Study:
First timers have better conversion rates
The first time’s apparently the charm in advertising.
According to a study conducted by AtlasDMT, consumers are most likely to
convert the first time they see an online ad, though the first three
impressions all had at least 100 percent lift on average. The first
impression was not always the highest, depending on a number of factors.
The company studied 38 different advertisers whose campaigns ran in the
last six months of 2003. The campaigns were cost per thousand buys.
But the first impression theory is no latecomer; a four-year-old
study by I/PRO and DoubleClick saw similar results.
Microsoft
gives out source code info
Looks like those anti-trust
settlements are starting to take. Microsoft has made some of its source
code free for the public on SourceForge.net, a web site that provides free
hosting for open-source software development projects. WiX, for Windows
Installer XML, is intended for building Windows installation packages from
XML source code. WiX is available under the Common Public License, an open
source license that allows developers to modify the code and use it in
commercial products. It is the first time Microsoft has posted a project
under an open source license. Microsoft has released shared source
licenses for many years or released codes under a particular customer
contract. The company chose to put the code on SourceForge because the
site is widely used, with more than 25 percent of the projects on the site
being Windows projects.
All
things monitored in the house of the future
Japanese houses are getting more and more “Jetsons”
every day. Matsushita Electric Industrial's vision of the home beyond 2010
is on display at its Tokyo showroom. It features a talking robot and a
kitchen table that has a touch-screen that displays images beamed from a
projector below. A wide-screen display and vibrating glass speakers are on
the adjacent wall. Each family member has his or her own
"agent," which contains personal information, including hobbies
and tastes, and can be commanded with a simple device. Matsushita is
testing a service called "Kurashi Net" in western Japan. The
service allows consumers to control appliances through a central control
pad or mobile phone. The company also offers a sensor-based security
service that notifies the homeowner's cell phone when a specified window
or door is ajar. Also, a Japanese toilet can come equipped with a heated
seat, a flush sensor and a remote-controlled bidet. Some can already test
a person's urine for sugar, useful in treating diabetes and generally
monitoring a person's health.
Christie's
mysteries, coming soon for gamers
Agatha Christie's mysteries are going to be reincarnated in
the form of interactive computer games. Christie's grandson, Matthew
Prichard, said he has granted permission for his grandmother's work to be
adapted for CD-ROM computer games. Over the next six years, five different
computer games based on Christie novels will be developed by Chorion, an
intellectual property group which already manages more than 79 different
novels and short stories by the prolific writer. Only the Bible and
Shakespeare have outsold the woman who wrote from 1920 to 1976. Along with
the games, Chorion is re-branding
and re-launching Christie's books and giving them new covers to
make them more accessible to modern readers.
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