WhenU.com Enjoined From Competing Pop-Ups
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WhenU.com Enjoined From Competing
Pop-Ups
WhenU.com Enjoined From Competing
Pop-Ups
01/06/2004 03:14 AMFrisky070802 writes "The NY Times reports that a preliminary
injunction has been issued against WhenU.com, a company that
distributes software that performs ...
Who Advertises On WhenU?
Who Advertises On WhenU?
06/30/2004 01:07 PMLast week, we wrote about
big
companies that advertise through spyware, noting that most of them
refused to admit it (with Verizon being the big exception). Ben
Edelman has decided that it was time to do a more thorough bit of
research on
who
advertises through WhenU and began
releasing the
findings today. As noted last week, there are plenty of big
companies such as Verizon, Priceline and Best Western. The article
about the report also notes the surprising news that Major League
Baseball (who has been sinking to new lows recently in some of their
advertising deals) has actually made the decision that they will
no
longer sign deals with any company that advertises on WhenU or
Claria. It would be interesting to find out if that's actually
true. Considering some of the big name advertisers listed as working
with WhenU, I'm sure MLB has at least a few of them signed to ad deals
as well.
WhenU is back on Google and Yahoo
WhenU is back on Google and Yahoo
07/01/2004 09:57 PMControversial contextual advertiser WhenU was allegidly removed from
Google and Yahoo recently for giving search engine spiders one version
of a page while giving visitors another. They appear to be back in the
SERPs as they were before.
WhenU Still Gaming Google In Other Ways
WhenU Still Gaming Google In Other Ways
05/17/2004 03:04 AMLast week there was some news concerning Google and Yahoo's decision
to
ban
WhenU's sites after it was determined that they were purposely
using "cloaking" methods to get better rankings in their search
results. WhenU quickly blamed an outside search engine optimizer.
Jeremy Wagstaff points us to an updated story by Ben Edelman
showing what looks like even more gaming of search engines by WhenU.
It turns out that WhenU (possibly against copyright) has
made many copies
of 26 news articles favorable to them and placed them across 12
different websites owned by WhenU. This way, when Google is searching
it picks up multiple copies with the theory being that these positive
articles are more likely to show up in a search than any of the many
negative articles about the company's practices.
WhenU Violates Own Privacy Policy
WhenU Violates Own Privacy Policy
05/27/2004 12:09 PM??Edelman?s research, detailed here, demonstrated that the
transmissions back to WhenU?s servers include the web site URL being
visited when a WhenU ad was displayed on the user?s system as well as
other data. This seemed to contradict the then-current WhenU privacy
policy statement that as ?the user surfs the Internet, URLS visited by
the user (i.e., the user?s ?clickstream data?) are NOT transmitted to
WhenU.com or any third party server.? And it unquestionably
contradicts privacy promises WhenU makes in places where there is at
least some chance ?customers? will see them before they are inflicted
with the company?s software.?
Adware maker WhenU 'exploring' options
Adware maker WhenU 'exploring' options
06/03/2004 03:21 PMAdware maker WhenU 'exploring'
options
Adware maker WhenU 'exploring'
options
06/03/2004 06:35 PMZDNet.com-3 hours ago ... A slew of companies, including Yahoo, Google
and Microsoft, are similarly jockeying for relationships with
consumers beyond the browser, offering free ...
Yahoo and Google DeList Adware Company
WhenU
Yahoo and Google DeList Adware Company
WhenU
05/14/2004 07:38 AM"Influential search engines Google and Yahoo has disabled links to
WhenU, a adware manufacturer that they've accused of using cloaking
to trick search engines into favourably ranking decoy pages that
redirect visitors."
Search Engine Death Penalty: WhenU
Kicked Off Of Yahoo And Google
Search Engine Death Penalty: WhenU
Kicked Off Of Yahoo And Google
05/13/2004 10:40 PMWhenU, the adware/spyware company that already has quite a bit of
controversy surrounding it for both (a) sneaking their software onto
users' machines and (b) then popping up competitive ads when surfers
visit websites has now been
removed from both
Yahoo and Google searches after it was determined that they were
using tricks to boost their rankings in both. WhenU blames an outside
search engine optimizer who they hired, but it does raise some issues.
Considering the power that sites like Google and Yahoo have over
anyone finding your site, how long will it be until we hear about a
lawsuit when someone sues a search engine for kicking their site out
of search results?
Other News: Competing Codecs
Other News: Competing Codecs
07/06/2004 09:54 AMA Reuters article looks at the Balkanization of digital music download
systems via competing compression formats.
Competing With Microsoft By Ignoring
Them
Competing With Microsoft By Ignoring
Them
04/15/2004 09:02 PMOne thing that you always hear among new startup companies looking for
venture capital is figuring out how they're going to avoid competing
with Microsoft. Obviously, it's not true of all startups - some of
whom are in completely different areas. However, any software (and
many services) company always gets the question "well, how will you
deal with it when Microsoft enters your space?" Companies that don't
have a good answer don't get funded. Robert Cringely's latest column
is all about
the best
way to compete with Microsoft - and it's a bit counterintuitive,
but it makes a lot of sense. The companies that have successfully
competed with Microsoft have done so
by not worrying about
Microsoft. In other words, they've been focused on building
innovative products that their customers can use. Microsoft, for all
it's strong points, doesn't have the greatest track record at actually
innovating (I can already hear some of you scoffing). What they are
good at (and, you have to admit, they are good at it) is taking
innovative ideas that others have come up with, and then putting a
nice, user friendly interface on them and getting it out in the
market. So, as Cringely points out, when you decide to turn and face
Microsoft and compete directly with them, you're going to be in a lot
of trouble - because you've set the rules of the game on their terms,
and they've got a lot more money and experience to beat anyone else on
those terms. Instead, by pretty much ignoring Microsoft, and coming
up with new and innovative products companies can out-innovate them,
and not face real competition from them.
AT&T Changes Competing Policy in 7
States
AT&T Changes Competing Policy in 7
States
06/23/2004 11:10 AMAT&T said today it would stop competing for customers in seven states
after a court threw out regulations giving it cheap access to the
dominant local telephone networks.
Competing spam 'solutions'
Competing spam 'solutions'
01/25/2004 09:25 AMLegislation and technology are being turned against spam--but to what
effect? Knowledge@Wharton offers a status report.
Next-gen DVD riven by two competing
standards.
Next-gen DVD riven by two competing
standards.
11/13/2003 09:52 PMEE Times:
Next-gen DVD
riven by two competing standards. Red lasers are out, so it's blue
vs. blu now.
Competing standards may shake up e-mail
Competing standards may shake up e-mail
03/06/2004 02:04 AMMicrosoft, Sendmail, and Yahoo are pushing anti-spam protocols
Competing Claims and Interaction Types
Competing Claims and Interaction Types
02/10/2004 02:49 AMContinuing his review of the W3C's Architecture of the World Wide Web
document, Kendall Clark looks further at the principles set out
governing interactions on the web.
On the benefits of competing audio
formats...
On the benefits of competing audio
formats...
01/27/2004 06:28 PMThere's a fascinating clump of posts going around the place at the
moment about the various DRM-based digital audio solutions that you
can buy at the moment. The one that kicked stuff off initially was a
post on The Sobleizer (A
challenge for webloggers: handling organizational difficulties)
which included a chunk of stuff about why it's best for people who
are going to buy music files with DRM to buy them in Windows
Media format. Here's the main chunk of the argument:
When you hear DRM think "lockin." So, when you buy music
off of Napster or Apple's iTunes, you're locked into the DRM systems
that those applications decided on. Really you are choosing between
two competing lockin schemes.
But, not all lockin schemes are alike, I learned on Friday. First,
there are two major systems. The first is Apple's AAC/Fairtunes based
DRM. The second is Microsoft's WMA
Let's say it's 2006. You have 500 songs you've bought on iTunes for
your iPod. But, you are about to buy a car with a digital music player
built into it. Oh, but wait, Apple doesn't make a system that plays
its AAC format in a car stereo. So, now you can't buy a real digital
music player in your car.
(I should mention at this point that Scoble works for Microsoft, but I'll say
straightaway that I don't think that's particularly relevant to the
argument at hand. Nonetheless, cards on the table.)
So the argument at this point is if you choose lock-in with
Microsoft, then your music files will work on a wider variety of media
than if you choose lock-in with Apple. Therefore you should choose
lock-in with Microsoft. At which point BoingBoing's Cory Doctorow weighs in:
In this world where we have consumer choices to make,
Scoble argues that our best buy is to pick the lock-in company that
will have the largest number of licensees.
That's just about the worst choice you can make.
If I'm going to protect my investment in digital music, my best choice
is clearly to invest in buying music in a format that anyone can make
a player for. I should buy films, not kinetoscopes. I should buy VHS,
not Betamax. I should buy analog tape, not DAT.
Because Scoble's right. If you buy Apple Music or if you buy Microsoft
Music, you're screwed if you want to do something with that music that
Apple or Microsoft doesn't like.
Cory's argument then is the fairly commercially radical proposition
that we should buy only open music files, that companies should sell
open music files (there is a precedent here - Bleep sells DRM-free songs
from Warp Records), and even that companies like Microsoft should
be using their substantial legal power to fight the record companies
to be able to sell DRM-free songs online.
Now I'm not going to argue with that, although - to be fair - I
think the current climate makes it pretty unlikely to happen. The
various companies concerned are too neurotic about it, and frankly
Microsoft has too much to lose from the proposition that intellectual
property should be distributed without arcane DRM attached to it.
Instead I'm going to argue that even if we're only given the choice
between two DRM schemes, we should still not just automatically
go for the one that plays on the most devices. Because what does this
mean in the end? No more or less than yet another monopoly at the
operating system level - the musical infrastructure ends up belonging
to Microsoft.
The fact is we shouldn't think in those terms at this stage. We
should be trying to create miscegenated musical libraries that we
expect digital music manufacturers to support all of, not just some as
it suits them or as it suits whichever company ends up dominating the
market. We've been down this parth before - the company that owns the
monopoly has the least to gain from a rapid pace of innovation, the
least to gain from being standards compliant. We've seen it at the
level of operating systems, internet browsers and now we're seeing
attempts to own and define the one successful format in which music
files could sit for the next few decades. These things are too
important to be left in the hands of one company. We need to have
consumer choice at the level of which DRM (or lack of DRM) we're
comfortable with buying, we need variety so that different types of
audio file can be released via a variety of business models, we need
variety - fundamentally - because otherwise we all lose.
The examples that people cite about competing formats no longer
hold true for music. It's not like VHS and Betamax - we're not talking
about hardware with different sized slots that you can only fit one
kind of music delivery system into. No - with music we mostly have
applications on our desktop that can play dozens of different formats
- whether we notice it or not. Just the other day, RealOne announced
that it could now play Apple-encoded AAC files, and the rumour is that
HP's deal with Apple required that the iPod should have its ability to
play WMP files restored. These things can play more than one
type of file and we should be doing our damnedest to make sure that
continues to be the case. It should be obvious to car audio
manufacturers that they should be able to play AAC tracks - that there
are hundreds of thousands of people across America (and soon Europe)
who are going to want to be able to do more things with their bought
songs. And it should be obvious to all of us that we want a
world in which new formats can be integrated into our listening
without any particular effort, or at least without us having to rebuy
all our old tracks to work on non-mutually functioning players.
So in the meantime, buy, steal or rip whichever tracks suit you
best in whatever format you want and make it your mission to put
pressure on all the players (both business players and audio players)
concerned to support as many of them as possible as soon as possible.
And don't listen to anyone who says that having one organisation
controlling the musical infrastructure will result in greater
choice. That's never been the case in the past, and I very much doubt
it will be so in the future either.
Read the comments
Next-generation DVD Driven By Two
Competing Standards
Next-generation DVD Driven By Two
Competing Standards
11/14/2003 11:28 AMAT&T Changes Competing Policy in 7
States in Wake of Ruling
AT&T Changes Competing Policy in 7
States in Wake of Ruling
06/23/2004 01:56 PMAT&T's decision followed the elimination of regulations giving it
cheap access to the dominant local telephone networks.
Microsoft to Create Competing BitTorrent
Technology
Microsoft to Create Competing BitTorrent
Technology
06/17/2005 03:58 PMThere Goes the Neighborhood. Nice code name: avalanche. Says it all
dont you think? here’s what Infoworld had to say: Researchers
at Microsofts Cambridge, England, labs are developing a file-sharing
technology that they say could make it easier to distribute big files
such as films, television programs and software applications to
end-users over the Internet. Code-named Avalanche, the technology is
similar to existing peer-to-peer (P-to-P) file swapping systems such
as BitTorrents, in the sense that…
Direct and Related
Links for 'Microsoft to Create Competing BitTorrent
Technology'
Objectively Comparing Competing Search
Engines?
Objectively Comparing Competing Search
Engines?
03/29/2005 05:27 PMGoldman, Morgan Stanley competing for
Google IPO
Goldman, Morgan Stanley competing for
Google IPO
10/29/2003 12:11 AMGoldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and eight other investment
banks are in the running to underwrite a $2 billion initial public
offering by Google Inc ...
Competing voice standards via for
developers' attention
Competing voice standards via for
developers' attention
04/21/2004 03:42 AMSpeech technology is now pushing deeper than ever into the enterprise
and carrier space. VoiceXML proponents tout their W3C standard and the
warm reception the open standards approach has met from the industry.
Meanwhile, a group of companies led by Microsoft is pushing a separate
specification called Speech Application Language Tag (SALT) that some
say may end up stifling voice advances.
Microsoft to Avoid Competing with Oracle
--Testimony (Reuters)
Microsoft to Avoid Competing with Oracle
--Testimony (Reuters)
06/24/2004 09:39 PMReuters - Competing in the enterprise
software market would be bad strategy for Microsoft Corp.
(MSFT.O), a Microsoft executive testified on Thursday in the
antitrust trial over Oracle Corp.'s (ORCL.O) $7.7 billion
hostile takeover bid for rival PeopleSoft Inc. (PSFT.O)
Congress offers competing ideas on
fighting ID theft
Congress offers competing ideas on
fighting ID theft
06/17/2005 04:55 PMSenators at a hearing this week offered a number of competing ideas to
fight identity theft, including a proposal to license data brokers and
a national law to notify potential victims of a data breach.
Avoid competing Terminal window title
commands
Avoid competing Terminal window title
commands
11/16/2003 01:48 PMNote to self: if you're trying to set a terminal's name via File ->
Set Title..., then by all means, please be sure that your /etc/bashrc
file does NOT contain code similar to the following:
PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\0...
Competing Measures Add to Complexity of
State Ballot (Los Angeles Times)
Competing Measures Add to Complexity of
State Ballot (Los Angeles Times)
09/13/2004 04:59 AMLos Angeles Times - SACRAMENTO — Californians face one of the
longest and most complicated ballots in the nine decades since the
state invoked direct democracy — putting Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger on the defensive to protect his political fortune and
leaving voters to sort out a patchwork of ideas.
Linux a national security risk,
competing RTOS vendor claims
Linux a national security risk,
competing RTOS vendor claims
04/09/2004 04:07 PMWar! Google to Take on PayPal: plans to
Offer Competing Online Payment System
War! Google to Take on PayPal: plans to
Offer Competing Online Payment System
06/22/2005 02:06 AMAll I can say is wowmakes sense. Caught this from Reuters:
“Google Inc. this year plans to offer an electronic-payment
service that could help the Internet-search company diversify its
revenue and may heighten competition with eBay Inc.s PayPal unit, the
Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. “Exact details of the
search companys planned service are not known, the report said, but
quoted people familiar with the matter as saying it could have
similarities with PayPal,…
Direct and Related Links for 'War! Google to Take on
PayPal: plans to Offer Competing Online Payment System'
McKeesport Teens Seek Support In Order
to Fulfill Dream of Competing in FIRST
National Robotics Competition
McKeesport Teens Seek Support In Order
to Fulfill Dream of Competing in FIRST
National Robotics Competition
03/25/2005 06:34 AMLocal Students Win Regional Robotics Competition But Lack Funds to
Move On to the Championship [PRWEB Mar 25, 2005]
Quick-'n-Dirty methods to determine
which competing label is better: "Cell
Phone" or "Mobile Phone"?
Quick-'n-Dirty methods to determine
which competing label is better: "Cell
Phone" or "Mobile Phone"?
04/28/2004 11:39 AMOn the SIGIA-L mailing list, Stephanie Berger recently asked: "My
cohorts are not sure whether to use "cell phone" or "mobile phone".
Any evidence that one is better than the other, or one is used more
often than the other?"
This is a good example of the kind of labeling questions
information architects face all the time. The answer to these labeling
questions will depend on the target audience (a better label for
whom?), on business requirements (maybe the business want to promote
one term over the other) and on the context in which the label will be
used.
I'll discuss the conversation that followed here and afterwards
point to some useful tools for if you have a labeling question
yourself.
Andres Sulleiro: "Without any empirical data I will go with
my own opinion. [...] A quick survey of the phone carriers seems to
suggest that "wireless" (as in "wireless phone", "wireless customer")
is most common among US carriers, though you see some references to
"mobile" as well. T-mobile, a European company, uses "mobile" which is
more common in Europe as well as being the name of the carrier."
Method: check what other websites call it.
Jason Cho: "I think "cell" is more widespread in the US as
Andrs noted. "Call my mobile" can sound pretentious to Yankee ears.
But I would think everyone understands the term "mobile" on a business
card."
Method: personal experience.
Peter Van Dijck (and others): "Google for "cell phone" (including quotes):
6,230,000, Google for "mobile phone": 6,360,000.
Looks like a tie, assuming your audience is similar. Just pick one and
make sure your search engine knows both terms."
Christina Wodtke: "Y
ahoo for cell phone : 16,800,000, yahoo for mobile phone: 21,200,000. What does
this really tell you? you'd have to know who each engine indexes, how
much of the web, etc.. better to use a magic 8 ball. ;-)"
Method: check popularity of the terms on the web.
Peter Van Dijck: "My next step would be to find out what
people search for on your site,
or if not available, on the web (assuming that's more or less your
audience). Google
adwords can help."
Method: Find out what people (preferably your target
audience) search for.
Dave: "I like "mobile" for the reason that Christina stated
(forward compatibility); USers and non-USers will equally understand
it. Also, it is more interoperable w/ most of the vCard based
addressbook programs out there. I don't know any that are using
"cell" or "cellphone" ... I also like the clear and easy two word
approach of "mobile phone" ... I'm always wanting to say "cellphone"
where "cell phone" is really the more correct version. "cell" though
just doesn't feel like a real word b/c the "cell" doesn't fit a
meaning to me. I know what it means if I am forced to think about it,
but it really doesn't mean anything to me at all."
Method: personal experience, check what software programs
use.
Christina Wodtke: "> As can Ove
rture's keyword tool (couldn't find URL straight away).
You also might consider some adaptation of the freelisting
technique on a subset of your target. E.G., a write in survey: what
portable electronics do you own, then analyze for use of "cell phone"
and mobile phone".
Method: freelisting technique.
Eric Reiss: "Having worked closely with several
telecommunications companies, including Tellabs (US), Nortel (Canada),
ADVA (Germany), and NetTest (Denmark), this discussion is one I've
heard before. Europeans generally don't recognize the term "cell
phone." North Americans seem to accept both "cell" and "mobile." ATT
insists on promoting the term "wireless." In most instances, we've
agreed on the word "mobile" since it is understood by the widest
audience. Nortel, for instance, used "cell" almost exclusively until
the late 90s, but now leans toward "mobile." I think there is a trend
here."
Method: ask the subject matter experts.
Pabini Gabriel-Petit: "There's also Wordtracker.
[...]
In this vein, you might try just walking up to people, holding up your
cell/mobile phone, and asking them what they call it."
Method: Analyze what people search for.
Method: Find out what labels your users use.
Quick-'n-Dirty methods to determine which competing label is
better.
So, as a review, here are some of the methods used to determine
which label is better.
1. What do you think?
Method: personal experience/insights.
2. What do your users think?
Method: freelisting
technique.
Method: Find out what labels your users use: show them the item
you're trying to label and ask them what it is. (You could build an
online tool for this).
Method: Find out what people (preferably your target audience)
search for / check popularity of the terms on the web. Ove
rture's keyword tool. Google
adwords. Wordtracker. Google and Yahoo both list how often a term is
used on the web (use quotes around your terms!).
3. What do the experts think?
Method: ask the subject matter experts.
Method: check what other websites/software call it.
Gotcha's: be careful when using these techniques. You are
looking for a label that works for your audience and your business
requirements. Most of these techniques use audiences that may be very
different from yours, and most are indicative only (ie: they're not
hard science). Use your judgement.
1-877-YELLOWPAGES is filing to go public
in order to raise money and provide a
free service competing against 411
Directory Services. Founder Bobby
Khalili, a 28 year old millionaire
entrepreneur from Los Angeles is
promising to provide a free alternative
to 411.
1-877-YELLOWPAGES is filing to go public
in order to raise money and provide a
free service competing against 411
Directory Services. Founder Bobby
Khalili, a 28 year old millionaire
entrepreneur from Los Angeles is
promising to provide a free alternative
to 411.
06/17/2004 02:03 AM1-877-YELLOWPAGES, The nation's first and only YellowPages directory
providing business listings over the telephone is filing to go public.
[PRWEB Jun 17, 2004]
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WhenU.com Enjoined From Competing Pop-Ups
