Political activism for all

12/01/08

In these politically charged times the Web has become as important as television or the newspapers in shaping opinion as well as delivering facts, rumors, and, it must be admitted, disinformation (although the Web isn't unique amongst media channels in that regard).

Now the video camera lies

11/24/08

The adage that the "camera never lies" is now well-known to be pure fiction and indeed anyone who knows anything about the art of photography will be fully aware that the camera has almost never told the truth!

The future of behavioral marketing

11/19/08

I've known Jim Sterne for about 500 years (that's Internet years) and he's one of the smartest, most insightful gurus on the topic of online metrics and marketing. At our last lunch a few weeks ago, these lunches are infrequent as Jim spends most of his life on an aircraft (his air miles would probably allow for a two week stay on the International Space Station), we got to talking about the future of behavioral marketing and I persuaded him, via a head lock, to put his 50,000 foot view (much like his normal travel view) on paper. Er, in bits. Whatever. Here's his take:

Instant URL instrumentation

11/17/08

Instrumenting your Web content so you can determine what people are responding to is a big undertaking. And if you are in, say, the marketing department and you want to send out a newsletter and get some kind of real idea about whether your readers "click through" you may find that the Web guys can't move fast enough because of their workload.

The quest for the perfect Content Management System

11/12/08

As the Web has grown, the problem of content management seems to have absorbed more time and energy than even the effort required to create actual content. As a consequence the quest for the perfect Content Management System (CMS) has become high on the list of many corporations.

What's on the mind of Twitter users?

11/10/08

I'm still fascinated by the ecosystem that surrounds Twitter - a constellation of services often referred to as the "Twitterverse."

Stickam and the new face of broadcasting

11/05/08

Of the many things that the 'Net has transformed, the world of broadcasting is the one most profoundly affected. Driven by the rise of blogging, the migration of television to the Internet, and the explosion of YouTube, the control of what constitutes broadcasting has moved from the tender care of big media to the egalitarian chaos of the public.

RoboForm impresses as a Web password manager for Windows

11/03/08

I have more than 300 accounts on online services. Some I use frequently, such as my hosting service provider account or Gmail, while many more I use rarely, if at all. The problem is where to keep all of this critical private information much of which I'm likely to forget. Many years ago I discovered what I think is one of the best and most useful utilities for managing passwords: Siber Systems' RoboForm.

TimeBridge is way cool scheduling

10/29/08

I've written about scheduling services several times in this newsletter and in my Network World Gearhead column and, guess what - In this issue I have another entrant into the scheduling market: TimeBridge. What impressed me is that TimeBridge definitely takes the crown of "most polished" in its category.

Social networkers Flock to new version

10/27/08

I first wrote about the Flock browser in the Network World Web Applications Alert newsletter in April last year and the company has just released Version 2.0, that adds to its list of impressive features.

New York Times gives away their data with an API

10/22/08

It's one thing to give away your product, but quite another to give it away with the full knowledge that someone else might use it in a way or for a reason that you haven't thought of. That rather goes against the grain of old school marketers.

Xoopit makes Gmail even better

10/20/08

I had originally outsourced my e-mail service because the mail service that came with my Web hosting account had no spam filtering. This arrangement worked well enough, but then along came Google's Gmail.

Issue 1,000! Social networking becomes the Web

10/15/08

Welcome to the 1,000th issue of the Web Applications Alert newsletter! It's amazing to think how far we've come with Web stuff in the almost 10 years that have elapsed since this newsletter started.

Greasemonkey and meta-analysis

10/13/08

If you've not come across Greasemonkey before and you're at all geeky you need to check it out. Greasemonkey is a Firefox browser add-on that allows you to use scripting in JavaScript to modify and manipulate the contents of Web pages.

Surf Canyon improves search...really

10/08/08

Just when you might have foolishly thought that the world of online searching couldn't produce yet another enhancement along comes Surf Canyon. Need I mention that that this software is in [drum roll please], beta?

Invite with Phonevite

10/06/08

The idea that most people are on e-mail and that they actually read their e-mail and, given those predicates, are organized enough to schedule something based on a message is still, sadly, fiction.

IE under other browsers!

10/01/08

Very often when you're testing Web content you'll want to test what a page looks like and how it works under multiple browsers. If you, like me, prefer Firefox, then launching and switching to Internet Explorer is a total pain.

TripIt: Your personal travel assistant

09/29/08

I am not a happy traveler. I have friends who treat travel as a great adventure and love every minute of their experiences, but not I. For me travel is a means to an end, something to be endured. There was a time - back in the 1980's - when travel was still reasonably civilized but now we have to tolerate endless queues, get crappy in-flight service (certain airlines now plan to even charge for pillows!), and if we're really lucky, have the TSA treat us like criminals, confiscate our laptops on a whim, and demand that we surrender our shampoo.

Crowdsourcing spin detection

09/24/08

Over the course of this seemingly endless, Bataan Death March-esque, election season even the most innocent and trusting members of the public have come to notice the deliberate and outrageous spin doctoring both parties are engaged in (though from my viewpoint the Republicans seem to be doing more of it and better than the Democrats).

Protecting content: Why?

09/22/08

Why do you protect your Web site content? If you are in journalism it might well be because you believe that the content value is very high. That then justifies limiting access through subscriptions whether they are free of for a fee. In the former case you see the content as directly revenue generating while the latter provides you with a mailing list that you most likely intend to leverage into a revenue stream.

Building low cost mobile content

09/17/08

Building a Web site for mobile users is - let's face it - a total pain in the $%^*. It won't look much like your regular Web site and it gives you another load of content to manage.

A new take on virtual worlds

09/15/08

Perhaps it is just because I'm old...well, old-ish...but most computer games have never really appealed to me much. It doesn't matter whether it's Tetris or BioShock, they mostly seem overly complex in comparison to the amount of "fun" they deliver, require the reaction time of a cheetah if you are to be successful, demand that you remember a load of otherwise useless information or develop unnatural motor skills, and they always leave me with the feeling that I'm just wasting time.

Roohit highlights and saves Web site clippings

09/10/08

Like you I'm constantly finding interesting and useful stuff on the Web. Sometimes it is just a single sentence, sometimes a paragraph, sometimes a whole page. The problem is how to save and share these clips. Today's focus, Roohit Instant Web Highlighter is potentially one of the more interesting clipping and sharing solutions I've come across.

Get your complaints answered - Here's one satisfied customer

09/08/08

Up until the Internet came along it was fairly easy to keep your customers under control. Unless you were outed by the newspapers or television, the failings and deficiencies of your company were only transmitted by word-of-mouth which limited the spread and level of detail of any complaints or problems. Not so now. Now the slightest rumor about what your company isn't doing right can go viral on the 'Net and before you know it you're fighting raging PR fires and trying to repair the damage.

File transfer for Twitter

09/03/08

The world of Twitter is a subject I have written about several times in this newsletter and in my Network World Gearhead column. The reason for this mini-obsession of mine is that despite all of the service problems and outages that Twitter has experienced over the last few months it remains one of the most addictive social media ever created. Moreover as Twitter also offers a completely functional API that allows third parties to create clients and mashup services that extend and enhance the Twitterverse it has continued to grow in importance as a keystone of social networking.

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Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.