Napster swapping goes on, despite court ruling
Music file swapping company Napster has put filters in place that ostensibly block the trading of copyrighted songs. The filters comply with a promise made to a San Francisco judge, Marilyn Patel, on Friday. Napster was supposed to install the filters this weekend, but the installation was not noticeably in place until late on Sunday. The filters, however, are less than effective. The filters work by blocking specific file names--a roadblock which Napster users can avoid by renaming their files. Thousands of popular music files are thus still available. According to Napster, the filters have not been perfected yet. Napster is working with German media conglomerate Bertelsmann to become a fee-based service this summer. Reportedly, another music company, Vivendi, is interested in taking part in the venture. But Napster may not survive until summer. Patel was asked to rewrite an earlier injunction against Napster, and when she does, she could all but shut the site down.

Egghead.com axes 12 percent of staff
Online computer hardware retailer Egghead.com has slashed approximately 12 percent of its workforce, or 77 positions. Forty of the firings will take place at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters. Thirty-seven workers at the company’s Vancouver, Wash., branch will lose their jobs. Both part-time and full-time spots are being cut. Like many of the other dot.coms that have announced layoffs, the company says that the layoffs will help it turn a profit. The company says it plans to become profitable by the fourth quarter this year. Egghead lost $11.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2000. Egghead began life 17 years ago as a chain of computer software stores. The company, which now boasts an eclectic inventory ranging from computer peripherals to consumer electronics and vacation packages, moved onto the web several years ago, shutting down in the process all of its brick-and-mortar stores.

Hotmail takes flak for facilitating spammers
Microsoft’s free email service, Hotmail, is under fire because its members’ email addresses are easily accessible to mass marketers. Unless they deliberately opt out, Hotmail users’ contact information is inserted into Infospace’s White Pages directory. The opt-out box, apparently, is easy to overlook. The result is that mass marketers can easily obtain hundreds of email addresses, which they can bombard with unsolicited emails, or spam. Users can receive dozens of spam messages a day. Infospace's policy may be to not reveal email addresses, but in reality, getting email addresses from Infospace is simple. Anyone with a Hotmail account, which is very easy to obtain, can enter the directory listings and see email addresses. Also, either Hotmail or Infospace has an easily accessible "backdoor" link to directory listings that reveals email addresses. At least one pro-privacy group, the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email, considers the ease with which spammers can get Hotmail addresses to be problematic.

Still looking for clicks? Here are some rules.
While the debate drags on concerning the relevance of the click-through as a measurement of a successful internet ad, there's no doubting that many advertisers still seek the elusive click. For them comes a new study that suggests there are definite methods to employ to increase an ad's click-through rate. The study, done by the Advertising Council and PhaseOne Communications, delineates four criteria behind all successful banner ads: drawing the eye, engaging the mind, creating a desire for more and facilitating action. Of the 93 banners studied by the Ad Council and PhaseOne, all but one of the most clicked-upon banners featured animation. Of the least clicked-upon, 35 percent lacked motion. Additionally, a banner’s relevance is another factor that can induce web surfers to click. About 82 percent of the banners that are most often clicked upon promise a benefit that’s relevant in the context of the venue where they appear.

U. Of Dayton: Don’t apply via snail mail
High school seniors shouldn’t bother to send in their applications to the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, via snail mail. Starting with the 2002 admissions cycle, the 151-year-old Catholic university will accept only electronic applications. The university says it is only the second institution of higher learning to adopt such a policy; the first was West Virginia Wesleyan University. The University of Dayton says that 60 percent of admissions candidates apply online already. Universities praise electronic admissions procedures as big time- and money-savers, since fewer people are needed to run such an admissions department. Schools with electronic admissions say they aren’t concerned that the digital divide will block students from applying electronically. A survey by consultancy Art and Science Group shows that 94 percent of college-bound high school seniors have internet access.

Printer-Friendly Version |  Send to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact Us

© 2001 Media Life