GMail/GFail – Noutati si conspiratii

Ultima isprava a Google nu vine decat ca un avertisment ca nu suntem inca gata sa ne mutam cu “catel si purcel” online. Ca fara un backup solid la aceste informatii mai bine nu te apuci de treaba.

Mai mult, ultimele zvonuri (neconfirmate inca) spun ceva despre un posibil atac catre Google drept cauza a acestei intamplari. Fara sa dam in conspiratii, ca sincer nu-mi plac. 

La revenirea online a Gmail (pe toti cred) ne-a intampinat un mesaj cum ca cererea mea de intra in contul google e similara cu o cerere automata a unui virus sau aplicatii spyware (“looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus of spyware application”) si am fost rugati sa introducem un captcha. Acum fie ca are vreo legatura cu realitatea fie ca au incercat ca repornirea sa se faca “smooth” nu stiu.

Al doilea argument ar fi cautarea dupa “gmail down” facuta in Google Search (nu in blogsearch) care genera in primul rezultat ceva continut pornache (mai multe aici si aici). 

Sperantele sunt legate doar de posibilitatea ca atacul (in caz ca a existat unul) a fost doar formal si nu s-a ajuns la date confidentiale ale userilor (conturi, parole etc.)

Colac peste pupaza, coincidenta sau nu, ce moment mai potrivit puteau sa-si gaseasca cei de la Microsoft sa anunte POP3 gratuit pentru utilizatorii de Hotmail si Live.com. Pentru cine vrea, eu nu sunt inca hotarat sa ma intorc, o sa-i mai dau o sansa gmail-ului, iata datele:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: userul de hotmail nume@hotmail.com
Parola: parola de la contul de live sau hotmail
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25 or 587)
Authentication required? Yes
TLS/SSL required? Yes

Geek Meet Craiova 3

Ok, a fost GeekMeet in Craiova, editia a 3-a, se zice. Mai mult sau mai putin geek-oriented a fost in intamplare ok, pana la urma, o pata de culoare in mediul online/IT local, ba chiar la un moment dat ma simteam ca in facultate cand ma consumam interior pe la trainingurile din AIESEC 🙂

geekmeet

Probabil ca o sa scrie alti bloggeri locali mai multe detalii, o singura critica as avea vis-a-vis de derularea “activitatilor”. Probabil as fi plecat mult mai bine dispus de la intalnire daca ordinea speech-urilor ar fi fost fix pe invers, si daca s-ar fi inceput cu discutii directionate catre comunitati care sa se rezume la bloguri si blogeri (cu redescoperirea frustrarilor micilor blogeri si intrebari existentiale despre ce e de fapt un blog) si  si s-ar fi terminat cu speech-ul mult mai motivant si purpose-oriented al lui Vlad.

In rest, la mai multe!

Reclame vs. continut in online

In g0ana de a ma duce cat mai repede si mai departe de programele de stiri televizate, din motive de timp, pe de o parte si de continut, pe de alta parte, am devenit fan al stirilor online, asa cum sunt ele bune sau rele. Am cateva site-uri pe care intru cu regularitate pe care n-o sa le enumar aici. Hotnews este unul dintre ele inca de pe vremea cand se numea revistapresei.ro si facea doar agregare de stiri de prin ziarele patriei. 

Nu intru in detaliile “scandalului” iscat in online recent si a razboiului care se duce intre realitatea.net, 9am.ro si hotnews. Pe scurt acuzele sunt din domeniu spamului catre motoarele de cautare cu pagini create artificial lipsite de continut propriu zis, cu refreshuri in pagini care sa dea senzatia ca daca stai 10 minute in site de fapt ai fost 2 nu 1 si asa mai departe. Toti dintre cei trei au partea lor de vina si probabil ca nu o sa se poate ajunge la o concluzie finala despre cine e mai vinovat ca cine, sau cine face spam mai mult.

Revin insa cu o problema mai veche pe care o aveam cu gsp.ro. De data asta cu hotenws, site pe care (inca) intru zilnic. Problema mea nu tine de spam sau de alte metode de dribla utilizatorii de buna credinta sau motoarele de cautare. Tine de “prima impresie” si de uzabilitate. Cat de utila imi este informatia din prima pagina cand intru intr-un site care arata asa:

prtscrhotnews

Ne indreptam oare catre “protevizarea” onlinelui si in ceea ce priveste stirile si de a ajunge sa incadram stiri tabloide si scandaluri cu milioane de reclame pe sapte layere. La un moment dat ne trebuie un site sa ne exersam abilitatile de a clicka printre bannere. Personal nu ma obosesc sa mai dau scroll. Ctrl+W este singura actiune pe care o fac. See you later!

The Past of Online Advertising

In order to finish (at least for now) the subject of online advertising I just found a report of doubleclick.com about the 1995-2004 Decade in Online Advertising (1MB, PDF file).

Online advertising has come a long way since those first ad banners on HotWired in 1994. The
many forms of marketing and advertising it enables—permission email, keywordtargeted search engine advertising, floating animated page takeovers, interactive onpage rich media ads, streaming audio and video, consumer-fueled “viral marketing”, to name a few—have excited early adopters and now mainstream marketers in ways that traditional advertising has not seen the likes of since the early days of color television.

The findings in this report can be summed up in three key conclusions:

  • A seller’s market is emerging in online advertising.
  • Marketers are demanding more accountability.
  • Consumers are demanding more control.

The present of online advertising

Talking earlier about advertisers finding new ways for spending their dollars and about 57 percent of them thinking already about RSS as one of the new channels of online ads, it seems that Google jumped on the opportunity and begun testing the inclusion of text ads in Web content distributed through syndication technologies such as RSS or Atom.

Google’s program, an extension of its AdSense network, will include in the feeds text ads that are relevant to the content being distributed. When readers click on the ads, Google will split with the publishers the fees it charges to advertisers. You can apply here: http://www.google.com/adsenseforfeeds

Even more, it looks like the folks at USWeb.com, a leading Internet marketing firm, have taken the idea of shilling one step further and could very well be in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Their offer sounds like this: Get paid for blogging… We will pay you to post to your blog. We pay $5 via PayPal per blog posting. To start earning cash, email me with your name and blog URL. We are looking for people to pay today. If you don’t have a PayPal account, we can also send you a gift certificate for iTunes if you like.

You can find more comments about the matter and its legallity here: Blogging for dollars

The future of Online advertising

It seems that recent NYTimes.com decision to offer paid content to subscribers has created a lot of buzz around the blogsphere. And even though, from the freedom-of-information-point-of-view, I dislike their decision, I wonder if this will help their business in the long run.

Considering the latest Forrester Research study about online advertising they shouldn’t worry in the next couple of years, and here are some excerpts from this study:

  • 2005 growth in online advertising spending, represents a 23 percent increase from 2004, up to $14.7 billion and it’s estimated to $26 billion by 2010
  • This is not the return of “The Bubble“?. The growth is coming from marketers having to make tough decisions about allocating scarce advertising dollars – in many cases, funding online channels from traditional channels. Back in 1999/2000, spending often came from exuberant spending, fueled by venture money.
  • It’s more than just about search. Search is great, it’s growing, but it’s not the whole story. In fact, I anticipate that search will become much more integrated into traditional brand advertising
  • Marketers will shift channels away from traditional channels to fund online marketing

On the other hand the more and more popular Firefox and Opera browsers (and who knows, maybe IE7.0 will do it to) are giving the users the opportunity to block most of the ads in the webpages they are visiting (and I’m thinking here about the popular AdBlock Firefox extension as well as the powerfull Greasemonkey scripts, and why not Opera’s new features on this).

As such, for advertisers to keep the trend, they have to find new ways of spending their dollars, the same way they moved beyond pop-up’s as soon as most of the browsers gave the users the chance to get rid of them. And it seems they are already considering alternatives, according to the study mentioned before, new advertising channels will draw interest and spending from marketers. Sixty-four percent of respondents are interested in advertising on blogs, 57 percent through RSS and 52 percent on mobile devices, including phones and PDAs.