many other sites have complained about the salon redesign [which has extracted an apology of sorts]. at nearly the same time, but with much less visibility, biomednet redesigned and managed to break any links to archived stories in their popular [o.k. popular is a relative term, it’s popular among biology types, honest.] web mag, hms beagle. this is a supreme drag, since i have quite a few articles archived in the informatics section. aaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhh – i would like to have a few words with whoever designed the redesign about respect for your ‘customers’.
the latest risks digest points out that netzero proves that being free always costs something:
“The “Terms and Conditions” you must accept to use the “free” NetZero service
include giving up your privacy among other “minor” things:1) obligation on your part to fill out with real information all
questionnaires and survey forms they send;2) allowing NetZero to learn your browsing habits by tracking all the websites
you visit and compile, sell and USE that information.
They say personal identifying info won’t be disclosed but just the simple
fact that they store it on their system where is available to anybody who
could lawfully or not access it, is a problem. Let alone they don’t exclude
themselves from using it so it is possible for them to target you directly.3) you cannot disable cookies, bypass their ad program (meaning that you can’t
install firewalling software that would block the ad stream)4) you allow them to alter your e-mail messages by adding advertising which
you cannot remove or obscure (not unusual);5) the most ridiculous note is that the whole agreement can be changed at any
time by posting them on their website, and require you to check them every
time before you “use the service”, and not use it if you don’t agree. Let
alone the impossibility of this (how can you browse their website without
already being connected, thus using the service), it puts an unreasonable
burden on the user. How many will remember the original contract and check
the new one for differences, I doubt they would post a “diff” file there :-)”
oreillynet has added a mozilla section to it’s vast empire. if it’s not new, it’s new to me. i’m posting this article on mozilla as an ‘application virtual machine’ so i’ll perhaps, possibly, maybe remember to read it later. while i’m at it i’ll put up another virtual post-it note to this one on building skins for mozilla. someday there will be a ‘snowdeal’ skin available with a ‘no money back’ guarantee.
oh look, somebody has done yet another internet study. jeez, this time it “divides society”:
“Government and local authorities are wrong to think that improved access to the web for those who cannot afford to surf from home will end social exclusion, said Professor Steve Woolgar, a sociologist from Brunel University and director of the Virtual Society research project.
Preliminary results from the Virtual Society studies show that internet-connected kiosks put in libraries and shopping centres to get net novices using the web were being used more by those already online.”
it actually takes them a little bit to get to the super-duper and ever-so-surprising policy punchline:
“Kiosks and public net access points only attract a broader range of people when novices are given help and training during their first few forays online. ”
this article is slightly stale, but it has been sitting in my bookmarks begging to be posted. blogger has become an integral part of my brand management strategy :
“There is something, I think, about the Internet — with its microtargeted discussion groups and virtual celebrities who are famous to 15 people — that ramps up the possibilities of personal hype. The padded résumé is probably as old as the résumé itself, but with one’s own Web site, it is easy to showcase not just your padded resume but also complimentary blurbs from friends and colleagues, thoughtful sound bites, photographs of you with friends, etc. These little self-marketing monuments exist now by the
thousands. Two years ago, it was rare for a serious author to have such a site, but now even New Yorker writers have them, successfully creating viral marketing campaigns that were not possible in, say, J.D. Salinger’s time. Of course, the strategy isn’t limited to published authors. I recently stumbled across a Web site that advised chat-room denizens on how to establish their personal on-screen brand. For starters: “Develop a catch phrase.”It is all part of the “Brand Called You,” a sort of life-as-company philosophy articulated by the management guru Tom Peters — and long since swallowed whole by the career-advice wing of the business press.”
you know – i’m not actually against genetic engineering per se. i think as a technology it has a lot of potential for good and ill blah, blah, blah. but when you see headlines that involve goats and spiders, you just have to wonder. it’s as if this was orchestrated to freak-out john and jane ‘q’ public. :
“Canadian scientists have implanted spider genes in a herd of goats, resulting in the production of silky strands in goat milk that can be used for sutures and other applications.”
“Both the U.S. and Canadian military have expressed interest in using it for making anti-ballistic defense systems, he said.”