Tue, 11/08/2005
Inside sources say that media giant Time-Warner is seeking to sell all or part of their America Online division. While both Yahoo and Google have been mentioned as possible suitors for such a divestiture, it appears now that Microsoft has entered the arena. Such an acquisition...
Thu, 11/03/2005
The United Nations and the European Union are pushing for international management of the Internet because critics are uncomfortable with -- and jealous of -- what is viewed as an American monopoly, when in fact, the U.S. does not control the Internet. It simply oversees it, but...
Tue, 10/25/2005
Many people visit online forums and bulletin boards, looking for information on computers, baseball, real estate, music, and other topics. Registered members are often allowed to upload "avatars", thumbnail images used to enhance text or provide a laugh.
Thu, 10/20/2005
Eleven months of the year, hardly anything has a greater impact on our lives than politics (this being October, and World Series month, I get some arguments about this right now). Politics? More important than gas prices? ..than the stock market?
Indeed. Consider the recent...
Wed, 10/05/2005
Some years ago, IBM invented the Personal Computer, and began a decades-long battle with Apple for market share. IBM decided early on to use Open Architecture, wherein the technical details of their hardware were made available to the public, while Apple opted to keep such...
Thu, 09/29/2005
One of the responsibilities of a major web design firm is keeping abreast of new technologies, not only in regard to how these may help clients, but also in regard to how rushing to embrace new technology may be disastrous.
Thu, 09/22/2005
Websites are largely a visual medium, so it is important that the visitor experience includes the elements of design: color schemes, high-quality graphics, and easily readable text, as well as usability and sensible navigation, all wrapped in a package that works equally well on...
Thu, 09/08/2005
If you use email, you know about spam. Some of it is legitimate, and includes a link to unsubscribe. You get that because you bought something online, and left checked the little box giving them permission to send you "special offers". Big mistake.
But the vast majority of the...
Wed, 09/07/2005
One of the hottest new buzzwords on the Internet today is "RSS", but what is it?
Despite what other sources may tell you, it is an acronym for "Really Simple Syndication", and was developed as a mechanism for sending textual data across the Internet, formatted as an XML string....
Wed, 05/11/2005
The most common customer service issue we have to deal with is email, and most of those problems would go away if customers had a better understanding of how it works. Internet email is a very complex issue, and the problem is exacerbated by companies like Microsoft trying to...
Mon, 02/28/2005
Many business owners need to accept payments online, but are confused by the many options and services available. Following is a glossary, and a brief summary of the issues involved:
Merchant Account. This is not a checking account, but an agreement with a Merchant Account...
Thu, 02/17/2005
There is a story about a man who hired a plumber to fix his furnace. They went into the basement, and the plumber looked at the furnace, walked around it, studied it from different angles. Finally, he took a large hammer out of his toolbox, found just the right place on the...
Wed, 02/16/2005
Websites that allow searching for locations or outlets from a database often limit the search parameters to state or city. The last is problematic, since many USPS-compliant town designations are actually political subdivisions within a larger, more recognizable city (Flatbush...
Wed, 02/16/2005
Hacking -- what it is, and what it isn't.
Hardly a week goes by that a client doesn't tell me, in a panic, that they've been hacked *. Usually, all that happened was someone got their phone number or SSAN from another online resource.
