQuest
Offers Roaming Capability to Local ISPs
Dial-up Internet users are at a disadvantage when traveling. Most
local Internet service providers (ISPs) cannot or do not offer local
dial-up numbers or 800 numbers for travelers. AimQuest is now offering
a solution for local ISPs with
Global Reach Internet Connection (GRIC). This new system provides
a virtual local dial-up network which provides roaming services
similar to national ISPs, yet with a global reach. This new service
offering should provide increased competition and lower rates for
all dial-up users.
http://www.aimquest.com/gricc.html
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MARKETING
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*Web Ad Revenue Numbers Released
According to a recent Jupiter AdSpend report, Web advertising revenue
increased 42.6 percent to $66 million in Q3 1996. At this rate,
Jupiter estimates total ad revenue for 1996 will top $300 million.
Of the 900 sites offering ad space, the top ten collected 64 percent
of all ad revenue. Netscape led the pack in ad revenue this quarter
with $8.2 million, followed by Yahoo!, Infoseek, Excite, Lycos,
c/net, Webcrawler, ZDNet, Magellan and ESPNet Sport Zone. Interestingly,
the top revenue generators are also the top ad spenders, including
Netscape, Excite, Infoseek, Magellan, Lycos and Yahoo!. Microsoft
led ad spending this quarter with $2.9 million, followed by AT&T
Corp., Netscape, Excite, Infoseek, IBM Corp., McKinley Group, Lycos,
Yahoo! and NYNEX Corp. A detailed report can be found on Jupiter’s
Web site.
http://www.jup.com/jupiter/release/nov96/
adspend/adspend.shtml
*Advertisers
Look Beyond Banner Ads
While ad spending and revenue continue to exceed all expectations,
advertisers are increasingly unhappy with current banner ad layout
and design. Limited to simple animation and links, banner ads usually
generate between one and four percent click-through rates. To help
attract more attention, advertisers are developing new techniques.
A new method soon to be popularized by Netscape’s In-Box Direct
includes HTML-rich email documents which link to related Web sites.
An increasingly popular method of capturing users attention is the
interstitial, which launches prior to loading the desired Web page.
Current users include Women’s Wire and Word. Ifusion, PointCast
and Berkeley Systems (After Dark and You Don’t Know Jack) have created
multimedia environments which offers a more appealing medium for
advertisers, similar to broadcast television. The problem with these
advertisements in the target audience is very different from TV
viewers. Web surfers are self-reliant, and will not sit through
lengthy commercials or heavy graphic ads to get to the desired information.
The medium will succeed only if audiences are properly targeted.
http://www.news.com
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TOP WEB PICKS
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*The Trip
Business travelers now have a single-stop online resource. The Trip
offers flight availability and reservations, real-time flight tracking,
airport guides, ground transportation services, hotel information
and city guide resources. You can even register to win an airline
ticket, subscribe to email for hot airfare deals and review daily
travel tips.
http://www.thetrip.com/
*Meals
Online
Hungry? Don’t know what to cook? Your solution is Meals Online.
After a brief registration and optional preferences survey, get
ready to cook. The site offers recipes, coupons, tips and meal ideas
based on preference. Create a single dish or entire menu from the
10,000 recipe database, chat with other chefs and even print out
a shopping list complete with ingredients for selected recipes.
http://www.meals.com/
*Stirling
Foods
Stirling Foods is the world’s first Interactive Shareholder company
representing the future of small business. Founded in 1992, Stirling
Foods is a young emerging specialty food processor headquartered
in Seattle. Three months ago, Stirling began offering stock online
as the first Web-only IPO. While the site itself is very simple,
the concept is revolutionary, and has proven successful so far.
http://www.stirling.net/
*CLAUS.COM
Get into the holiday spirit with CLAUS.COM. Beware, the site is
graphically heavy, and may take time to load, but the site is filled
with fun stuff. Use one of Mrs. Claus’s famous recipes, learn the
true meaning of Christmas traditions like Ginger Bread Houses and
find out if you’ve been naughty or nice.
http://www.claus.com
*Festival
of Lights
Not to play favorites this holiday season, here is a site dedicated
to Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. The site gives a brief
history of the festival, which celebrates the miracle of only one
day of oil lasting for eight days.
http://www.ort.org/ort/hanukkah/title.htm
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