AFP - US software giant Google said Friday it had removed several images from its Street View software, which allows web surfers to view parts of 25 British cities, after users raised privacy concerns.

PC World - For this week’s Casual Friday column, Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica went on to talk with us about a social network — and dating site — for nerds that he’s working on with voice actor Dino Andrade. And, of course, about the end of series he’s been attached to for 30 someodd-years. But today, as the season finale is set to air, we’ve come across a Frakking load of superfans online. Here are a couple of our favorites:

Search engine operators became interested in the SEO community in the late 1990s. A number of high profile SEO community leaders established contractual relationships with search engines for advertising and consulting purposes. These early contacts led to an amelioration of some hostile feelings between the search optimization and search engineering communities.

In early 2000, search engines and SEO firms attempted to establish an unofficial “truce.” There are several tiers of SEO firms, and the more reputable companies employ content-based optimizations which meet with the search engines’ (reluctant) approval. These techniques include improvements to site navigation and copywriting, designed to make websites more intelligible to search engine algorithms.

Some search engines have also reached out to the SEO industry, and are frequent sponsors and guests at SEO conferences and seminars. In fact, with the advent of paid inclusion, some search engines now have a vested interest in the health of the optimization community.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Need an webmaster? Click HERE

AP - The alleged beating of Rihanna has inspired an online public service announcement about dating violence.

Reuters - NBC Universal will once again partner with Microsoft to support its online delivery of the Winter Olympics in 2010.

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” - John Wanamaker, father of modern advertising.

Billboard, New York City, (2005)

The impact of advertising has been a matter of considerable debate and many different claims have been made in different contexts. During debates about the banning of cigarette adervertising, a common claim from cigarette manufacturers was that cigarette advertising does not encourage people to smoke who would not otherwise.^[1] The (eventually successful) opponents of advertising, on the other hand, claim that advertising does in fact increase consumption.^[2]

According to many media sources, the past experience and state of mind of the person subjected to advertising may determine the impact that advertising has. Children under the age of four may be unable to distinguish advertising from other television programs, whilst the ability to determine the truthfullness of the message may not be developed until the age of eight.^[3]

References

1. ↑ Memorandum by British American Tobacco from The Tobacco Industry and the Health Risks of Smoking (TB 28) paragraph 272, “Cigarette advertising does not cause people to smoke”, presented before the House of Commons Select Committee on Health 13 January 2000, verifed 2005-12-31
2. ↑ Frequently asked Questions: Tobacco Advertising, “persuades non-smokers (especially the young) to start smoking” from ASH
3. ↑ Lawrence, Felicity (2004). “The Ready Meal”, Kate Barker Not on the Label, 265, Penguin. ISBN 0-141-01566-7.

• Bhatia, Tej K. 2000. Advertising in Rural India: Language, Marketing Communication, and Consumerism. Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Tokyo Press: Japan. ISBN 4-87297-782-3

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Need an webmaster? Click HERE

Video: Advertising - What psychological tricks do they use?

Reuters - Microsoft Corp is set to publicly launch Internet Explorer 8 early on Thursday, the latest version of its market-dominating web browser.

PC World - Browsing Apple’s App Store in search of new applications for your iPhone or iPod Touch, you find an interesting-sounding program and start reading its user reviews. Many are overwhelmingly upbeat, their wording eerily similar.

Many companies use e-mail marketing to communicate with existing customers, but many other companies send unsolicited commercial e-mail, also known as spam.

Illicit e-mail marketing antedates legitimate e-mail marketing, since on the early Internet it was not permitted to use the medium for commercial purposes. As a result, marketers attempting to establish themselves as legitimate businesses in e-mail marketing have had an uphill battle, hampered also by criminal spam operations billing themselves as legitimate.

It is frequently difficult for observers to distinguish between legitimate and spam e-mail marketing. First off, spammers attempt to represent themselves as legitimate operators, obfuscating the issue. Second, direct-marketing political groups such as the U.S. Direct Marketing Association (DMA) have pressured legislatures to legalize activities which many Internet operators consider to be spamming, such as the sending of “opt-out” unsolicited commercial e-mail. Third, the sheer volume of spam e-mail has led some users to mistake legitimate commercial e-mail (for instance, a mailing list to which the user subscribed) for spam — especially when the two have a similar appearance, as when messages include HTML and flashy graphics.

Due to the volume of spam e-mail on the Internet, spam filters are essential to most users. Some marketers report that legitimate commercial e-mails frequently get caught by filters, and hidden; however, it is somewhat less common for e-mail users to complain that spam filters block legitimate mail.

Companies considering an e-mail marketing program must make sure that their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States’ CAN-SPAM Act, the European Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 or their Internet provider’s acceptable use policy. Even if a company follows the law, if Internet mail administrators find that it is sending spam it is likely to be listed in blacklists such as SPEWS.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Need an webmaster? Click HERE

AFP - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has printed its final edition only to be reborn as an online publication whose fortunes will be closely watched by the struggling US newspaper industry.