Search

Profiles George Bell, Chief Executive Officer of the Web site Excite@Home. Biographical information; His competitive nature; His understanding of media in light of involvement in filmmaking, magazine publishing, writing, and television production; Decrease in price of Excite@Home stock; Questions as to the success of Excite@Home; Excite@Home's relationship with its cable partners. INSETS: GEORGE DEBENNEVILLE BELL JR.;BELL'S BROADBAND BATTLE PLAN;EXCITE@HOME VS. THE COMPETITION.

Discusses electronic commerce in late 1998. The ease with which people can begin selling products over the Internet; Security issues which have held electronic commerce back; Con artists on the Internet; Why most Internet industry analysts feel the Internet is safe for electronic commerce in December of 1998; Types of products which sell well online; The control that consumers have on the Internet; Sites to visit for computer products, travel, automobiles, books and online brokerages.

Presents a compilation of the best shopping sites on the Internet. Auctions; Autos; Books; Bridal registry; Computer hardware and software; Consumer electronics; Food and wine; Investing; Music; Sporting goods; Toys; Travel; Videos; Unclaimed baggage.

Focuses on Paul Baier, who, after succombing to financial struggles, learned to begin anew. Experience with running the Internet Web site, PurchasingCenter.com; Examples of other entrepreneurs that have experienced similar troubles, Boo.com and Toysmart.com; Plans to expand.

Reports on the use of the Internet as a tool for financial planning. Benefits of different financial advisement Web sites; Idea that human financial advisors will become obsolete; Cost of online financial advice programs.

Looks at the Internet. Built-in advantages of information specialists; Search strategies for hard-to-find marketing information; Examples of Web sites that exemplify what the Web can do that other media can not do; Causes and effects of Web sites in the economy.

Presents a list of items available on the Internet for free and information on where to find them. Computer software at shareware shopping malls like Shareware.com and The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software (TUCOWS); Shareware and freeware; Business software and information at sites including quote.com, PR Newswire and NewsTracker; World Wide Web addresses for each site. INSETS: Dialing for digital dollars, by James Oliver Cury.;Shareware and freeware: The top 10 must-have utilities.;Shareware and freeware..., by Julie Campagna and Steve Bass.;Ten things you can do for free on the Net.

Examines some of the Internet services that can become money makers. How weird specialty foods lend themselves to a Web strategy; The success of auction sites; How Internet games combine digital distribution with thin-but-broad marketing; Ways to sell out-of-the-way products.

Discusses online banking service in the United States. The percentage of households using the Internet for banking; Companies working on services to bring banks and merchants together at one Web site; How online banking works; Question of who will deliver service; Companies like CheckFree and Intuit supporting a consolidation site model with hypertext links; Consumer reaction to having their financial information on the Internet. INSET: Bill of the future.

Offers predictions on the future of computer technology and networks in libraries in the United States. Suggestion that financial gain will influence the future of computers; Services offered by Web sites; Suggestion that libraries need to offer services that are more convenient and affordable than ones offered by commercial Web sites.

The article presents information regarding the ability of users to modify specific Internet sites, such as Wikipedia and Digg.com. It is noted that the level of inanity and profanity on such sites prevents them from appealing to mature users. Information detailing sites that have been created to modify the extent of user input to help to increase the appeal to mature users is also provided. INSET: DEMOCRACY ON THE WEB.

Presents economic statistics on the World Wide Web. Nations with the most Web users, including the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Canada, China, Spain, and Australia; Web sites which have shut down; The 20 most visited Web sites, both past and present, by number of unique visitors; Web sites which gained or lost traffic during the fourth quarter of 2000; Top auction categories from Ebay, Yahoo!, and Amazon.com; Sites which have succeeded in turning visitors into buyers.

Reports on the effect of the Internet on the cost and ease of purchasing insurance. Forecasting of the number of people who will buy insurance online; Examples of Web sites which offer quotes from multiple insurance companies, based on personal information; Preference of the personal service provided by an insurance agent by some consumers.

Reports the launch of the web site KasparovChess Online by World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. Details of the site, including various features; Plans by Kasparov to take the site public by the end of 2000; Plans to create a venue of young members attractive to advertisers.

Provides information about the survey conducted by the Promotion Marketing Association of America in conjunction with `Brandweek' regarding the use of the Web as a mrketing tool. Objective of the survey; Marketers as Web crawlers; Specific usages of the Internet; Generation gap with regards to the desire for techno communication tools, observed in the survey.

Discusses the lack of media companies that make profit from their Internet sites. Success of games and pornography sites; Efforts of media companies to make their sites more profitable; MTV's claims regarding the profitability of its online operation; Deals for Internet space. INSETS: Celebrity Sightings sees early success.;Columbia TriStar plans multiplayer `Wheel,' `Jeopardy!'.;N2K spins hot mix of marketing and music.;WCCO-TV sets its site on profit.

The author offers opinions on the economic future of newspaper publishing. Most large U.S. cities now have just one daily newspaper, and circulation and revenues for those are falling due to the loss of readers to the Internet. This has led many newspapers to cut their staff levels. Journalism, by nature a labor-intensive trade, suffers as a result, meaning the cutbacks endanger the newspaper's core business. The author notes that newspaper Web sites are increasingly popular, and hopes that eventually they will also become profitable.

Discusses the impact of `flaming,' or corporate-bashing, on United States companies with a market presence on the Internet. Emergence of hostile online message boards that level charges against firms; Effect of Internet gossip on stock prices.

Suggests that financial advisers must provide real value before their clients seek alternative Internet avenues. Why most advisers do not consider the Internet serious competition; Incorporation of more information by online firms; Examples of consumer Web sites.

Focuses on the hostility on Wall Street over Internet-stock run ups in November 1998. The fear that they could send the entire market out of control; The initial public offering (IPO) of theglobe.com; The outrageous valuations of Earthweb, Ebay and Amazon; The comments of analysts and investment executives.

In this article the author discusses aspects of Internet neutrality. She notes that the lack of supervision online has led to numerous technological innovations whereas regulated communication systems such as telephones have not changed significantly. The contention made by major telecommunications organizations that they should be paid for delivering traffic to web sites is refuted.

The article announces that the U.S. federal budget has gone paperless. The author directs those who would like to see the federal budget, to do so by visiting www.budget.gov. In print form, the federal budget is comprised of over 2,200 pages and prints into four books. The electronic version is searchable and available for download. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director, Jim Nussle, predicts that the electronic file will save twenty tons of paper, four hundred and eighty trees, and close to $1 million over the next five years.

The article reports on the growth of the website business of the equity firm Abraaj Capital. The company took over the business from two young men from Jordan in 2005. The website business, Maktoob.com, has since become one of the Arab world's foremost Arabic-language Internet portals, covering everything from business to sports. It is now reported to be the 102nd most visited site on the Internet worldwide. The firm has benefited by selling its stake in it to Tiger Global Management.

The article focuses on the Swivel website, a privately held, U.S.-based company used by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). According to the author, the site publish high-impact graphs on topical debates, and allow users to rate or comment on the data from different angles. It also uses OECD graphs from ready - made sources, as well as using raw databases to build graphs of their own. Moreover, the Swivel and OECD partnership can encourage fact driven conversations among Swivel community readers and beyond on sensitive issues like ownership rights.

The article focuses on the launching of the new website in Chile, a candidate for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) membership in France. According to the author, the site have four alphabetical contents for OECD which offers different choices for browsing: by country, topic, OECD directorate and the fourth tool is an extra practical service for readers and as easy ABC to use. He added that, the list starts with About OECD and ends up with Young Professionals Programme. Moreover, the list will be updated, the aim is not to create an exhaustive reference index but a simple navigation tool.

Discusses the effects of a slowing economy on media and Internet coverage of financial markets in the United States. Idea that behavioral economics predicts that people trade less in bear markets; Decline in Web traffic with the decline in the stock market; Details of financial companies, including Bloomberg.com.

Reports on Internet companies and their need to integrate a higher vision of business and finance strategies. Concentration of many dot-com companies on capturing the largest share of a market vision; Aspects that lead to the downfall of these companies, including premature market entry and rapid product development; Recommendation that Internet companies should focus on the development of business strategies and savvy.

Offers insights on Internet commerce. Suggestion that most Internet users want less interaction with the Web, not more; Opinion that popularity and usage of the Web will continue to rise; Impact of the Internet on mainframe and personal computer sales.

Reports the growing trend in payment of bills over the Internet, as of 1999. Example of PayMyBills.com, who offers a bill paying service; Details of the service; Savings involved in such a service, including postage and time, by both individuals and corporations; Role of banks in Internet billing and payment.

Discusses the status of the stocks of online companies in June 1998. Percentage gain; Reasons for the increase; Companies which fared well.

Notes that Netscape Communications Corp. has announced in early 1999 that more than 20 companies are previewing Custom Netcenter, Netscape's custom portal service. How the service extends the power of Internet portals to business data processing; How the service combines portal content and services with company specific software applications; The ability to create portals; Which companies are previewing the service and how they are using it.

Considers the effect which the Internet has had on the retail trade in Australia. Decision of Harvey Norman department store chain to close down its Internet site, and sell only from stores; Statistics on the amount of online shopping in Australia; Reasons why most retailers believe that groceries cannot be sold via the Internet; Bookselling over the Internet; Other product categories, including computer software, music, personal computers, magazine subscriptions, and games.

Presents a reprinted article from `Forbes,' magazine on price comparison Web sites in the United States. Success of PriceScan founded by David Cost; Industry resistance to the sites; Description of the services they offer; Comments from Ariff Alidina of Esmarts.com; Price comparison used by sites such as Yahoo! and Amazon.com.

Reports on how electronic mail has had an impact on business in Australia and the popularity of freemail offered by Internet portal sites. Telstra's Easymail service under investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission; Internet portal sites such as Yahoo and Excite offering e-mail addresses; Comments from Tony Faure of Yahoo Australia and New Zealand; Statistics on Internet usage in Australia; E-mail software available.

Discusses the contrast between enthusiastic growth of the music industry in electronic commerce, and lack thereof in the video industry. How many companies offer limited services online, but have no online stores; Issues hindering development of studio-driven websites; Dearth of online purchasing options for Blockbuster's website; Other video-related news.

Discusses supersites, or centralized Web sites from corporations that link across the company. The economic potential of the Internet and how supersites can take advantage of it; Managing the technology behind the growth of the Internet; Why corporations have been consolidating Web services and creating supersites; The development of a supersite architecture by USWeb, developer of the term supersite; Business advantages to supersites; The difficulty in creating supersites.