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Microsoft it putting out a new and supposedly improved version of its MSN browser. Users who don't subscribe to MSN internet access will have to pay to use the new browser, although the exact price point has not been announced yet. Microsoft's primary browser, Internet Explorer, will remain free. MSN 8, which debuts this fall, is supposed to be more streamlined and user-friendly in terms of using email, blocking viruses and worms, surfing the web and managing digital photographs. Additionally, the new MSN browser will make it easier for parents to limit the sites their children can access, the files they can download and the instant messaging they do.
Ask Jeeves dumps Overture for Google
Plain-English search site Ask Jeeves has dropped Overture and teamed up with rival search site Google. Under the terms of the deal, Google will furnish the technology that serves up sponsored links, along with straight-up search results. Previously, Ask Jeeves had relied upon Overture Services to provide sponsored search results. Ask Jeeves officials say that Google offered a more financially favorable arrangement than Overture did. The companies project that their partnership will net them in excess of $100 million in revenue, which they’ll divide up over the course of their three-year deal.
Colin Powell: Don't
e-knock the GOP
The State Department has lost its
sense of humor. The department says it will clamp down on emails that mock
conservative Republican Congress members. To that end, Secretary of State
Colin Powell has declared zero tolerance toward slander, gossip, innuendo
and crude jokes traded via email in his department, according to Reuters.
Two department workers were chided for writing defamatory email messages
about 79-year-old Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., chair of the House
International Relations Committee. One email said he was brainless and
compared him to the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz." Another
said that Gilman, who is retiring soon, is going to declare that he
actually died 10 years ago--but no one noticed. Criticism of the
International Relations committee is seen as especially dangerous to the
department, considering that it is in charge of appropriations to it.
One-on-one emails
likelier to draw responses
Email messages that appear to be directed to the recipient only are
likelier to draw a response, according to psychologists at Technion, a
university in Haifa, Israel. Researchers sent out emails addressed to both
individuals and to small groups of people. For the study, 240 people were
sent emails from someone posing as a student. Of the emails that were
addressed to multiple recipients, just half elicited a response. But a
much smaller group--only 36 people out of the 240--ignored the emails that
appeared to be addressed to them personally. People were more
accommodating and detailed in their responses when they thought they were
the only people being addressed in the messages.
Email Starbucks coupon:
All grounds, no coffee
If you fell for this one, you
might be one of those people who bought that email about AOL acquiring
Microsoft and sending you money. Coffee conglomerate Starbucks says
that an email coupon for one free beverage that's making the inbox rounds
is a hoax. The realistic-looking coupon promises recipients one free
12-oz. Creme Frappuccino, which is one of the chain's most recently
introduced creamy, caffeinated concoctions. The emails started being
passed around earlier this week. Starbucks Seattle headquarters got word
of the jig on Tuesday and notified all of its outlets to quit honoring the
coupons. Still, that was too late to stop a fair number of East Coast
Starbucks shops from distributing free drinks, thanks to the time-zone
difference. The coupons were based on actual coupons sent out earlier in
the Washington, D.C., area.
July 19, 2002© 2002 Media Life
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