You can't get drunk by having too many ThumbShots. ThumbShots is a new feature of AOL's Open Directory, which is run primarily by volunteers. Small screenshots of homepages appear in the listings, giving designers the new and mostly impossible requirement...
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LookSmart's CEO stepped down and resigned from the board. The struggling search engine has been losing ground - primarily from one major client defection - in the face of rapid search engine industry growth. Damien Smith, CEO of LookSmart Australia,...
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The labs at the portals are experimenting with personalization, but have not yet rolled out anything. Google even bought Kaltix when the startup was just a baby. Now Eurekster has taken the initiative and written a personalization engine that remembers...
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This Business Week article highlights the huge impact that recent and upcoming trademark legal decisions might have on the search industry. Trademark laws have always had a certain fuzziness about them, and search marketing is so new that these issues...
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Lillian Vernon's new president Jonathan Shapiro said he plans to push the old cataloger further onto the web, targeting sales of 35 percent, up from today's 25 percent. He said he also plans to use the web to experiment with...
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Bricks and mortar brands are finally taking advantage of their physical presences, getting an edge over pure ecommerce companies by allowing customers to return items purchased online to the physical stores. Mystery shoppers E-Tailing Group Inc. conducted a study...
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A Danish phone company fell afoul of Denmark's new anti-spam law, finding itself on the pointy end of a $68,000 fine for having sent 1,500 unsolicited emails. Denmark and five other European countries have instituted anti-spam legislation to come into...
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Recent findings by Manhattan Research show consumers in need of pharmaceutical information are turning to the web in record numbers. The firm reported visits to pharmaceutical product sites reached 13 million after viewing a television ad, a figure triple that...
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The Wall Street Journal covered the $5,000 Toto Toilet, but failed to include the (lots of fun) web site. It's got three QuickTime movies about the Toto Washlet toilet, which features built-in bidets. First, a waterfall appears, and then you...
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Toyota is making effective use of the Internet by using live chat to attract the 18-24 year old audience. Also part of the campaign are microapplication ads that allows consumers to stencil designs over pictures of the Scion. The on-site...
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Maybe MoveOn.org's new public interest PR firm, Fenton Communications, needs a second chance. It's first release, a rambling 674-word tract about CBS's refusal to run a MoveOn ad during the Super Bowl, put the most interesting news hook - that...
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Several software vendors such as Scanbuy (as well as some individual programmers in their spare time) have created applications that let you scan bar codes with a camera phone to retrieve related product information or coupons from online databases. Wired...
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Even boosters of RSS have to admit that Dylan Greene's analysis of RSS - showing some of the syndication format's shortcomings - is well considered. Problems brought up include security, distribution and bandwidth issues. Dylan Greene reports....
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Google engineer Orkut Buyukkokten spent about one day a week for a few months developing a social networking application similar to Friendster. Having been rebuffed in its efforts to purchase the original Friendster, Google will launch the new service branded...
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