RSS Traffic Clogs Servers

Some sites are starting to worry that the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds that they make available to users might cause technical headaches as the news aggregators used to read the many sites all at once wind up downloading the... continue reading »

P&G Interactive Structure Rumbling

In what might be a sign of real structural change in Proctor & Gamble's approach to online marketing - which, to date, has been to talk much about it and conduct very small experiments - the consumer products giant... continue reading »

DOJ Files yet another 'First' Can-Spam Charge

In yet another "first Can-Spam Act case," the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint against four Michigan men. This time, the Can-Spam charges seem to be mere add-ons to more serious fraud charges for selling fake diet patches. Silicon.com... continue reading »

New Tool Compares Search Uniqueness, Rankings

Search marketers are finding surprisingly little overlap in listings from one search engine to another. A new tool called Thumbshots provides graphical comparisons of the link overlap seen on a particular search term between one engine and another. Most often,... continue reading »

Group Fishes for Google-FBI Connection

Privacy group EPIC filed a request for documentation of any Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) efforts to plan to use Google's new Gmail service as a surveillance device. Many people derided the filing as a publicity stunt. For its part,... continue reading »

Senate Compromises on Net Tax Ban

The Senate agreed to a compromise bill that wouldn't make permanent the ban on Internet access taxes, but would instead extend the ban another four years. States had strongly apposed the permanent ban in hopes that the Internet could be... continue reading »

FTC Officials Grilled for Lack of Spyware Law Support

Two Federal Trade Commission officials were put through the wringer yesterday in a congressional hearing on spyware. Because the officials reported that legislation was probably not a good idea at this point - especially as many recently suggested bills would... continue reading »

Microsoft Missed Chance to Share Google's PageRank Tech

MarketingVOX discovered, deep, deep down in the new Google IPO filing, that the new disclosures reveal a major missed opportunity for Microsoft. In October 2003, Microsoft or another company seeking instant search credibility could have licensed Google's PageRank technology -... continue reading »

Subservient Chicken Defended

Joe Jaffe likes the chicken. Brand pundits have been arguing loudly over whether or not Burger King's new Subservient Chicken site will prove to help or harm the restaurant chain's brand. Most recently, Tom Hespos wrote fairly negatively about the... continue reading »

Behavioral Targeting Not Online Ad Panacea

With announcements from Tacoda, aQuantive, 24/7 and others forming behavioral ad networks, one might think behavioral targeting could become the contextual ad-killer. Not so, according to mOne Group Planning Director Andrea Ching who is not convinced reaching a financial trader... continue reading »

ANA Defends Upfront Process, Bridles at Criticism

The president of the Association of National Advertisers wrote a defensive blog entry, complaining that criticism of the recent conference to discuss the strange network upfront television buying process was unfair and a product of unreasonable expectations. Particularly nettlesome to... continue reading »