First my read on the commercial area more fully,yes,advertisers would pay Big Bucks for streaming audio/video commercials on simply clicking a web-site IF they believed internet users would not rebel against such tactics and actually get negative marketing results---advertisers may reject the idea as negative sales approach.
Now here is the only article I can find in print thus far on one of their present products,however it is a review of the WebZinger4.0 and not the forth coming WebZinger6.0
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Reviews
Software
Slick Surfers Help You Find What You Want
Amy Helen Johnson
05/01/98
Windows Magazine
Page 122
Copyright 1998 CMP Publications Inc.
To navigate the vast storehouse of information on the Web, you need an
efficient search method. I looked at two products- ImaginOn 's
WebZinger 4.0 and Zurf's ZurfRider 1.0-that attempt to cull relevant sites
from a search result. Each uses a different approach; neither beats our
current WinList resident, WebCompass.
WebZinger 4.0
WebZinger seeks to present enough information about a Web page so
you can determine whether it contains the content you need. Ultimately,
you could just browse the page itself, but that's a time-consuming
process. And it can be confusing to constantly switch between results
pages and actual sites. WebZinger downloads content to your hard disk
and presents it in the form of a rotating slide show of all matching sites.
The beta version I tested proved a quick and convenient solution, namely
because the folks at ImaginOn didn't get too ambitious-they limited the
download to the first chunk of text and the first graphic. That means you
might get mysterious text such as the HTML tags AltaVista presents in
the description field, but, on the whole, the combination of the two
elements (plus the page's title) gives you a pretty good idea of what to
expect.
WebZinger gives you some control over the search process. You can
limit the size of the graphics, limit the time spent searching (which is one of
the major limitations of bot programs like Autonomy) and indicate where
to start searching (WebZinger requires a starting site for its Web
peregrinations).
However, I was disappointed that WebZinger lacks a method for
highlighting an entry on its results list. That would enable you to create a
subset of sites to investigate further. Instead, you have to pause the slide
show to visit one that catches your eye. In addition, the slide-show
metaphor goes a bit too far, using terms like playback and pause, which
makes the interface slightly awkward.
ZurfRider 1.0
ZurfRider takes a different approach to locating relevant data on the
Web. It submits a query to multiple search engines, merges the results
and throws out duplicates. In this way, it resembles WebCompass, but
the program also has a few tricks up its sleeve.
Before it presents its results, ZurfRider validates the links it presents (this
is an option), and arranges the sites in categories. This latter capability
mostly worked well, but I did see duplicate categories. For instance,
ZurfRider included "snowboard lessons" and "lessons, snowboard." It
also fared poorly under my Java test. With "java" as a search term, it
returned sites and categories related to the programming language and
made no mention of the island or coffee. An extra search term would
have solved the problem, but the need to do so is a missed opportunity
for ZurfRider to exercise its categorization abilities.
ZurfRider's greatest feature is its detailed refinement scheme, which lets
you quickly narrow your search. It asks you to enable or disable certain
search terms, types of sites and physical location, among other
properties. However, I could not reverse the search refinement process;
once I began to narrow my search, I had to reinitiate it in order to restore
terms.
Slick searches
WebCompass 2.0 remains on our WinList because it has the best overall
combination of features. It accesses numerous search engines,
summarizes the contents of the pages it finds and lets you organize your
results in a manner that makes sense to you. I liked WebZinger's ability to
preview sites, but I disliked its interface limitations. ZurfRider is a
well-designed program that comes close to competing with
WebCompass, but its failure to find the numerous meanings for Java
made me doubt the breadth of its queries.
--Quick View--
WebZinger 4.0
Bottom Line: Helps you sort through search results quickly by displaying
the first chunks of text and graphics
Price: $44.95
Platforms: 95
Pros: Gives you a good idea of whether the site is what you want; works
pretty fast
Cons: Slightly awkward interface; can't create a subset of the list
Strongest Rival: WebCompass 2.0
ImaginOn , 650-596-9300, fax 650-596-9350. Winfo #839
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