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Apparently assuming that late really is better than never, fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar is expected to launch its web site, harpersbazaar.com, tomorrow. The positive spin the magazine is putting on the late launch is that it has watched the dot.com downturn unfold and so it is in a good position to know what works and what doesn't on the web. Be that as it may, Harper's Bazaar finds itself heading online long after its rivals staked out their territory. For instance, Vogue.com, before it was hustled under CondéNet’s Style.com site in September, launched in the fall of 1999. Harpersbazaar.com will feature content from the magazine in addition to web-only content such as horoscopes, shopping guides and quizzes. The site is being touted as a "fashion utility" that will also offer shopping guides that can be downloaded to a Palm Pilot. Unlike Style.com, the Harper’s Bazaar site will not offer e-commerce.
Disney offs MrShowBiz and WallofSound
The Walt Disney Co. is terminating well-known online entertainment news site MrShowbiz.com and music news site WallofSound.com. Disney says the shutdowns are part of its larger efforts to streamline its online operations as it reabsorbs its Walt Disney Internet Group subsidiary. Layoffs tied to the demise of Mr. Showbiz and Wall of Sound are imminent but haven’t happened yet. The two sites will be replaced this fall by a revamped web site for entertainment magazine Us Weekly, which Disney took a 50 percent stake in two months ago. The demise of MrShowbiz and WallofSound is just the latest manifestation of media companies’ shutdowns of their web operations. But MrShowbiz, unlike many of the other sites that have been terminated, was a long-established internet brand. It launched in 1995 and attracted about 2.2 million people a week. Disney acquired MrShowbiz in 1997.
Coming soon: Your doctor's latest botch
The Bush administration has announced plans to launch an online compilation of medical mistakes. The initiative may sound like a Big Brotherish way to keep tabs on medical errors committed by doctors and hospitals, but the Department of Health and Human Services says the intent is to prevent mistakes from being repeated. Such mistakes include operating on the wrong organs or leaving surgical implements in patients’ bodies after surgery. As many as 44,000 people die each year as a result of surgical blunders, medication miscalculations and other mishaps. The reasoning behind the database is that many of the mistakes and resulting malpractice lawsuits could be prevented if doctors knew to pay attention to specific problem areas. To protect patients’ privacy, no names or personal data will be listed in the web clearinghouse. HHS is appointing a task force to create the system, and President Bush will ask Congress for $12 million to fund it.
Radio stations halt streaming broadcasts
Because the union that represents advertisement actors wants its members to receive royalties for webcasts, hundreds of radio stations have stopped streaming their broadcasts over the web. Radio stations owned by four major radio companies, Clear Channel Communications, Citadel Broadcasting, Emmis Communications and Jefferson Pilot Communications, last week put an end to real-time audio feeds. The union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, claims that the radio companies have long been aware that advertisement actors were owed royalties for webcasts. The union says the radio stations actually shut down the webcasts because the Recording Industry Association of America wants radio stations to pay four-tenths of a cent for each song that has been streamed online since 1998. Regardless of the precise reasoning behind the webcast shutdown, internet radio attracts an ever-growing audience. In December 2000, 25 million people logged on to internet radio broadcasts from home, up from 21 million people in December 1999. Clear Channel says it will resume webcasts once the legal and financial issues are resolved.
EBay bidders get pix rather than the real thing
The pictures of Jaguars and big-screen TVs on eBay looked exactly like what the buyers wanted. But when the buyers opened their mail, that’s exactly what they got: pictures. In two separate incidents recently, eBay users received photographs of items they’d bid on rather than the actual items. Four people from all over the U.S. received mailed or emailed photos of big-screen TVs in lieu of actual TVs. They paid up to $2,700 via check or credit card for the photos. The seller, a 19-year-old man from Omaha, Neb., has been arrested and charged with four counts of theft by deception. But John Turcich Jr., an Illinois man who paid $24,500 for a photo of a 1998 XJS Jaguar from a seller nicknamed "Magistral" has not been so lucky. So far, Magistral has not been located, and Turcich has not recouped the $24,500 he wired to the seller earlier this month.
Wanna be a Jedi? Say it’s your religion
An email floating around inboxes in the UK has enchanted thousands of fans of the "Star Wars" movies. According to the email, the U.K. will acknowledge "Jedi" as a religion if enough people declare on their census forms that they practice Jedi. According to the British government, however, this is nonsense. The country’s Office of National Statistics has issued a statement making it clear that there will be no official acknowledgment of a Jedi "religion" no matter how many people might mention it on their census forms. The government further requested that U.K. citizens take the census seriously. A comparable email was passed around New Zealand last month. In that message, "Star Wars" buffs were informed that Jedi would be a religion if 8,000 people marked it on their census forms.
April 23, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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