|
|
The crowded dot.com space has found another lodging for its burdened occupants in the form of the “.coop” extension, which is now open for business. The registration opened yesterday only to credit unions, farm collectives and other business cooperatives. The extension was one of seven created in Nov. 2000 to relieve the glut within the .com and .org domains. The other new restricted domains are “.museum” for museums and “.aero” for the airline industry. On top of allowing for more room within the .com space, the new suffixes permit simpler names, since companies no longer have to explain the nature of their business in their addresses. DotCoop, a subsidiary of the National Cooperative Business Association, has already logged more than 4,100 dot.coop domain names since a test period started in late 2001. Other domains still in the midst of opening shop include .info, open to all; .biz, for businesses; .name, for individuals; and .pro, for doctors, lawyers and other professionals.
Bush puts kid version of speech online
Perhaps recognizing that children are more tech-savvy than the rest of us, President George W. Bush has posted a kid-friendly supplement to his State of the Union address on the children’s channel of the official White House web site, Whitehousekids.gov. The message is a letter from Bush to U.S. children commending them for responding to his call to earmark $1 each for the aid of their young counterparts in Afghanistan and noting that the effort has helped raise $2 million. Additionally he lauds kids for gathering goods such as tents, food and other supplies to help the people of Afghanistan. The message goes on to conclude, “I recently gave my State of the Union message to Congress, and this is my message to you: Work hard. Read. Make the right choices, and follow your dreams.” Bush also offers the text of his speech, which was webcast live, on the grown-up version of the White House site.
Salon: Maybe someday we'll do a print thing
Webzine and media company Salon is contemplating a leap into the print-journalism world, judging from its CEO’s words during its quarterly earnings conference call. Salon has made it fairly clear, however, that it won't happen anytime soon, if at all. But if Salon can enlist the right partner, a print Salon magazine is a possibility. Salon CEO Michael O’Donnell was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying that Salon readers and advertisers alike have expressed interest. The market for print magazines is notoriously precarious right now, with many major titles and new launches folding in the past year, among them Mademoiselle, Brill’s Content and Talk. A Salon print magazine would mark another grasp at revenue, given that the company is still not profitable–it lost $1.4 million in the third quarter. The loss is a lot better than the $5.6 million that went down the drain in the third quarter of 2000, but the company’s revenue has actually declined, thanks to the rough ad sales climate.
WeatherBug.com launches pick-your-own ads
Would you rather see an X10 pop-up ad or an Orbitz pop-up ad? Now, at least in theory, some web users will have a choice. Weather site WeatherBug.com, which offers a downloadable desktop weather utility, plans to give its visitors their choice of advertisers starting next week under a program called Sponsor Select. Users can pick the sponsor they prefer out of 10 possibilities. Then they’ll receive direct email promotions from that sponsor. Additionally the sponsor’s ads will appear in the WeatherBug desktop application. The promotion is an effort to bolster WeatherBug’s bottom line, because like most content sites it has not been bringing in enough advertising revenue to support itself. The thinking is that consumers will be more receptive to messages from sponsors that they themselves have approved.
IVillage toys with subscription fees
Women’s portal iVillage is experimenting with fee-based services in an effort to discern what its users might be willing to pay for on a regular basis. For example, the site is charging a toll for comprehensive horoscopes and an IQ test. Additionally, iVillage has introduced a six-week-long online class, “Awaken Your Sexual Self,” that costs $34.95. IVillage users don’t like the notion of paying for content and services, however. Some members have gone so far as to say they would drop out of iVillage if it began charging for content such as message boards. That iVillage is considering charging is a reaction to its lackluster ad revenue and the fact that it has yet to become profitable, despite making numerous cutbacks and merging with former rival Women.com.
January 31, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
Printer-Friendly
Version | Send
to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact
Us
