Reports are running rampant across the web today regarding Charter Communications , one of the nations largest cable broadband companies, and a new tactic they're deploying to make money from your internet usage. In some markets customers are recieving a letter in the mail stating that they will be part of a new service, where Charter replaces advertising in web pages with advertising deemed "more relevant". An excerpt...
"I'm writing to inform you of an enhancement coming soon to your web browsing experience... While continuing to deliver the same fast and reliable internet service you've always received, innovative new technology enables Charter to provide you with an enhanced online experience that is more customized to your interests and activities. As a result, the advertising that you typically see online will better reflect the interests you express thorugh your web-surfing activities. You will not see more ads - just ads that are more relevant to you."
They do offer an opt-out process , but the opt-out process requires you to input personal information in a non encrypted http session and stupidly relies on cookies which are frequently cleaned on peoples pc's obviating the necessity of redoing this dodgy and dangerously insecure process. Over and over and over again.
This is wrong on so many levels I cannot figure out where to start. The privacy issues are as obvious as the above statement. As a publisher who relies on advertising to survive, it potentially makes our advertising useless. Advertising is what drives the net economy, and this tactic sets a dangerous precedent ethically and legally.
This tactic also skims dangerously close to rights infrigement, because this in essence is modifying website content without permission. For those individuals who use blocklists to avoid advertising altogether, it makes that a meaningless endeavor as well.
This is yet another clear example of ideas gone wrong, and avarice taken too far. I don't think the Electronic Frontier Foundation will have much of a fight here though. Every mainstream news and information portal in the world, most of which make the bulk of their revenue from advertising, will be lining up around the block to sue Charter Communications over this stupidity.
Just when you think the Pennsylvania Primary is the news of the hour, out of left field comes this. I was sitting watching MSNBC's Live feed of the Primary today, and during a commercial break I got to see MSNBC's feed PC being outed for having a bad MS Office license. Click on the image for a fullsize pop-up.
Maybe MSNBC is merely experiencing the woes many of us do with Microsoft's ridiculous and flawed Genuine Advantage program. Hilarious nonetheless.
Though details are still somewhat sketchy, it looks like the persistent rumor of Microsoft devouring Yahoo is getting some teeth. 44 Billion Dollars worth of teeth . Expect more news on this as it breaks, as the details currently are somewhat lacking, but consider this move a serious play in the battle for net supremacy with Google.
This would make this deal the largest internet based acquisition since the $182 Billion AOL/Time Warner debacle in 2001, largely viewed as the worst acquisition in history. Still the battle for net advertising dominance is a real one, with an estimated $80 Billion up for grabs in the net advertising market by 2010. This constitutes an extra 40 Billion reasons when compared to 2007 market scope, so take it seriously.
Global Secure Systems
and Infosecurity Europe
released the results of a poll
they use to claim the U.K experiences upwards of 6.5 Billion Pounds in lost productivity costs to social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, and Bebo. A quote...
The poll was carried out amongst 776 office workers, who admitted to spending at least 30 minutes a day visiting social networking sites whilst at work, that's a minimum of 10 hours a month which equates to 3 weeks of every year with two respondents who were so hooked that they spend 3 hours visiting these sites everyday!! The end result is potentially billions of pounds in lost productivity maintain GSS, plus the extra demand on bandwidth which is an additional cost to a business in terms of efficiency, maintenance and resources.
As is often the case with polls asking a question in a certain manner can almost guarantee the conclusions reached. Also, when the parties involved are both interested in selling U.K. businesses their products and consultancy services you might want to replace that grain of skepticism with a boulder.
Any business really concerned about the productivity drain of social networking sites could easily block those sites from their employees with about 30 seconds worth of effort. [ED: We'd be happy to consult with you and show you how :P] But perhaps most smart business managers realize the value of having a diversion or two when working. Stop treating your employees like human beings and believe me, they'll stop acting like them which is a worse thing for productivity. When I worked in corporate america with hundreds of employees directly in my charge a survey like this one would have revealed to me the obvious thing here. That being someone trying to sell me a solution for a problem I didn't really have. It happens all the time.
In a Fox News
segment, psychologist and self-help book author Cooper Lawrence
shot herself in the foot by proclaiming all sorts of inane untruths about a game (Mass Effect, Electronic Arts ) being harmful to children for one mildly graphic sex scene. In a game rated M for Mature. A game she knew absolutely nothing about before she appeared on Fox and started making the mistake of opening her mouth.
Exposing ones own ignorance and prejudices on Fox News is pretty normal these days, but Ms. Lawrence is experience a great deal of grief as a result of speaking without thinking. Her latest self help book, The Cult of Perfection
is experiencing a massive flood of spam reviewing on Amazon.com. As a result her new book is sitting on Amazon with a 1 star rating in it's review system, with 472 reviews at this writing. Perhaps someone who is a published author should have learned to check facts and think before speaking. Sometimes the lessons you learn are harsh Cooper. Oh....and she's HOT! :P
(editors note: Amazon has REMOVED all the negative comments....nice way to change reality hunh?)
ATI's dual GPU monster the HD3870x2 has been spotted in the wild in shops in Guangzhou China being flogged for roughly $550 U.S. Sporting two RV670 running at 825mhz core with 1000mhz GDDR3 speeds and using 1ns GDDR3 for a total of 1GB of memory (512MB per core) this should be a screamer if you have the PSU to handle it. We expect benchmarks to be available quite soon, from those ATI board partners allowed to bench these. Pics below courtesy of Pconline.com.cn ...
After co-founding one of the oldest and largest online tech publications TheRegister
in 1994, then moving on to greener pastures full of "voles", "chipzilla's" and "everywhere girls" when he founded TheInquirer
in 2001, Mike Magee is calling it quits . Just this morning TheInquirer posted news that "Mageek" would be leaving the publication at the end of February, and that Paul Hales will take his place as Editor.
Mageek said: “I really do owe the readers of the INQUIRER and those who supported me when I started it an apology, sorry really big vote of thanks. I’ve enjoyed every day I’ve worked on the INQUIRER apart from the day I had a triple bypass op.
"I also want to thank the loyal bunch of hacks who’ve helped turn the mag into the success story it became.”
Mike Magee and TheInquirer changed the landscape of tech news reporting by doing things their own way and refusing to bow to industry pressure to gloss over the news. It is a publication both feared and respected by the industry at large, and one that we hope continues to cut it's own path without Mageek at the helm.
Even if Mike rarely posted our news and reviews [no we're not bitter... ED.] we wish him well in whatever future endeavors strike his fancy. Whatever they are, they probably won't be tame.
