From: gleanings To: users Subject:

From: gleanings To: users Subject: Gleanings: Everyone’s got better drugs than me OPENING THANG Sorry to leave you […]

From: gleanings
To: users
Subject: Gleanings: Everyone’s got better drugs than me

OPENING THANG

Sorry to leave you gleanless for so long. Things have been a might chaotic in Christina-land, what with going to war with the INS and various mischievous plots that will remain nameless until fruition.

So in my NUA survey newsletter I noticed this

Advertising Age: Mobile users open to ads
Mobile phone users are receptive to the idea of wireless ads,
according to a survey released this week by Ericsson and Mediatude.
http://adage.com/news_and_features/features/20001108/article2.html

Well, other than the obvious suspicions (Ericsson did the survey? yeah, I trust that) I can’t help thinking this is a sign of the problems with focus groups and surveys vs. actual testing in a lab with people trying to use the device. Somebody asks you, “Hey, would mind getting ads when you used a free service, and would you like it better if the ads were tailored to you?” and you shrug and say, “sounds fine”

It’s a whole ‘nother story when you are trying to read that message and an ad is taking up half your tiny precious real estate, causing you to scroll every three works. Or blinking (like ads do in vindigo) making it hard to read the text.

But I’m sure this survey is the drug the wireless folks have been looking for.

Meanwhile, this is merely lame
http://www.wired.com/news/photo/0,1860,40152,00.html , a cube browser
joining
http://maps.map.net/index.html , the internet mapped onto Antarctica,
as part of a new family of innovation without reason.

Folks, please don’t say, “would’t be cool to map the internet onto Antarctica”, or “wouldn’t it be cool if I could see five browser windows as a cube”. Say, “What are the problems people with navigation, and how can I come up with a solution using a deep understanding of the way people think to make a truly innovative and usable solution”. Study the problem, let a solution bubble up. The nifty factor will get you only so far. dude.

go watch this. laugh hard.
http://home.kscable.com/clarkson/Cartoons/PsychicPigs.html

NEWS

Napster: vehicle for piracy or tool of democracy? At this stage,
whether Napster is morally wrong is almost beside the point.
What is clear is that online music distribution is here to stay,
and regardless of the outcome in the Napster trial, the ‘big five’
record companies will have to find some way of using it to their
benefit.
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/analysis/weekly_editorial/archives/issue1no153.html

Upside: EMI issues first broad subscription license.
Tribble’s Dallas-based Streamwaves just closed a first-of-its-kind deal with
EMI, one of the five major record labels. In doing so, Tribble’s company has
become the first dotcom to license a major-label music catalog for sale, by
subscription…
http://www.upside.com/News/3a19d1371.html

Business Week: Internet stores off the scent in France
French perfume makers are going to great lengths to prevent their
products from being sold online.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/nov2000/nf2000118_243.htm

Jupiter Media Metrix: Bright future for online shopping
While etailers may be finding it difficult to make a profit, Europe’s
online shopping market is growing strong, according to the latest
findings from Jupiter Research.
http://www.jup.com/company/pressrelease.jsp?doc=pr001113

Industry Standard: The New Encyclopedia Salesmen.
Douglas Adams hopes to bring this fantasy to life with his company, H2g2,
which is turning WAP phones into real-world “Hitchhiker’s” guides. H2g2 is
part of a new breed of Internet encyclopedias that are trying to amass a
repository of all-encompassing knowledge by using volunteers.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,20242,00.html