China Announces Mystery IP Protocol

China's news service announced the country is adopting a new generation of Internet Protocol technology, called IPv9. The problem is, no one outside of China seems to have heard of it, making the news services claim that the new standard... continue reading »

Town-Wide Wi-fi Follows Cable's Route

Broadband wireless Internet is now spreading in rural areas through the mechanism that for the past two decades cable television has used: cash-strapped towns. For years, municipalities sold concessions to cable firms, making deals that almost guaranteed profits to cable... continue reading »

PR Firms Search Web for Brand Attitudes

Firms like Cymfony and FAST Search are using the web to search not just for topic-relevant results, but also the attitudes apparent in the listings of those results. The market research firms collect for clients the level of coverage their... continue reading »

Lawyers Spar Over Competitor Keywords

Most lawyers have always taken a dim view of advertising. State bar associations frequently ban the practice among lawyers, attempting to maintain the archaic and probably never quite accurate image of lawyers as civil aristocrats unsullied by motives of profit.... continue reading »

BBC Told to Limit Web Content

Since U.K. citizens pay a tax of sorts to fund the country's public television, private companies complained that some of the BBC's web products are improper; both irrelevant to the semi-public agency's mission and also stifling private firms that would... continue reading »

Viral Marketing on Anti-Commercial Group's Radar

Gary Ruskin, director of anti-commercial group Commercial Alert, commented on the growing trend of viral marketing. He's not a fan. "This is just one of a million different ways that advertisers try to trick us every day," he said. "To... continue reading »

Advertising.com Deal Dissected

A hometown business paper tracked the twists and turns of the Advertising.com IPO that was cancelled in favor of an acquisition offer from AOL. The AOL interest turned from investment to acquisition in April, with negotiations leading to an offer... continue reading »

Bloggers Hope to Gain Convention Admission

Democrats are opening up their convention to bloggers - well, at least bloggers they like. Republicans say they will, but it seems it's taking them slightly longer to figure out if they like any. So far, 60 bloggers have applied... continue reading »

Net Publishers Eager for Campaign TV Silent Period

Since new campaign finance laws prevent non-profit groups from barraging voters with TV ads within two months of the elections, Internet publishers, newspapers and direct mailers are salivating at the opportunity to be the last push vendors of choice. Advocacy... continue reading »