HowToWeb.com
Advertising
Homepage
Our Blogs
RSS Feed
WWFeeds.com






Blog Categories
Affiliate Programs
Amazon
AOL
Apple
Blogging
Broadband
Browsers
Classifieds
Computers
Convergence
Domain Names
Downloads
Ebay
Ecommerce
Education
Email
The Future
Gadgets
Google
Internet
ISPs
Make Money Online
Media
Microsoft
Miscellaneous
Oddity
Online Fraud
Online Storage
Payment Systems
Photography
Privacy
Programming
Robots
RSS
Search Engines
Security
Selling on eBay
Social Software
Spam
Tech Work
Technology
Virtual Worlds
Web Advertising
Web Design
Web Hosting
Yahoo
HowToWeb.com Index
Advertising
Book Reviews
Classifieds
Computer Center
Discussion Forums
Feedback
Linking
News Headlines
Webmaster's Corner
|
March, 2005 Archives
Click here to return to the HowToWeb.com homepage.
Yahoo and MSN Catching Google?
Yahoo and MSN have both entered the blogosphere with blogging and social networking tools. They also both offer online RSS support and have expanded their search offerings to compete
with Google. And to compete with Google's Picasa photo sharing
software Yahoo just purchased the very popular Flickr service.
Bean Hammersly reports in the Guardian about how
Yahoo is also challenging Google's API services.
Google's Labs and API were held up as exemplars of a modern internet
business, while Yahoo was seen as floundering in a sea of accountants,
pop-up ads, and Britney Spears. But Yahoo has learned its lesson.
Research.yahoo.com, launched last month, is the same idea as labs.google.com - a showcase for new and interesting projects - but it's better. Unlike Google, Yahoo publishes its papers, names its researchers and says what it is up to. One-nil to Yahoo.
Part of the race seems to be who can win over the hearts and minds of
the webmasters. Which tools will the webmaster want to use on their
blogs or websites? Google had the early lead but their reluctance to
provide more details about how their contextual ad service works and
their persistence with Auto Links has hurt them. Hammersly says,
"Yahoo isn't just back in the game -- it's winning. How weird is that?"
You shouldn't count Microsoft out either. They are catching up quickly and still dominate the browser market.
Posted on March 31, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
GoDaddy CEO Blogs About .us Privacy Decision
In February, the National Telecommunications and Information Association ("NTIA") made a decision that will disallow new private domain name registrations on .US domain names. .US domain name registrations that are already private will have to go unprivate no later than January 26, 2006. In other words, people will be unable to use a proxy service and have to list their personal contact information -- which can be pulled up in Whois databases. Bob Parsons, the CEO of GoDaddy.com, a service providing domain registrations and web hostings, had this to say about the NATA's decision:
I personally find it ironic that our right to .US privacy was stripped
away, without due process, by a federal government agency -- an agency
that should be looking out for our individual rights. For the NTIA to
choose the .US extension is the ultimate slap in your face. .US is the
only domain name that is specifically intended for Americans (and also
those who have a physical presence in our great country). So think
about this for a moment. These bureaucrats stripped away the privacy
that you're entitled to as an American, on the only domain name that
says that you are an American. I am outraged by this -- you
should be also.
Bob Parsons explains more on his personal blog, Hot Points, where he also provides a link to a website called the TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com where people can sign a petition and write to Congress.
Posted on March 29, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
What's Next for Apple?
Business 2.0 has a great feature on the future of Apple.
The article even includes design ideas for future Apple
products. Business 2.0 reports that by 2006 Apple's iPod
sales will match the revenues of its Mac sales. Next on
iPod's list is likely video. Apple analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group
told Business 2.0, "Eventually, Apple will add video, even TiVo-like
capability, to the iPod." Other possible future devices include a
device to power all digital home entertainment, a wireless iPod and
an Apple cell phone. The article did not mention gaming which
you would think would be a likely target for Apple -- especially
considering the Sony is trying to move into Apple's territory with
the new PlayStation Portable.
Posted on March 28, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
Competition, Critics and Lawsuit Weigh on Google News
Google News has been a leading algorithmic news service -- offering a searchable database of news stories from thousands of stories. Critics have always said the news was unreliable at best because it has no editors or ranking and just lumps all the news together using algorithms. But lately Google has seen increasing competition from
new news search services and news aggregators including Topix.net
(recently partially acquired by three news publishers), Yahoo News, MSN News Search, Technorati, Findory and others. And recently Google was forced to remove photos and news stories published by French news agency Agence France Presse from Google News. If more respected publishers decide to pull their content then Google News could quickly become less valuable of a resource since it would be both less comprehensive and contain less quality content. A recent News.com article describes the problems facing Google
News. Despite the recent negatives News.com reports that Google did
climb to a new traffic record in February, 2005 of 5.9 million visitors.
Posted on March 27, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
Three Publishers Buy Into Topix.net
InternetNews.com reports that three major publishing companies Gannett, Knight Ridder, and Tribune Company have each purchased a 25% stake in Topix.net, the
popular news aggregator. Topix.net says it has 150,000 topically based,
micro-news pages presenting stories from more than 10,000 web
sources. Topix.net says it does not have human editors which
has been one criticism made of services like Topix.net that
run on feeds and algorithms. The deal could be good for
both parties. For the news publishers it gives them a
quick entry into the rapidly changing news business that has
been flooded with new sources like blogs and online
news website RSS feeds. For Topix.net it gives them some
prestigious business partners as well as some well-needed
cash in what will likely become a huge battle for marketshare
as more news aggregators emerge in 2005 and 2006.
Posted on March 24, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
Blogs Outbuzz Social Networking
Social Networking was the big buzz word last year and now
it isn't. Blogs have quickly overtaken social networking as
the hottest trend. Leading web companies like Yahoo and
MSN have attempted to merge the trends together, MSN with
MSN Spaces and Yahoo with its upcoming Yahoo 360 launch. Google also has Orkut, but has yet to link it directly into its Blogger.com service. Wired offers a look at the business aspects behind social networking and how a few of leading companies are faring (LinkedIn,
MySpace,
Friendster, Ryze).
Posted on March 22, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
New XMLs to Follow Success of RSS
New web development tools being built with XML are emerging. Their
developers hope to capture the success of RSS, which has helped simplify
syndication and has led to the emergence of news
aggregators and RSS Feeds. Here are a couple new XML-built
tools that have come to our attention. OpenSearch has been
announced by Amazon.com's on their A9.com search engine. Amazon says OpenSearch is a collection of technologies, all built on top of popular open standards, to allow content providers to publish their search results in a format suitable for syndication. A9.com has already put the technology to work with its search engine. Search providers can submit their search technologies to A9.com (an OpenSearch Aggreator) using OpenSearch RSS and OpenSearch Description Documents. You can see websites that have already added OpenSearch RSS here. Another XML-based technology, called ROR, defines itself as a simple flexible XML format for describing the resources of a resource (e.g. objects of a website, entries of a blog or feed, a list of things, a group of people, a directory, etc). Here
is an example of what ROR can do. There will continue to be more and more XML
technologies released over the next couple years.
Posted on March 18, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
Net Savvy Teens Filtered by Parents
While teens are generally much more net savvy then their parents.
However, they are increasingly filtered by their parents who want
to restrict their kids from adult-oriented websites. 54% of parents
now use internet filters or monitoring software on their teenage children
according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project study. That a
jump of 65% since 2000. The filters tend to be used by parents who
themselves are frequent users of the internet and who have middle-school-age children. Parents who have older children and who are less tech-savvy are less likely to use filters. Big majorities of both teens and parents believe that
teens do things on the internet that their parents would not approve of.
81% of parents of online teens say that teens aren’t careful enough when giving out information about themselves online and 79% of online teens agree with this. 65% of all parents and 64% of all teens say that teens do things online that they wouldn’t want their parents to know about.
Posted on March 17, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
President Hands of National Medal of Technology
InfoWorld reports that U.S. President George W. Bush handed out the National Medal of Technology on Monday to the winners.
National Medal of Technology Winners
Individuals
Dr. Jan D. Achenbach, Northwestern University (for seminal contributions to engineering research and education and for pioneering ultrasonic methods for the detection of cracks and corrosion in aircraft, leading to improved safety for aircraft structures)
Mr. Watts S. Humphrey, Carnegie Mellon University (for his vision and persistence showing engineers and managers how to apply the principles of engineering and science to the development of software)
Dr. Robert M. Metcalfe, Polaris Venture Partners (for leadership in the invention, standardization and commercialization of the Ethernet)
Team
Corning Incorporated, Dr. Rodney D. Bagley, Dr. Irwin M. Lachman and
Mr. Ronald M. Lewis (f or the pioneering work that resulted in the design and manufacture of the cellular ceramic substrate for catalytic converters which enabled auto manufacturers to develop the world's first commercially mass-produced automotive catalytic converter)
Organizations:
UOP LLC, represented by Dr. Stanley A. Gembicki ( for over 85 years of sustained technical leadership and innovation for the worldwide petroleum refining and petrochemical industries)
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), represented by Dr. Carl Gulbrandsen (for more than 75 years of long-term, successful support of the entire cycle of innovation, from research to invention to investment)
The National Medal of Technology, which was established by an Act of Congress in 1980, recognizes people for innovation and for advancing U.S. competitiveness.
Posted on March 15, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
Yahoo Sense
Search Engine Journal reports (citing multiple rumors) that
Yahoo may be close to launching an advertising distribution
network that competes with Google. Google greatly expanded
their pay-per-click keyword advertising space when they
launched the AdSense program that lets other websites run
Google text ads. It has also been reported that Yahoo plans
to drop Overture as the name for its pay-per-click advertising
service. Yahoo also recently launched Yahoo Developer Services,
which lets developers build applications using the Yahoo
API.
Posted on March 10, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
Google Won't Backdown on AutoLink
Google has continued with its desire to include the
AutoLink feature with its downloadable browser toolbar.
The AutoLink feature can change content on a webpages.
For example, AutoLink can turn an address into a live
link to Google Maps or an ISBN number into a link to Amazon.
Publisher and webmasters are united in their outrage
at Google's AutoLink feature. An Industry Standard
column speculates that this is just growing frustration against Google from Gmail and other issues, but there are genuine technical issues with AutoLink. Would Google want a competitor to launch a software product that allowed websurfers to change links on Google's
search results? Would Google want Microsoft to be able to turn
text in Google's search results into links to a Microsoft
resource? The answer is obviously no. So why does Google
feel it has the right to change the links on publishers'
and bloggers' content?
Posted on March 8, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
More Americans Seek Political Information Online
The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that in 2004, 75 million Americans – 37% of the adult population and 61% of online Americans – used the internet to get political news and information, discuss candidates and debate issues in emails, or participate directly in the political process by volunteering or giving contributions to candidates. A post-election, nationwide survey conducted by Pew found that the online political news consumer population grew dramatically from 18% of the U.S. population in 2000 to 29% in 2004. There was also a striking increase in the number who cited the internet as one of their primary sources of news about the presidential campaign: 11% of registered voters said the internet was a primary source of political news in 2000 and 18% said that in 2004.
Related Links: Political Quick Links, MediaCynic.com
Posted on March 7, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
No More Anonymous .us Domains
Wired reports that the U.S. Commerce Department has ordered an end to anonymously registered .us domains, or proxy registrations. Wired said the order came from an organization called the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is part of the U.S. Commerce Department. Wired wrote, "The agency ruled with no warning and without any discussion with the companies accredited to sell and register .us domains. The domain companies were told they would lose their right to sell .us domains -- the official, top-level domain for the United States -- if they didn't comply." Go Daddy, a domain registrar, is angry about the ruling because they said they received no warning and they have over 20,000 .us domains registered using proxy services. Registrants use proxy so their contant information won't show up on Whois database searches.
Posted on March 5, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
Yahoo is Ten Years Old
It seems hard to believe but Yahoo is now 10 years old. The company began when David Filo and Jerry Yang, Ph.D. candidates in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, started listing links they found on the Web on a site called, "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web". As the list of links become larger they organized them into categories. Eventually they renamed the site Yahoo, or Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle. In April 1995, Sequoia Capital, a firm whose
investments included Apple Computer, Atari, Oracle and Cisco Systems,
put $2 million into Yahoo. Since then Yahoo has grown into a worldwide
brand. For its tenth birthday Yahoo is dumping the Overture name and replacing it with Yahoo Search Marketing Solutions. This makes since because Yahoo is the stronger brand name and Yahoo will need it to catch up with Google's AdSense program. eWeek reports that Yahoo is also looking more seriously at blogs and blogging services.
Posted on March 3, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
Magazine Launches for Tech Do-it-yourselfers
The Write News reports that O'Reilly is launching a magazine targeted at the growing group of tech do-it-yourself modders. Our last entry discussed how people, especially gamers, like to enhance their PCs. Writenews.com reports that
the contents of the first issue of O'Reillys new publication
called Make:
"The premiere issue of Make features 192 pages of do-it-yourself
projects, including illustrated step-by-step instructions on how
to: make a $10,000 Steadicam for the price of a movie ticket and
popcorn; build a single network cable that can replace the five
most commonly used cables; fashion a magstripe reader and find
out what hidden information is being stored on your credit
card's magnetic stripe."
Posted on March 1, 2005
Permanent link to this entry.
| |
|
Our Blogs
Bloggers Blog
Crafters Craft
Drivers Drive
Fantasy SF Blog
Gamers Game
Health News Blog
HowToWeb.com
The IWJ Blog
Lovers Love
Media Cynic
Petosphere
Pleasant Morning Buzz
Readers Read
Science News Blog
Shopping Blog
Singers Sing
Sportsosphere
Surfers Surf
Traders Trade
Video Nacho
Watchers Watch
Workers Work
The Write News
Writer's Blog
Free Newsletter
The HowToWeb® Update is a
free email newsletter covering tech and gadget news. Writers Write, Inc.
does not sell or distribute subscribers' email addresses to third parties.
|