Web Sites Face User Backlash Over Personal Data
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
Many people are uncomfortable with Web sites customizing content to people’s personal profiles, according to a new survey.
“There’s a creepy factor and a fear of the unknown that people don’t want to deal with,” said Michelle Warren, senior research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group in London, Ontario.
“The notion that there’s a privacy issue in someone’s e-mail account hits a little too close to home for some,” she added.
Nearly 60 percent of 2,513 people in the United States questioned in a Harris Interactive poll said they were uneasy when Web sites use information about personal online activity to tailor advertisements or content.
(Read the full post about ‘Web Sites Face User Backlash Over Personal Data’…)
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Standards? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Standards!
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
The SEO community has been foaming at the mouth lately over whether or not we need standards for the industry. As Chris Boggs points out in his article, “SEO Standards Signal the Maturing of Our Industry,” the discussion affects both industry mainstays and newcomers alike, with ethics and education being intrinsically tied to standardization.
While I respect Chris’s position that standards would increase the legitimacy of the practice, I must disagree with his assertion. Standards won’t signal maturity, but will rather lead to homogenization of industry strategy.
Ethical and educative issues should be addressed through the agency-client relationship, not via outside arbitration.
(Read the full post about ‘Standards? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Standards!’…)
Web 2.0 in Enterprise Needs a Lock
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
SAN FRANCISCO — The culture of participation fostered by Web 2.0 applications like blogs, wikis and widgets has turned end-users into content creators and developers. But when consumers come to the office, they need to leave their open mindset at the door.
A peer-to-peer discussion led by Charles Renert, senior director of advanced content research at Websense, showed how easily collaboration tools can insert malicious code into trusted sites.
Collaboration and social networking tools have already made strong inroads into the enterprise, both through sanctioned channels and through unauthorized downloads. Earlier this week, IBM introduced the IBM Mashup Center, a bundle of tools for non-technical users and developers.
(Read the full post about ‘Web 2.0 in Enterprise Needs a Lock’…)
SEW Experts: Think Universal, Act Local
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
SEW Experts: Think Universal, Act Local
Much of the discussion around Universal search, or blended search, focuses on video and images. In today’s Vertical Search column, “Think Universal, Act Local,” local search expert Michael Boland explains why local search may be a more important factor; one that has the greatest impact in blended search results.
EU Parliament Member Wants to Ban Microsoft Bids
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
Despite Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) successful campaign to achieve standards recognition for its Office Open XML (OOXML) file formats by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), opponents and critics of both OOXML and Microsoft show no signs of letting up in their attacks on the company.
Indeed, Microsoft’s previous legal troubles with the European Commission (EC), which it has actively striven to remedy over the past six months, may come back and bite the company yet again – this time in the form of a potential five-year ban on selling its products to European Union (EU) governments.
(Read the full post about ‘EU Parliament Member Wants to Ban Microsoft Bids’…)
Wall Street Still Likes Microsoft to Win Yahoo
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
Yahoo Inc may have played its top two cards by pulling out possible deals with AOL and Google, but it does not seem to have changed Wall Street’s view that Microsoft will eventually win the takeover battle.
Yahoo announced on Wednesday a test to outsource Web search advertising to Google Inc. Sources say the test is part of a planned three-way alliance to combine Yahoo with Time Warner Inc’s AOL instead of Microsoft Corp.
But hours later, the world’s largest software company appeared to trump Yahoo’s announcement as the New York Times reported that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp was in talks to join Microsoft’s $42.3 billion bid for the Web pioneer.
“Everyone is just exploring.
(Read the full post about ‘Wall Street Still Likes Microsoft to Win Yahoo’…)
Microsoft Refreshes Visual C++, Ends VB 6 Support
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
With the release of a new feature pack for Visual C++ 2008, developers can now write applications that feature the Office 2007 appearance, a Microsoft senior executive announced this week.
At the same time, the company also discontinued support for its aging Visual Basic 6 integrated development environment (define), or IDE — to the dismay of some die-hard users.
“I am pleased to announce that the Visual C++ 2008 Feature Pack has shipped,” S. Somasegar, senior vice president of Microsoft’s developer division, said on his blog this week.
“The Feature Pack provides several exciting features for C++ developers, such as a major update to MFC [Microsoft Foundation Classes] and an implementation of TR1 [Technical Report 1],” the post said.
(Read the full post about ‘Microsoft Refreshes Visual C++, Ends VB 6 Support’…)
Intel, Yahoo Lead Tech Gains
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
Tech stocks outpaced their blue chip counterparts Thursday on an Intel upgrade and an intensifying battle for Yahoo.
Intel and Yahoo gained 3% each to lead the Nasdaq’s 1.3% gain. The Dow and S&P were up less than 0.5%, as better than expected jobless claims were counterbalanced by weak retail sales. News of lower demand for Federal Reserve money raised hopes that the credit crunch might be improving, however.
The chip sector was up 2.3% after Bank of America predicted better than expected margins and market share gains for Intel, which reports quarterly results April 15.
SEO Mos Def Busted by WA State Atty General: $450,000 Penalty Looms
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
SEO Mos Def Busted by WA State Atty General: $450,000 Penalty Looms SEATTLE – A Washington-based company that sells search engine optimization (SEO) services to small businesses is prohibited from selling or advertising them to new customers under the terms of a settlement announced by Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna. While the SEO standards debate rages, the search marketing industry continues to be perceived as purveyors of snake oil and predators of small business owners. SEOMoz honcho Rand Fiskin denies that SEO standards are needed while raging against Internet Advancement to no avail for more than two years: “All in all, this is one of the most despicable players I’ve seen in the spam/scam SEO game. (Read the full post about ‘SEO Mos Def Busted by WA State Atty General: $450,000 Penalty Looms’…)
Security Here and There
Autor admin | 11.04.2008 | Category SEO
SAN FRANCISCO – This week’s annual RSA Conference here is, of course, all about the latest in security. But a company’s decision of which security strategies and products to pursue depends on more than popular trends or features. The regulatory environment and a company’s own business needs can also influence a security plan.
While Sarb-Ox and HIPAA set some standards for data protection and retention, the U.S. tends to have a different focus from countries in Europe and Asia.
One thing on attendees’ minds at RSA was the way globalization has changed security — and the way U.S. regulation has lagged behind other countries’ in some areas.