Speaking of New Initiatives...

Web publishers, worry no more. Saving bandwith, and finding fresh content for search engines will be easy as pie, right...now!

Search Leaders Team Up

According to Thomas Claburn, web writer for TechWeb.com, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are teaming up to support Sitemates.90, which is a "...protocol that lets Web publishers inform search engines about content on their sites". What is cool about the 3 search "leaders" working together as a team, is that website owners/developers will now only have to worry about one file to maintain. This new, unified format will help webmaters and consumers by "delivering more relevant search results so they can find what they're looking for faster", said Ken Moss from Windows Live Search, in Claburn's article.

Lookin' Good

The idea of this joint effort sounds like nothing but good for everyone involved. Sitesmaps.90 seems to be the word to be thrown around in the coming week. Google's "Official Google Webmaster Central Blog" describes the Sitemaps initiative as an experiement in the works. The blog also includes links that tell website owners and developers how to go about submitting a Sitemap file.

Seeing how this change will affect website owners (especially businesses) will be interesting in the weeks to come.

Moore's Law(s)

Apparently, "Almost everybody in the modern world has heard of Moore's Law." Well, I haven't but Michael S. Malone of abcnews.com seems to think I should have. For those of you out there who are new to all this techspeak, I will attempt to explain with the help of Malone's article, "Silicon Insider: The Last Days of Software?"

Moore's First Law

Moore's First Law was made by Gordon Moore in 1965, the co-founder of Fairchild and Intel (the people who make those fancy processors in our computers). The law is about the pace of hardware innovation. It says that the speed, size and price of semiconductor chips doubles every 18 months. Malone says a more realistic figure is 24 months. Moore's First Law, for the most part has proven to be true for memory chips and microprocessors, according to Malone.

Moore's Second Law

Moore's Second Law deals with the efficiency of electronic systems, saying it will double every 24 months. So what's the big deal? When chip performance (Moore's first law) doubles, the software needed to work with it quadruples. The problem is that there is a "shortfall" as Malone terms it, between the hardware created and the software needed ot run it. This could turn out to be a problem not only with operating systems like Microsoft's delayed release of Vista, but also with industries that are code-driven. This could include hospital equipment, airplaines and applicances. Malone says that the solutions are found in:

1. Finding/training more high-end code writers
2. More industry standards
3. More sophisticated ways of recycling and resuing exisiting codes
4. Government-backed industry initiatives

Check out Malones full (and technically wordy) article at www.abc.com.

Web 3.0

The World Wide Web is constantly undergoing changes, but rarely do we stop to look at what the changes mean as a whole. Web 3.0 is an abstract idea, or "phase" (in my opinion) which companies believe will be the next big STEP we take. According to John Markoff, of the The New York Times, Web 3.0 will offer a new way to look at the web.

Web 2.0

Before we can discuss Web 3.0 we must establish what our current phase, Web 2.0, is first. John Markoff describes Web 2.0 as, "...the ability to seamlessly connect applications...and services...over the internet". I can best relate the concept of Web 2.0 to the site introduced to me in my Communication class at SUNY Geneseo, ePodunk.com. ePodunk is a site that finds towns and locations in any city in America. ePodunk uses the service of GoogleMaps to illustrate where the towns are located. Although ePodunk and GoogleMaps are separate entites, they are linked together to bring a more convenient service to the user.

Web 3.0

Web 3.0 takes this idea a step further. Instead of merely linking information, Web 3.0 will cognitivley sort it. The example used in the times article is that now, travel sites (Web 2.0) rank vacation packages by thousands of user comments. In Web 3.0, the comments and sites themselves will be weighed and ranked in an instant. Markoff uses the word "cognitive deduction" when describing this process. I think it means that basically we will all be able to stop doing our own research because the web will do it for us. Just how the systems will be built and how soon is debatable.

Check out Markoff's full article at www.nytimes.com.

Internet Retailing: How Big is It?

After perusing the article, "KPMG / SPSL Retail Think Tank: Is internet retailing all it’s cracked up to be?” on TheRetailBulliten.com, I was surprised to find that internet retailing isn't the all-powerful force the retail industy has us (or me) believing it is. Now I understand that just because I shop and browse online, does not mean everyone else on the planet does. The article points out a few key truths about internet retailing reported from the RTT, or Retail Think Tank.

They say when looking at internet retailing, one should remember:

1. There are discrepancies in the way various media interpret and report upon internet retail sales.

2. The size of internet retailing is smaller than most people think.

3. The impact of internet retailing is still huge. It has changed the way people interact with products. This is most prevalent in the "younger generation".

4. Traditional retail basics are more important than using the newest technology.

I think these points represent a side of the story not often heard. We are constatly being bombarded with newer, "latest edition" products. For example, iPod comes out with a new, updated version every couple of months. These products are often sold and buzzed about on the internet. Perhaps the public's purchasing is a response to the the fact that online companies tend to make it seem like consumers are in a race to get cutting edge technology from the most cutting edge places (internet retailers). Looking at internet retailers and technology in general, from a different viewpoint can make one realize that sometimes having or using "the newest" isn't always the best.

Misleading Advertising

After hearing about the new Office Live product and adCenter that Microsoft is offering, I decided to check out their websites. I found that the advertising used is a slightly misleading. I compared it to the information posted in the article on the MSNBC site which I discussed in my previous post.

Do The Numbers Add Up?

I visited the Microsoft adCenter website and noticed some old facts. The site claims that MSN Search reaches over 40 million web customers a month. Their information came from Nielsen/NetRatings 2004. However, the article on MSNBC claims that Microsoft holds just 9.2 percent of the web search market. This information was from Nielsen/NetRatings from September.

A Little Discouraged

Although it is completely possible that 40 million customers make up just 9.2 percent of the total available customers on the web, I think the advertising is deceptive. First of all, Microsoft is attributing information from 2004. They should be using the most current stats possible to market their products. I was unable to look up individual companies' stats without paying a fee. Microsoft also uses the wording, "MSN reaches nearly 2 out of 3 web customers...". This is a little discouraging to me. I do not like the word "nearly" in this sentence. Nearly could mean 1 out of 3 in this instance! It seems like Microsoft is trying to trick their cutomers (small businesses), before even describing the product. If I were a small business owner, the advertising tactics alone would turn me off. Also, the fact is that even if they are Microsoft, in this instance they aren't the best. 40 million customers, or not.

More Microsoft Goodies

MSNBC posted a surprisingly objective article detailing Microsoft's new Office Live software last Tuesday. Allison Linn of the Associated Press described the new software as Microsoft's effort to help, "small companies do things like build a Web site and maintain business contacts". She also said Microsoft wants to link the software to "its platform for selling online advertising".

The Competition

Microsoft apparently launched the software because of increased pressure from competing web software providers. Microsoft's plan is to launch an ad-supported version of Office Live. This will hopefully help them make money off customer's companies' sales and marketing. Microsoft's online ad sales platform is called AdCenter. It is supossed to compete with Google's web search technology. Linn says that Microsoft admits they are late in the web-search game, but is still pushing their product.

According to Linn, Microsoft controls 9.2 percent of the search engine market. Google has approximately 50 percent. She attriutes her stats to the September Nielsen/NetRatings.