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Pastimes : Computer Learning -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mr.mark who wrote (27906)	6/27/2002 11:53:57 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110603

Gator sued over pop-up ads Thu Jun 27, 7:38 PM ET Stefanie Olsen story.news.yahoo.com A group of publishers this week sued the Gator online advertising network ( news - external web site) in a bid to bar the company from serving pop-up ads on their Web sites without their permission. The suit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, Va. The Washington Post, The New York Times, Dow Jones and seven other publishers allege that Gator's ads violate their copyrights and steal revenue. Redwood City, Calif.-based Gator is "essentially a parasite on the Web that free rides on the hard work and the investments of plaintiffs and other Web site owners," according to the filing. "In short, Gator sells advertising space on the plaintiffs' Web sites without (their) authorization and pockets the profits from such sales." Gator develops software that manages passwords and fills out forms for about 10 million Web surfers, who often download the application unwittingly through other popular file-sharing programs. Also bundled in Gator's software is a program called OfferCompanion, which monitors Web surfing behavior and delivers targeted pop-up ads to viewers. For example, a Web surfer may see an advertisement for Ford Motor--delivered by Gator--while visiting Toyota.com. The lawsuit is the latest legal tussle for Gator. Last year, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) criticized the company for selling banner ads that obscure those sold by online publishers. Gator sued the IAB, alleging "malicious disparagement" over its statements, but the two parties found common ground when Gator agreed to stop selling banner overlays. Earlier this year, catalog retailer L.L. Bean sent Gator a cease-and-desist letter, attempting to stop the company from launching ads on its site. Gator countersued, and a case is still pending in Oregon. The latest suit highlights mounting tension over tactics used by Gator and others. Earlier this year, WeightWatchers.com sued rival DietWatch.com for using Gator to deliver ads to visitors of its site. On June 11, a court granted WeightWatchers a permanent injunction barring DietWatch from serving ads on its site. This week's action charges that Gator violates the publishers' copyright and trademark rights. By delivering unauthorized pop-up ads, Gator is altering the intended display of the work, a right that has been recognized by the Supreme Court, said Terence Ross, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. Gator did not return phone calls for comment. But the company has previously argued that it has the right to display targeted pop-up advertising atop others on Web sites, provided it has the permission of the consumer. Gator has been selling such advertising for more than a year and has accumulated several top-tier advertisers including Target.com. According to Ross, the plaintiffs were stirred to action after the company published marketing material in April essentially promising ad buyers placement on the Web sites of specific publications, including The New York Times. "Indeed, on information and belief, Gator tells prospective advertisers that it is more effective to advertise on a targeted Web site by buying the URL through Gator than actually approaching the Web site owner itself," according to the filing. Ross said the companies went forward with action against Gator because historically, it has been unwilling to discuss its practices with publishers. "Given Gator's history of running to court whenever anyone criticized them, we did not believe that they were willing to discuss this issue in good faith with us," Ross said. The companies are seeking a short-term preliminary injunction against Gator, preventing it from delivering ads keyed to their sites. It is also seeking a permanent injunction against the company and monetary damages for any advertising dollars made from their Web pages.

To: mr.mark who wrote (27906)	7/3/2002 9:52:01 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110603

New NAV defs dated 7/3. This makes great wallpaper: story.news.yahoo.com Happy 4th Everyone!

To: mr.mark who wrote (27906)	8/7/2002 9:46:23 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 110603

I just installed W2K Pro SP3 on a PC I just finished building for a friend's Mom. It's very interesting, 1st off if you choose to backup your current configuration it can be removed. Below Windows Update in the top of the Start Menu it adds "Set program Access and Defaults" where you can set your default browser, email program, instant messaging program, java virtual machine and media player.

To: mr.mark who wrote (27906)	8/7/2002 9:46:24 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110603

I just installed W2K Pro SP3 on a PC I just finished building for a friend's Mom. It's very interesting, 1st off if you choose to backup your current configuration it can be removed. Below Windows Update in the top of the Start Menu it adds "Set program Access and Defaults" where you can set your default browser, email program, instant messaging program, java virtual machine and media player.

To: mr.mark who wrote (27906)	8/14/2002 9:35:10 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110603

E said I wish I'd saved mr. mark's explanation of how they know whether their recipients' addresses are dead, and should thus be deleted from their list, or not. We were discussing email and the fact that a sender can tell whether a piece of mail was opened. I'm curious as to how this works. This was my guess: Actually, I can imagine ways of doing it, particularly if a javascript is sent with the mail. That java can know its owners address, it can get your address (obviously the mail knows where it was sent) and the java can send a reply back to its owner if the mail is opened. So how's it done? TIA.

To: mr.mark who wrote (27906)	9/28/2002 1:32:24 AM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110603

If you need a new hard you'd better grab it fast.... Hard drive makers slice warranties By Richard Shim Special to ZDNet News September 27, 2002, 4:31 AM PT zdnet.com.com Three of the major hard drive makers will cut down the length of warranties on some of their drives, starting Oct. 1, to streamline costs in the low-margin desktop disk storage business. PC makers have been pulling back the warranties on their computers in an effort to reduce costs, and hard drive makers Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital are about to follow suit. The three drive companies, which combined have about 85 percent of the drive market, will alter their warranties from three years to one year. The changes will only be for drives sold for desktop PCs and some consumer-electronics products, which traditionally have one-year warranties or less, according to representatives from all three companies. "We're following the trend in desktop PCs, where they've all switched to one-year warranties," said Stephen DiFranco, vice president of marketing at Maxtor. "This should have no effect on consumers because we hardly ever get returns in the second or third year and it frees up cash that we have to reserve to cover the warranties." The companies will maintain three- to five-year warranties for drives used in large businesses such as banks and companies that keep track of financial transactions. Western Digital will offer extended warranties directly to customers, while Maxtor and Seagate expect retailers to have extended warranty programs for consumers. The move should have little effect on consumers, according to Dave Reinsel, an analyst with research firm IDC. However, the move emphasizes how hard drives are becoming more and more of a commodity as margins become smaller and smaller. "Back when ASPs (average selling prices) were around $175 and margins were around 15 (percent) to 20 percent, those warranties were justified," said Richard Rutledge, vice president of marketing at Western Digital. "But now, with ASPs around $65 to $75 and margins around 12 (percent) to 15 percent, we're no longer able to afford to provide that as a standard feature." It may not even matter to consumers that warranties are shorter; it would simply make more of component warranties on part with one another, Reinsel said. "More than 50 percent of failures occur in the first 90 days of a product's use and even then that rate is less than 0.8 percent," Reinsel said. "This move is yet another lever (for manufacturers) to improve their bottom line...there is no degradation in quality; if anything, reliability keeps going up as the manufacturing process matures." The only consumers who may be affected are those who buy drives in retail or after they buy a PC. Those consumers will have a shorter warranty period, but Reinsel estimates that market is comparatively small to drives sold with PCs. More than 37.5 million desktop drives were sold in the second quarter and about 1 million were in the retail category. The warranty changes come as hard drives are finding their way into a broader range of devices, such as digital video recorders and game consoles. However, consumer-electronics devices are expected to account for less than 10 percent of worldwide hard drive shipments in 2002, according to market researcher IDC. Changing the warranty was something all the manufacturers wanted to do, but no one wanted to be first, Rutledge said. "We were all basically playing chicken to see who went first," Rutledge said. "Maxtor took a leadership position...and we're supporting it." The desktop hard drive business is one where profits are lean, if present at all, and some, such as Fujitsu, have jumped out of the space opting to concentrate on server or notebook hard drives, where margins are better. Seagate went back to being a private company after it was bought by Veritas Software and an investment group for a $20 billion deal in 2000. At the time, slim margins and intense competition had decimated profits for Seagate. The highly competitive desktop hard drive industry has not changed much. "Prices continue to go down and this change in warranties is a response to the competitive nature of the market," Maxtor's DiFranco said. "We were giving customers something we couldn't afford," Rutledge said.