E-consultancy - Robert Andrews' Blog

Yahoo! searchers suggest fix to buggy new feature

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 12:00:00 UT

Yahoo! engineers had to start fixing a bug in a new live search feature, just a day after announcing the addition.

Yahoo! Search's Kevin Lee introduced the new Search Suggest function, which offers suggestions on search terms as a user types.

Google bans ads for controversial drug

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:00:00 UT

Google has announced it will ban online advertisements for an appetite suppressant that has come under fire in medical circles.

The search giant contacted some advertisers to inform them it would stop taking ads for ephedrine-based products "in the coming weeks".

E-marketing read rates decline, Wednesday still rules

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:00:00 UT

Fewer people are reading marketing emails, according to a new survey.

The study, conducted by agency eROI concluded: "We continue to see a decline in read rates across the board as more and more email clients are adopting the 'images off' default setting."

Google adds developers' Mapplets to maps

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:30:00 UT

Google Maps has launched an on-site applets platform that could do for the mapping tool what Apps have done for Facebook.

Mapplets are mini web applications that can be bolted on to extend a user's Google Maps experience with a range of new functions, from petrol prices to Manchester's Metro system.

Women find net indispensable part of life

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:56:00 UT

The internet is becoming increasingly indispensable for women, with over two thirds (66.1 percent) saying their lives would be disrupted if they had to go without the web for a week.

Burst Media's study of 1,800 women aged 25 and over found four out of five females go online between 7am and midnight.

Nielsen/NetRatings drops page views metric

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:00:00 UT

Web traffic measurement agency Nielsen/NetRatings will reportedly scrap the "page views" metric in response to the growing challenge posed by dynamic websites.

Ajax websites and web-based videos mean content can be loaded with no web page reloading, so the firm will begin instead reporting the length of time users spend at audited sites.

Pot Noodle launches UGC ad campaign on YouTube

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:25:00 UT

Pot Noodle has launched a user-generated advertising campaign hosted on YouTube.

Owner Unilever has invited users to submit videos of themselves eating the snack in unusual places - for each video submitted, the company will send out 12 Pot Noodles.

Six million .uk domains live, Nominet reports

Mon, 9 Jul 2007 14:11:00 UT

Nominet has registered its six millionth .uk domain name, with the national country code attracting a growing number of domestic companies.

The registry said a YouGov survey of 2,324 internet users showed people were six times more likely to enter a .uk domain name than a .com address when using a search engine.

Cash prize for anti-Microsoft XML lobbyists

Mon, 9 Jul 2007 14:09:00 UT

The Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), a software rights advocacy group, has offered a EUR 2,500 prize to whoever can devise the best campaign against Microsoft's attempts to seek standardisation for its Office file formats.

The FFII objects to the Redmond, Washington, software giant's attempts to gain International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) approval for its Office OpenXML file format.

New PM boosts Downing Street YouTube traffic

Thu, 5 Jul 2007 10:10:00 UT

Downing Street's YouTube channel has achieved a "milestone" one million video views since it was launched back in May.

Weekend visits by the new prime minister to a hospital and a children's centre took the site, a brand partnership with the Google-owned video sharing network, passed the seven-figure mark.

FeedBurner drops charges for pro services

Wed, 4 Jul 2007 15:39:00 UT

RSS feed management service FeedBurner is abolishing charges for two of its premium features, now that it is owned by Google.

TotalStats and MyBrand, which give users extended data and on-site feed URLs, were previously available under FeedBurner's PRO package at a cost of between $3 and $14.

Potter finale sets Amazon pre-order record

Tue, 3 Jul 2007 09:00:00 UT

The forthcoming final Harry Potter book has become Amazon's most ever pre-ordered item - and the pre-ordering isn't finished yet.

Online orders for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows passed the previous 1.5m mark set by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince�yesterday.

Dollar-pound rate 'unfair' on US e-marketers

Tue, 3 Jul 2007 07:32:00 UT

A US pay-per-click marketing agency has complained the current rate of the dollar against sterling leaves UK advertisers with an unfair advantage over their American counterparts.

The pound yesterday rose to a new high of $2.0170 - and concern is growing Stateside.

AdSense for YouTube video ads spotted

Mon, 2 Jul 2007 08:00:00 UT

One of the first AdSense advertisements in a YouTube video has been spotted in the wild.

The video in which the ads are embedded includes two tell-tale yellow segments in the time seek bar.

Google, others sued over parked domain ads

Mon, 2 Jul 2007 07:51:00 UT

Google is among a host of web firms facing a lawsuit from companies complaining about programmes that place online ads on unused, parked domain names.

Vulcan Golf filed the complaint in Illinois arguing the practice, by which individuals register attractive domain names but place only ads on them, is a "shocking and egregious, intentional, bad faith scheme to generate revenue and profit from illegal and deceptive actions".

Google Earth launches charity outreach

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:40:00 UT

Google Earth las launched an outreach programme designed to give charities and other non-profits tools to best use the 3D landscape environment.

The company will give organisations access to tutorials, guides, case studies, forums and software to produce data layers with which they can add rich, location-based information to the environment.

IBM serves up Second Life Wimbledon

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:39:00 UT

Imagine a Wimbledon where rain never stops play. IBM has recreated the tennis event inside Second Life.

photo: Ian Hughes/Snapzilla

AOL offers shoppers Shortcuts coupons

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:54:00 UT

AOL is set to launch an coupons programme allowing users to save money on online purchases with selected etailers.

Dubbed AOL Shortcuts, the project will mimic real-world coupons promotions, but will instead ask consumers to click web ads in order to receive offers.

Bank tests mobile Visa payments

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:52:00 UT

US bank Wells Fargo is to begin testing Visa's mobile payments system with 50 of its own employees.

Introduced earlier this year, the system allows customers to buy goods using mobiles equipped with special chips that can be swiped over retail scanners.

Canada web ad spend to grow fastest, forecast says

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:00:00 UT

Online advertising spend will grow faster in Canada than anywhere in the world over the next four years, according to a heavyweight new PricewaterhouseCoopers report.

PwC's Global Entertainment and Media Outlook, which looks at the international media industry between 2007 and 2011, forecast the amount of money advertisers spend online will grow to US$2.03bn (�1.02bn) by 2011.