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The top branding product of 2002 wasn’t Starbucks, Coke or Pepsi. Search engine Google.com topped them all in a global “brand of the year” poll released by British agency Interband Tuesday. The 1,315 respondents from 72 countries were asked to name the brand that had the biggest positive or negative influence on their life during the past year. Google, the five-year-old internet startup that’s become one of the top destinations on the web, captured 15 percent of the vote. The site’s relatively bare interface won kudos from those surveyed, who faulted MSN and Yahoo for overcrowding. Of course, to be fair to those more heavy-advertising non-web fast food and soft drink companies, it’s important to point out that the survey was done on the web. That helps explain why Apple Computer placed second despite carrying a worldwide market share of less than 3 percent. Coca-Cola was third with 12 percent, ahead of Starbucks and Ikea.
Has Mitnick gone soft? Hacker becomes hackee
Looks as if Kevin Mitnick got a little rusty while in jail. The world’s most infamous computer hacker, whose time in prison and federal probation had kept him off the web since his mid-‘90s heyday, now has been hacked himself – twice. On Jan. 30, a person known only as “BugBear” added a page to Mitnick’s new security consulting company’s site, reading “Welcome back to freedom, Mr. Kevin … It was fun and easy to break into your box.” A picture of a polar bear and two cubs accompanied the text. Sunday a second hacker broke in and posted a message begging Mitnick to hire him as security head. A bemused Mitnick, who stole millions during a string of corporate hack jobs in the early 1990s, said he received an email from one of the hackers, but that neither did any actual damage to the pages. Mitnick did not contact the FBI because there was no financial impact. The onetime fugitive returned to the web after a long probation several weeks ago, promising to use his criminal insights to help companies stay safe from hackers.
Pressplay expands music library to 250,000
The legitimate music services continue to expand their offerings, hoping that consumers will have an attack of conscience and abandon the growing Kazaa file-swapping site. Monday the online subscription music service Pressplay unveiled an agreement to boost its available song catalog to roughly 250,000 thanks to deals with several independent record labels. The pact will bring artists including Nirvana and Nelly Furtado to the current list of selections. DreamWorks, Sub Pop, Palm, Ubiquity and Rykodisc/Ryko Label Group all signed on. Pressplay is owned by the music arms of Vivendi Universal and Sony; subscriptions start at $9.95 per month. The company also said that it will launch a new interactive radio service with Friday’s release of Pressplay 2.5. The new version will include music chart data from Billboard magazine for the past 47 years.
Could broadband go through power lines?
Think broadband installation is too much of a hassle? Hold out just a bit longer and connecting could be as simple as plugging in a radio. Several firms, including St. Louis’ Ameren Corp., are testing technology that allows high-speed web connections via power line. That means that virtually any electrical outlet would become a potential internet jack. The Federal Communications Commission has given its initial blessing to the plans, saying that it would increase competition, lower consumer prices, and make high-speed internet more accessible in rural locations. Current broadband connections are made through cable television lines or phone wires. The companies that provide those services are understandably lukewarm on the idea, claiming that the technology has been around for a while but has not been proven effective. Network interference and surge arresters have proven the biggest obstacles. Ameren is testing the electrical connections right now, so they probably will not be available for at least another few months.
For rich families, the electronic housekeeper
The Jetsons had Rosie the robot. Now families with enough disposable income can buy their own Rosies, as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries prepares to introduce a mechanical housekeeper. The $8,500 wheel-riding robot, which stands 3 feet tall, is billed as the perfect companion for older, frail people, but it can also do housework or even housesit. Thanks to voice- and face-recognition software, it can send email messages if an unfamiliar noise or face startles it. Using a Linux operating system, the robot links to the internet and sends camera messages. It’s also kinda friendly. It can inquire how your day went and why you had to work late. More important, it can monitor side effects of medication. And if its battery, which lasts two hours, starts running low, the ‘bot can charge itself. It will be available later this year.
February 12, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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