With my recently launched voyages.net site, I spent a considerable amount of time working on the user experience both while users surf the site but also when they leave the site. I really dislike clicking on a link that turns out to a 404 error page and there is nothing to do about it. In this context I set about creating a system that used checking code from ’server to server’ to make sure that the page is responding correctly and then if so send the user there.
Monthly Archive for March, 2006
Hands up, if you like being told what is going to happen during or at the end of a film, tv series, book etc. ??
I just started reading an article on the Guardian about the new Basic Instinct film with Sharon Stone. I’m not even going to link to the article because in about three paragraphs the journalist gives details of the inital plot and carries on to outline where the film goes from there… ???
Continue reading ‘Give me the whole plot of the film in your review, no thanks !’
Although this article from E-commerce Times doesn’t go into great detail about what can be done to protect your computer, it briefly covers some of the new solutions that are appearing.
The article provides more detail about what should scare you enough, so that you invest in new solutions.
Another example of why the Web 2.0 concept is not viable as described by O’reilly. Mainly the “trust your users” is pretty utopian but AdSense is also not a good example of “customer self service”. An article on MediaPost today talks about how the need for investors/advertisers money has pushed MySpace owners into setting up procedures to monitor content. Why ? Advertisers have been extremely reticent to invest money in advertising on pages where the content can invariably be ‘risqué’ and in some cases insulting.
I feel that this is also one of the problems with Google’s Adsense and Kanoodle seems to have figured out. Yet again a Web 2.0 example that just isn’t good in my opinion. There are some things as a content producer you don’t want to see on your site and AdSense/Google just doesn’t seem to care about these concerns. I do not believe AdSense is a good example of “customer self-service” since you cannot choose ‘not’ to display direct competitors’ ads on your own site. With Kanoodle you have more power over what adverts appear on your site. Potential advertisers on MySpace are in a more powerful position and therefore won’t invest their money unless the conditions are appropriate.
The Web 2.0 as described by O’Reilly is just too naive in this concept of letting each and everybody manage content where and how they want. The fact that examples cited seem to be one by one reverting to monitoring procedures that manage this is a pretty good example of how open systems just do not fit average online human behaviour…
I must say when I came across the Wall Street Journal’s article my first reaction was, well yes we do get a good offer for Internet access over here in France. When my sister went to England recently I was looking at the prices for her and I was pretty astonished. I mean there were a few cheap offers but they were often accompanied with small print that indicated that you had a 5 Gig bandwidth limit for example and/or a 128K connection and that was it. No Wifi included and I can remember one offer saying and if you want to share the line it will cost you more.
Continue reading ‘France’s deregulation of the telecommunication market : a model ?’
An article at emarketer presents the findings of a recent study that illustrates how the time women in Europe spend online has increased faster over the last three years than for men. This data may be the indication of an ongoing trend that would in effect lead to a shift where women will be spending more time on line than men…
The article is a very interesting read and also discusses how women use the internet differently that has in turn brought a high increase in the sophistication of medium and technology used by women.
I’ve just got back from a night at the theatre (I was doing the lights and sound). Two plays, one called “Three Sleepless Nights” by Caryl Churchill followed by “Mountain Language” by Harold Pinter. In the first play by Caryl Churchill there is a scene where a woman lying in bed and in despair cuts her wrist(s). On scene I bring the main lights down and shine a spot light on the sheet that has (fake) red blood that can be seen.
I must explain, this is in France, but tonight an older lady started shouting out saying that with all that was going on (i.e. the unrest and strikes I suppose) having this type of thing on display was disgraceful and she wanted her money back!!! She carried on about it for several minutes stopping and starting again with people from the audience asking her to leave / be quiet etc.
A recent study by John Cacioppo from Chicago University illustrates that loneliness can increase “the blood pressure of those nearing retirement age to the same degree as smoking or a sedentary lifestyle”.
The study explained on the New Scientist web site (and nowhere to be found on the Journal of Psychology and Aging web site at this moment!) expands on a previous study and collected data. It indicates that social connections are an important element of the lonely factor and perceived and real social connections are sometimes misleading as are people perceived as outgoing and how isolated they sometimes feel…
I always refer to it as the MP3 fiasco, as far as the music industry is concerned. But unlike when I was a kid, when I burnt myself, and decided I didn’t like it and made sure I avoided the experience in the future, the music industry seems to like it ?!
To top it all they rely on and enforce protection systems that can a) backfire in catastrophic proportions and b) are recognized as being flawed.
If it wasn’t for the fact that we, the users, have to navigate these weird and wonderful traps laid down for us by the music industry it would be quite funny 
As usual I like referring to an old BBC article that states that a majority of people that download music actually buy a lot of CDs. (Hey the BBC site is good they don’t just change all the links when they redo the site, can’t remember when they did that last though).
Having just launched a web site in French about travel (mainly writing articles about it) I was interested to hear about Donald Trump having just launched a travel web site. The fact that Donald has fair amount of money to spend on this type of venture had my expectations high. Well the design is pretty slick but not that original and integration with service providers throughout the site is not really done in what I’d call great harmony but hey ! Looking through at for example hotels and choosing Paris there a two addresses The ‘Four Seasons Hotel George V’ and the ‘The Victoria Palace Hotel’. Funnily enough I attended a conference at the latter and can tell you it looks just as stunning as the photos show it to be. After having looked at this the slogan for the site hit home ‘Travel Trump Style’ which you don’t see straight away if you’re not careful since it is an animated picture in the top left corner. Well at least they didn’t do it with Flash, the easy solution that too many sites opt for and is just ridiculous sometimes when this effect is required…
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