Google is taking a lot of heat over its plan

Google is taking a lot of heat over its plan to digitize millions of books and make them available online. The search giant reached an agreement with two groups representing a large number of publishers and authors last year, but the court overseeing the case has not yet given its blessing. In the meantime, there's been a flurry of legal activity from other parties that object to the deal.Success is just a matter of knowing the right "secrets." Download the free eBook, "The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales." You will discover the fastest, most effective ways to grow your business and still have time to live your life. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has proposed modifying its proposed digital books deal with publishers and authors in an effort to tamp down growing opposition to the project. The changes would limit the number of out-of-print books it places online.Industry groups were given a venue to complain about the proposed agreement at a hearing sponsored by the European Commission on Monday. Critics of the agreement -- which still must be approved by a U.S. District Court judge -- worry about creating an even more monopolistic Google.Google Books is an ambitious undertaking to digitize millions of books, ranging from works that are still under copyright and in circulation to many that are out of copyright or out of print.About three years ago, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Authors Guild filed a class action lawsuit to stop Google's book-scanning project and get compensation for copyright holders.
Settlement May Not Fly
Under the terms of an agreement negotiated with the two groups last year, Google promised to establish a database that would let authors register their works, approve their licensing through Google, and collect royalties.Storm clouds have been gathering over the proposal, however, largely because the AAP and the Authors Guild do not represent all rights holders who might be affected by Google's project.Also, there are anticompetitive and privacy issues at stake, according to the Department of Justice, which launched an inquiry into the agreement at the beginning of the year.More recently, a troika of Web giants -- Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) , Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) -- came out against the agreement, throwing their considerable weight behind the Open Book Alliance.The OBA filed an amicus curiae brief in opposition to the proposed settlement last week.The Justice Department will reveal on Sept. 18 whether it believes the deal would violate U.S. antitrust laws.
Europe Steps In
Google has been targeted by similar protests from the European Commission -- a staunch defender of privacy rights and marketplace competition.Google reportedly has addressed protests lodged by the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace by promising to limit the out-of-print books it will make available, according to news accounts.Google did not return the E-Commerce Times' call requesting comment in time for publication.Google will likely receive a head start in the digital book space if this agreement goes through as negotiated, Ryan Radia, an analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the E-Commerce Times. "However the fact remains that it hasn't sold a single book under the project, whereas Amazon's Kindle has sold millions by now."There are privacy concerns -- such as gaining access to a person's reading choices -- and possibly law enforcement issues as well, Radia noted.Giving Google the rights to a huge number of out-of-print books is another area of contention under established law, he said.Google would, for a time, be the only entity holding those rights, Radia pointed out.However, it is the system that extends copyrights for so long that is ultimately at fault, he maintained."It can be difficult to find rights holders for a lot of works that may have been published decades ago," said Radia. "If copyright terms weren't so long, we wouldn't have such a big problem right now with the huge number of orphan works," he said, which he placed in the Google is taking a lot of heat over its plan to digitize millions of books and make them available online. The search giant reached an agreement with two groups representing a large number of publishers and authors last year, but the court overseeing the case has not yet given its blessing. In the meantime, there's been a flurry of legal activity from other parties that object to the deal.Success is just a matter of knowing the right "secrets." Download the free eBook, "The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales." You will discover the fastest, most effective ways to grow your business and still have time to live your life. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has proposed modifying its proposed digital books deal with publishers and authors in an effort to tamp down growing opposition to the project. The changes would limit the number of out-of-print books it places online.Industry groups were given a venue to complain about the proposed agreement at a hearing sponsored by the European Commission on Monday. Critics of the agreement -- which still must be approved by a U.S. District Court judge -- worry about creating an even more monopolistic Google.Google Books is an ambitious undertaking to digitize millions of books, ranging from works that are still under copyright and in circulation to many that are out of copyright or out of print.About three years ago, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Authors Guild filed a class action lawsuit to stop Google's book-scanning project and get compensation for copyright holders.
Settlement May Not Fly
Under the terms of an agreement negotiated with the two groups last year, Google promised to establish a database that would let authors register their works, approve their licensing through Google, and collect royalties.Storm clouds have been gathering over the proposal, however, largely because the AAP and the Authors Guild do not represent all rights holders who might be affected by Google's project.Also, there are anticompetitive and privacy issues at stake, according to the Department of Justice, which launched an inquiry into the agreement at the beginning of the year.More recently, a troika of Web giants -- Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) , Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) -- came out against the agreement, throwing their considerable weight behind the Open Book Alliance.The OBA filed an amicus curiae brief in opposition to the proposed settlement last week.The Justice Department will reveal on Sept. 18 whether it believes the deal would violate U.S. antitrust laws. Europe Steps In Google has been targeted by similar protests from the European Commission -- a staunch defender of privacy rights and marketplace competition.Google reportedly has addressed protests lodged by the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace by promising to limit the out-of-print books it will make available, according to news accounts.Google did not return the E-Commerce Times' call requesting comment in time for publication.Google will likely receive a head start in the digital book space if this agreement goes through as negotiated, Ryan Radia, an analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the E-Commerce Times. "However the fact remains that it hasn't sold a single book under the project, whereas Amazon's Kindle has sold millions by now."There are privacy concerns -- such as gaining access to a person's reading choices -- and possibly law enforcement issues as well, Radia noted.Giving Google the rights to a huge number of out-of-print books is another area of contention under established law, he said.Google would, for a time, be the only entity holding those rights, Radia pointed out.However, it is the system that extends copyrights for so long that is ultimately at fault, he maintained."It can be difficult to find rights holders for a lot of works that may have been published decades ago," said Radia. "If copyright terms weren't so long, we wouldn't have such a big problem right now with the huge number of orphan works," he said, which he placed in the

This Forrester Research white paper

Leon Hill sells social connections. His company, uSocial, will populate a business' or individual's Facebook account with hundreds or thousands of new friends -- all real people, apparently -- for a few hundred bucks. Facebook and other social media sites frown on the practice, but Hill says his company just does what businesses themselves could do if they wanted to spend the time.Akamai understands that customers want custom content -- and they want it fast. This Forrester Research white paper uncovers critical measures that can ensure a rich and responsive experience coupled with dynamic content, all without sacrificing page-loading speed. Download your copy today. On Facebook , most people make friends the old-fashioned way -- by sending a request to be added to someone's posse of pals. Now, an Australian marketing company hopes to save you time and energy by simply buying you a few thousand buddies.The service from uSocial is mostly meant for businesses, celebrities and other individuals looking to expand on the social network, and Facebook isn't happy about it.Under the service, which launched this week, 1,000 new Facebook friends cost less than US$200. For 5,000 Facebook friends -- the maximum allowed by that site -- uSocial charges $727, though through mid-September, the promotional rate is $654.30. The service can also help companies accumulate fans -- Facebook-speak for the users who acknowledge liking a person, business or idea on the site
Buzzy Buddies
Leon Hill, the 24-year-old founder of Brisbane, Australia-based uSocial, said businesses and other clients are essentially buying a base of potential customers.
"We are getting, basically, targeted friends and fans who are saying, 'Yes, I want information on this,'" Hill said in a phone interview, adding that friends and fans can always change their minds and sever ties whenever they want. He said businesses are interested in his service because they are realizing that social media Web sites can help generate buzz more quickly, cheaply and effectively than online ads and more traditional types of advertising. Hill said friends are all gathered manually. USocial logs in to a client's Facebook profile or creates a new one. It seeks out people who would be a good fit -- like car buffs if uSocial is trying to promote a specialty auto-parts company -- and sends them friends requests tailored to that business. The requests don't mention that uSocial is working on behalf of the business. The process for getting fans is similar, except uSocial does not need to log in to a client's profile. Because all that is done manually, Hill doesn't consider it spamming. He also said potential friends aren't getting anything in return for adding a client -- he wants people interested in the company rather than a freebie. Frowny Facebook Hill said that as far as he could tell, he's not violating Facebook's terms of service -- something with which Facebook disagrees. Facebook spokesperson Barry Schnitt said that giving anyone else access to your Facebook account goes against the site's policies, as it makes Facebook less secure. Sending out friend requests on behalf of others is also unacceptable, he said. Beyond that, Schnitt said uSocial detracts from Facebook's efforts to foster a culture of authenticity. "Buying and selling of actions that are supposed to be taken by a user are certainly, we would argue, not authentic," Schnitt said. Palo Alto-based Facebook is investigating uSocial's practices, and Schnitt said any Facebook users found sharing their passwords with third parties could have their accounts permanently disabled. This is not the first time uSocial has tried to help businesses up their visibility on social Web sites. Four months ago, it began offering a similar service on the online-messaging site Twitter , which did not respond to multiple e-mail requests from The Associated Press for comment. Shady Society Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at research firm eMarketer, said uSocial's practices seem part shady, part effective for companies to increase their social-media presence very quickly. However, she warns uSocial's tactics could irritate a lot of Facebook users -- and a company's potential customers -- if the targeting isn't done properly. Hill started uSocial in December 2008 by selling votes on news aggregator site Digg.com. For nearly $100, uSocial would vote 100 times on Digg's site for any story chosen by the client, raising its position on the site and gaining exposure. Clients could pay up to about $700 for 1,000 votes, Hill said. In this case, uSocial was using software to vote, Hill said.
He said Digg ultimately ordered him to stop, saying uSocial was breaching the site's policies. He halted the Digg service a few months later, saying he had too many clients to keep up with demand. He said he will eventually relaunch it with better software for automated voting. Digg declined comment. Hill would not name any clients currently using uSocial on Facebook or Twitter, but said Korea's tourism department used its Digg services, as did a Mormon organization he couldn't immediately name. A spokesperson for the Korean consulate's office in San Francisco had no immediate comment, while Morman church officials in Salt Lake City said they were not involved. "I do understand that there are people that have a problem with what I'm doing," he said. However, he justified the service by saying, "we're really only doing for our clients what they could do in their own time if they put their minds to it." Leon Hill sells social connections. His company, uSocial, will populate a business' or individual's Facebook account with hundreds or thousands of new friends -- all real people, apparently -- for a few hundred bucks. Facebook and other social media sites frown on the practice, but Hill says his company just does what businesses themselves could do if they wanted to spend the time. Akamai understands that customers want custom content -- and they want it fast. This Forrester Research white paper uncovers critical measures that can ensure a rich and responsive experience coupled with dynamic content, all without sacrificing page-loading speed. Download your copy today. On Facebook , most people make friends the old-fashioned way -- by sending a request to be added to someone's posse of pals. Now, an Australian marketing company hopes to save you time and energy by simply buying you a few thousand buddies. The service from uSocial is mostly meant for businesses, celebrities and other individuals looking to expand on the social network, and Facebook isn't happy about it. Under the service, which launched this week, 1,000 new Facebook friends cost less than US$200. For 5,000 Facebook friends -- the maximum allowed by that site -- uSocial charges $727, though through mid-September, the promotional rate is $654.30. The service can also help companies accumulate fans -- Facebook-speak for the users who acknowledge liking a person, business or idea on the site.
Buzzy Buddies
Leon Hill, the 24-year-old founder of Brisbane, Australia-based uSocial, said businesses and other clients are essentially buying a base of potential customers.
"We are getting, basically, targeted friends and fans who are saying, 'Yes, I want information on this,'" Hill said in a phone interview, adding that friends and fans can always change their minds and sever ties whenever they want. He said businesses are interested in his service because they are realizing that social media Web sites can help generate buzz more quickly, cheaply and effectively than online ads and more traditional types of advertising. Hill said friends are all gathered manually. USocial logs in to a client's Facebook profile or creates a new one. It seeks out people who would be a good fit -- like car buffs if uSocial is trying to promote a specialty auto-parts company -- and sends them friends requests tailored to that business. The requests don't mention that uSocial is working on behalf of the business. The process for getting fans is similar, except uSocial does not need to log in to a client's profile. Because all that is done manually, Hill doesn't consider it spamming. He also said potential friends aren't getting anything in return for adding a client -- he wants people interested in the company rather than a freebie. Frowny Facebook Hill said that as far as he could tell, he's not violating Facebook's terms of service -- something with which Facebook disagrees. Facebook spokesperson Barry Schnitt said that giving anyone else access to your Facebook account goes against the site's policies, as it makes Facebook less secure. Sending out friend requests on behalf of others is also unacceptable, he said. Beyond that, Schnitt said uSocial detracts from Facebook's efforts to foster a culture of authenticity. "Buying and selling of actions that are supposed to be taken by a user are certainly, we would argue, not authentic," Schnitt said. Palo Alto-based Facebook is investigating uSocial's practices, and Schnitt said any Facebook users found sharing their passwords with third parties could have their accounts permanently disabled. This is not the first time uSocial has tried to help businesses up their visibility on social Web sites. Four months ago, it began offering a similar service on the online-messaging site Twitter , which did not respond to multiple e-mail requests from The Associated Press for comment.
Shady Society
Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at research firm eMarketer, said uSocial's practices seem part shady, part effective for companies to increase their social-media presence very quickly. However, she warns uSocial's tactics could irritate a lot of Facebook users -- and a company's potential customers -- if the targeting isn't done properly. Hill started uSocial in December 2008 by selling votes on news aggregator site Digg.com. For nearly $100, uSocial would vote 100 times on Digg's site for any story chosen by the client, raising its position on the site and gaining exposure. Clients could pay up to about $700 for 1,000 votes, Hill said. In this case, uSocial was using software to vote, Hill said. He said Digg ultimately ordered him to stop, saying uSocial was breaching the site's policies. He halted the Digg service a few months later, saying he had too many clients to keep up with demand. He said he will eventually relaunch it with better software for automated voting. Digg declined comment. Hill would not name any clients currently using uSocial on Facebook or Twitter, but said Korea's tourism department used its Digg services, as did a Mormon organization he couldn't immediately name. A spokesperson for the Korean consulate's office in San Francisco had no immediate comment, while Morman church officials in Salt Lake City said they were not involved. "I do understand that there are people that have a problem with what I'm doing," he said. However, he justified the service by saying, "we're really only doing for our clients what they could do in their own time if they put their minds to it."

Social media is all about being social

Akamai understands that customers want custom content -- and they want it fast. This Forrester Research white paper uncovers critical measures that can ensure a rich and responsive experience coupled with dynamic content, all without sacrificing page-loading speed. Download your copy today. People around the world interact with Alecia Dantico all day. Usually, though, they don't know whether she's young or old, male or female.What her followers on Facebook and Twitter know is that's she's a friendly, sometimes sassy, blue and gold tin of Garrett Popcorn. That's the icon of the popular Chicago-based snack food that has tourists and locals lining up around the block at locations in the Windy City and in New York City.When Dantico sends out a "virtual tin" of popcorn to a fan over Twitter, she's breaking new ground in the way companies market themselves, joining a growing number of social media experts hired to man Twitter, Facebook and similar sites."My day starts on Twitter and it doesn't really end," Dantico says. She keeps her BlackBerry on at all hours to respond to followers in different time zones. "It's driving my family crazy, but that's OK." Twitter Duty Multinational corporations, such as Ford Motor (NYSE: F) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) , are beginning to use social media to increase positive sentiment, build customer rapport and correct misinformation, says Adam Brown, Coca-Cola's Atlanta-based director of social media."Having the world's most-recognized brand, we feel like there's an obligation or a responsibility when people are talking about us, we have a duty to respond," Brown says.Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) riled up the social-media world earlier this summer with a job posting for a senior manager of emerging media marketing . One of the job requirements, as originally posted, called for applicants to have more than 250 followers on Twitter. (When that caused an online backlash, the electronics retailer opened the process of crafting a job description to the public.)Dantico, who is getting a doctorate in communications with an emphasis in building brand identity in online communities, says she has seen an uptick in sales when she's tweeted from events since joining the company in June."I really believe in the power of conversation in social media," she says. "Some days we talk about the weather. Some days we talk about the 'Chicken Dance.' Some days we talk about recipes and parties and shipping Garretts to Cabo for a wedding."She mentions popcorn in her Tweets, and has helped customers secure tins for special events, but never implores followers to go out and buy some. Successful selling through social media is much more subtle."Social media is all about being social," says Nora Ganim Barnes, a marketing professor and director for the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "It's not called selling media. The biggest mistake companies make is using social media to hawk products. It's a turnoff."
Large Fortune 500 companies have been the slowest to adopt social media strategies, Ganim Barnes says. But not-for-profit organizations have been the fastest."It's free," she says, "and they've never had such access to media before."
Timing Is Everything Recent research by Ganim Barnes and colleagues, though, points to a rapidly growing familiarity with social media, even among the world's biggest brands."It's bigger than Twitter, MySpace , Facebook or blogs," she says. "It's about engaging people."The lightning-fast pace of social media, and Twitter in particular, has forced businesses to act in a whole new way, says Coca-Cola's Brown."If you don't respond within three or four hours, you might as well not respond at all," he says.For example, a man on Twitter recently expressed annoyance at his difficulty in claiming an all-expenses paid trip he'd won through the My Coke Rewards program. He tweeted, " Coca-Cola, bring down your drawbridge," Brown recalls. Within about half an hour, Brown had engaged the customer on Twitter, got on the phone with him and resolved the problem.Not long after, the man changed his Twitter avatar to a can of Coke Zero.Like Brown, Scott Monty is working to create a social-media strategy for his company, Ford Motor, where he serves as digital and multimedia communications manager in Dearborn, Mich."The beautiful thing about sites like Twitter and Facebook is that it's a one-to-one conversation," Monty says. "You're addressing whoever wrote the original comment -- but you're doing it in the public square."Whether your business is large or small, Monty advises those interested in expanding to social media to stand back and listen before diving in."It's not the typical one-way push kind of conversation," Monty says. "You wouldn't burst into a cocktail party and just start handing your business card to people and leave. The online space is no different."Dantico, with Garrett Popcorn, says she responds every time someone mentions her company on Twitter, whether it's positive or negative. And if one of her followers posts about having a bad day, it's not unusual for Garrett Popcorn to send over some treats."Popcorn is fun. My brand is fun," she says. "The conversations were already happening. My job was just to join them. This is the best job in the world." Akamai understands that customers want custom content -- and they want it fast. This Forrester Research white paper uncovers critical measures that can ensure a rich and responsive experience coupled with dynamic content, all without sacrificing page-loading speed. Download your copy today.
People around the world interact with Alecia Dantico all day. Usually, though, they don't know whether she's young or old, male or female.What her followers on Facebook and Twitter know is that's she's a friendly, sometimes sassy, blue and gold tin of Garrett Popcorn. That's the icon of the popular Chicago-based snack food that has tourists and locals lining up around the block at locations in the Windy City and in New York City.When Dantico sends out a "virtual tin" of popcorn to a fan over Twitter, she's breaking new ground in the way companies market themselves, joining a growing number of social media experts hired to man Twitter, Facebook and similar sites."My day starts on Twitter and it doesn't really end," Dantico says. She keeps her BlackBerry on at all hours to respond to followers in different time zones. "It's driving my family crazy, but that's OK." Twitter Duty Multinational corporations, such as Ford Motor (NYSE: F) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) , are beginning to use social media to increase positive sentiment, build customer rapport and correct misinformation, says Adam Brown, Coca-Cola's Atlanta-based director of social media."Having the world's most-recognized brand, we feel like there's an obligation or a responsibility when people are talking about us, we have a duty to respond," Brown says.Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) riled up the social-media world earlier this summer with a job posting for a senior manager of emerging media marketing . One of the job requirements, as originally posted, called for applicants to have more than 250 followers on Twitter. (When that caused an online backlash, the electronics retailer opened the process of crafting a job description to the public.)Dantico, who is getting a doctorate in communications with an emphasis in building brand identity in online communities, says she has seen an uptick in sales when she's tweeted from events since joining the company in June."I really believe in the power of conversation in social media," she says. "Some days we talk about the weather. Some days we talk about the 'Chicken Dance.' Some days we talk about recipes and parties and shipping Garretts to Cabo for a wedding."She mentions popcorn in her Tweets, and has helped customers secure tins for special events, but never implores followers to go out and buy some. Successful selling through social media is much more subtle."Social media is all about being social," says Nora Ganim Barnes, a marketing professor and director for the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "It's not called selling media. The biggest mistake companies make is using social media to hawk products. It's a turnoff."Large Fortune 500 companies have been the slowest to adopt social media strategies, Ganim Barnes says. But not-for-profit organizations have been the fastest."It's free," she says, "and they've never had such access to media before." Timing Is Everything Recent research by Ganim Barnes and colleagues, though, points to a rapidly growing familiarity with social media, even among the world's biggest brands."It's bigger than Twitter, MySpace , Facebook or blogs," she says. "It's about engaging people."The lightning-fast pace of social media, and Twitter in particular, has forced businesses to act in a whole new way, says Coca-Cola's Brown."If you don't respond within three or four hours, you might as well not respond at all," he says.For example, a man on Twitter recently expressed annoyance at his difficulty in claiming an all-expenses paid trip he'd won through the My Coke Rewards program. He tweeted, " Coca-Cola, bring down your drawbridge," Brown recalls. Within about half an hour, Brown had engaged the customer on Twitter, got on the phone with him and resolved the problem.Not long after, the man changed his Twitter avatar to a can of Coke Zero.
Like Brown, Scott Monty is working to create a social-media strategy for his company, Ford Motor, where he serves as digital and multimedia communications manager in Dearborn, Mich."The beautiful thing about sites like Twitter and Facebook is that it's a one-to-one conversation," Monty says. "You're addressing whoever wrote the original comment -- but you're doing it in the public square."
Whether your business is large or small, Monty advises those interested in expanding to social media to stand back and listen before diving in."It's not the typical one-way push kind of conversation," Monty says. "You wouldn't burst into a cocktail party and just start handing your business card to people and leave. The online space is no different."Dantico, with Garrett Popcorn, says she responds every time someone mentions her company on Twitter, whether it's positive or negative. And if one of her followers posts about having a bad day, it's not unusual for Garrett Popcorn to send over some treats."Popcorn is fun. My brand is fun," she says. "The conversations were already happening. My job was just to join them. This is the best job in the world."

Expedia's streamlined site does have its disadvantages

In this second installment in the E-Commerce Times' series on travel-planning Web sites, we review the strengths and weaknesses of Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) , a top aggregator.My first impression of the site -- one that I used to frequent but haven't visited in at least a year -- is that its design is refreshingly straightforward: a three-column layout relatively uncluttered with self-promotion. Not that it's completely devoid of such ads. (Note to Web designers: Most people don't care if you have "More Hotels in More Destinations." We'd prefer some easy-on-the eyes white space).Expedia's streamlined site does have its disadvantages, though. I don't see where to sign up for flight status alerts, for example, or how to find out about baggage fees the airline will charge -- both options are available on Travelocity . The vacation package section on the Expedia page doesn't seem to be as robust either, although it does have a fun feature -- vacations by theme, including "mountain" and "world heritage" options. I decided to drop on Expedia the mother of online travel challenges: a last-minute ticket purchase to Gulfport, a small town in Mississippi. Why this trek to a one-time fishing village? It's now a pretty resort town on the Gulf Coast, boasting a number of casinos and -- more to the point for me -- a nearby retirement community where my mom lives.The airport is very small and not exactly a must-have destination for airlines. By "small," I mean I give my mom my arrival time but never bother mentioning what airline I'm flying because we can spot each other across the room. Yes, it's a room.I've been visiting Gulfport by car for the last year, so it's been a while since I've priced tickets on this route. I opt for an immediate flight -- one that is leaving in four days with a return two days later. Decent Prices I am pleasantly surprised to see flights reasonably priced -- all under US$300 -- and a decent selection of options, although nothing close to what you would see for a major city.For the first leg of the trip, I opt for Delta flight 1879 from Baltimore Washington International to Atlanta.As I continue to book my surprisingly cheap seat, considering the circumstances, Expedia spells out what my final price will be as I make my purchase -- a touch I appreciate. For instance, a 4:25 departure on September 16 costs $270 without taxes and fees. Granted, the $270 is highlighted, and it's the first price the eye moves to on the screen. Next to it, however -- and large enough to see without squinting -- is the information that an additional $30.90 will be added in taxes and fees for a total of $300.90.
I am also presented with the option of selecting my seat, another value-add feature I like. The second leg of the flight will be on a commuter plane, and the further up front I am, the happier I will be. This particular option is provided on the Seat Guru platform, a Trip Advisor service.
Alas, Seat Guru informs me that only a few seats are available, none of which look comfortable. 6D is a window seat, it points out -- unnecessarily, as it also offers a graphic -- and "windows seats can feel very cramped." Sidetracked by an Ad As I go to pay, I am sidetracked by an alluring ad for a City PremierPass credit card ("the bestcard for travel rewards" according to Expedia and Smart Money magazine). I don't really want or need another credit card, and perhaps the advertiser understands that my initial reaction is a common sentiment these days. The ad has been personalized for my trip; I can pay $201 instead of $301 if I apply now! The gimmick works, and I click through to investigate. The terms are good -- 0 percent APR for six months -- but given the upheaval in the credit card industry right now, I doubt that even Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke could qualify for the best rate.I then go on to navigate my way through the myriad value-add purchases Expedia would like me to make before I pay for my ticket. Some are interesting enough that I don't automatically relegate them to wallpaper status. There is a Travel & Leisure magazine subscription for $1; there's a dinner at Hard Rock Cafe in nearby Biloxi for $20.I can also pay for preflight airport parking at BWI on this page -- a very handy item I have never noticed on other sites.The offers work -- my repriced total is $334.90.Bottom line for Expedia: It's streamlined -- maybe a tad too much if you're using the site as a starting point to build a dream vacation. When it does bombard users with promotions, though, it seems to be smart about i

Google is throwing conciliatory gestures at the wall in an effort to preserve an agreement that would let it digitize millions of books, but so far, none seems to be sticking. The head of the U.S. Copyright Office is the latest to stand in opposition to the deal between Google and two groups representing authors and publishers. Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo and many others also object.Think you have to compromise on security to save on costs? Think Again. Trend Micro™ Enterprise Security, powered by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network™, can lower your content security management costs by up to 40%. Find out just how much you’ll save with our TCO Impact Calculator. The top U.S. copyright official has joined mounting opposition to a class-action settlement that would give Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books. Her objections cast further doubt on whether the agreement will be allowed by a federal court, even as Google offered a concession Thursday aimed at smoothing the way for approval. Parts of the settlement are "fundamentally at odds with the law," Marybeth Peters, head of the U.S. Copyright Office, testified in a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday that was webcast. She also expressed concerns that the settlement would undermine Congress' ability to govern copyrights and could have "serious international implications" for books published outside the United States. Peters can't block Google's settlement with U.S. authors and publishers. That decision rests with U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, who has scheduled an Oct. 7 hearing in New York to review the settlement. However, Peters' conclusions will likely be drawn upon as critics of the deal try to convince Chin that the settlement shouldn't be approved, said Peter Brantley, director of access for the Internet Archive. The archive has joined forces with Google rivals Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) , Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) to lead the charge against the book settlement. New Life for Old Books It's unclear how the copyright office's opinion might influence the U.S. Department of Justice, which is investigating whether the settlement would hurt competition in the growing market for digital books. The Justice Department is expected to share some of its findings with Chin in documents scheduled to be filed by Sept. 18. At issue are Google's plans to scan millions of books, make them searchable online, and sell subscriptions to libraries and individual copies to consumers. Google says this will revitalize works that might otherwise be long forgotten. The US$125 million settlement emerged last year after trade groups representing publishers and authors sued Google for copyright infringement. Google says it has made digital copies of more than 10 million books during the past five years, including about 2 million titles that are no longer covered by copyright and another 2 million titles that were indexed after copyright holders gave their explicit permission. The rest are out of print but still protected by copyrights. In its testimony to the congressional committee, Google reiterated its claim that the settlement will make literature and research more widely available while promoting competition in the digital book market.
A long list of supporters, including major libraries, disabled rights activists, technology groups, economics professors and lawyers, are endorsing the settlement for similar reasons. Some of them testified at Thursday's hearing.
Third-Party Sales Google also tried to address the concerns that it will gain a stranglehold on the digital rights to millions of books. Hoping to ease this criticism, Google said Thursday it will allow Amazon and other online retailers to sell its digital copies of out-of-print books covered by the settlement. Competitors drawing upon Google's digital library of books would be allowed to keep most of the revenue left from the sales after authors and publishers get their shares. "We believe strongly in an open and competitive market for digital books," said David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer. However, Brantley of the Internet Archive said Google's concession isn't much of a sacrifice. That's because Google would still be in control of the digital index, giving it access to potentially valuable data on how users interact with it. Google also would still be the only entity that could sell out-of-print books that aren't claimed by the copyright owners. The control means Google would still be able to set the prices on millions of books, Brantley said. "Google would still be a monopoly provider," Brantley said in a phone interview. "None of our objections have gone away." Other opponents of the settlement fear it will make it easier to track the books people are reading. Google says it would address that by drawing up a separate privacy policy to govern the information it collects through its digital library. Open-Ended, Opt-Out Terms Rep. John Conyers Jr., the Judiciary Committee's chairman, was among several lawmakers on the panel who indicated they think Chin should approve the settlement. "Google is in this position not because they engaged in predatory or anticompetitive behavior, but because they have built a better mousetrap in the view of the mousetrap purchaser," said Conyers, D-Michigan. Peters' misgivings about the settlement are focused on its definitions of what constitutes an out-of-print book. Google would have broad power to sell titles falling in this category without the explicit permission of a copyright holder, she said. "The so-called settlement would create mechanisms by which Google could continue to scan with impunity, well into the future, and to our great surprise, create yet additional commercial products without the prior consent of rights holders," Peters wrote in a more comprehensive written statement submitted to the Judiciary Committee.
Peters was particularly troubled by provisions that would empower Google to make digital copies of all books published by Jan. 5, 2009, with no set deadline on completing the task. Google loses the digital rights to the books covered in the settlement only if a copyright holder opts out of the deal. The open-ended nature of the settlement is "tantamount to creating a private compulsory license," Peters wrote, something she believes could circumvent the authority of Congress. © 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved.© 2009 ECT News Network. All rights reserved. Print Version E-Mail Article Reprints SHARETHIS.Talkback: Be the first to comment on this story. Next Article in E-Commerce Expedia Is Spare but SavvySeptember 11, 2009 Expedia is mercifully devoid of the visual ad bombardment typical of many travel Web sites, but in an effort to be sleek, it seems to leave out some user-friendly features. Or perhaps it just keeps them well hidden. Ads do turn up at opportune moments, though, and the ones I encountered were personalized to the point of irresistibilityGoogle is throwing conciliatory gestures at the wall in an effort to preserve an agreement that would let it digitize millions of books, but so far, none seems to be sticking. The head of the U.S. Copyright Office is the latest to stand in opposition to the deal between Google and two groups representing authors and publishers. Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo and many others also object. Think you have to compromise on security to save on costs? Think Again. Trend Micro™ Enterprise Security, powered by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network™, can lower your content security management costs by up to 40%. Find out just how much you’ll save with our TCO Impact Calculator. The top U.S. copyright official has joined mounting opposition to a class-action settlement that would give Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books. Her objections cast further doubt on whether the agreement will be allowed by a federal court, even as Google offered a concession Thursday aimed at smoothing the way for approval. Parts of the settlement are "fundamentally at odds with the law," Marybeth Peters, head of the U.S. Copyright Office, testified in a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday that was webcast. She also expressed concerns that the settlement would undermine Congress' ability to govern copyrights and could have "serious international implications" for books published outside the United States. Peters can't block Google's settlement with U.S. authors and publishers. That decision rests with U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, who has scheduled an Oct. 7 hearing in New York to review the settlement. However, Peters' conclusions will likely be drawn upon as critics of the deal try to convince Chin that the settlement shouldn't be approved, said Peter Brantley, director of access for the Internet Archive. The archive has joined forces with Google rivals Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) , Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) to lead the charge against the book settlement. New Life for Old Books It's unclear how the copyright office's opinion might influence the U.S. Department of Justice, which is investigating whether the settlement would hurt competition in the growing market for digital books. The Justice Department is expected to share some of its findings with Chin in documents scheduled to be filed by Sept. 18. At issue are Google's plans to scan millions of books, make them searchable online, and sell subscriptions to libraries and individual copies to consumers. Google says this will revitalize works that might otherwise be long forgotten. The US$125 million settlement emerged last year after trade groups representing publishers and authors sued Google for copyright infringement. Google says it has made digital copies of more than 10 million books during the past five years, including about 2 million titles that are no longer covered by copyright and another 2 million titles that were indexed after copyright holders gave their explicit permission. The rest are out of print but still protected by copyrights. In its testimony to the congressional committee, Google reiterated its claim that the settlement will make literature and research more widely available while promoting competition in the digital book market. A long list of supporters, including major libraries, disabled rights activists, technology groups, economics professors and lawyers, are endorsing the settlement for similar reasons. Some of them testified at Thursday's hearing. Third-Party Sales Google also tried to address the concerns that it will gain a stranglehold on the digital rights to millions of books. Hoping to ease this criticism, Google said Thursday it will allow Amazon and other online retailers to sell its digital copies of out-of-print books covered by the settlement.
Competitors drawing upon Google's digital library of books would be allowed to keep most of the revenue left from the sales after authors and publishers get their shares. "We believe strongly in an open and competitive market for digital books," said David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer. However, Brantley of the Internet Archive said Google's concession isn't much of a sacrifice. That's because Google would still be in control of the digital index, giving it access to potentially valuable data on how users interact with it. Google also would still be the only entity that could sell out-of-print books that aren't claimed by the copyright owners. The control means Google would still be able to set the prices on millions of books, Brantley said. "Google would still be a monopoly provider," Brantley said in a phone interview. "None of our objections have gone away." Other opponents of the settlement fear it will make it easier to track the books people are reading. Google says it would address that by drawing up a separate privacy policy to govern the information it collects through its digital library. Open-Ended, Opt-Out Terms Rep. John Conyers Jr., the Judiciary Committee's chairman, was among several lawmakers on the panel who indicated they think Chin should approve the settlement. "Google is in this position not because they engaged in predatory or anticompetitive behavior, but because they have built a better mousetrap in the view of the mousetrap purchaser," said Conyers, D-Michigan.
Peters' misgivings about the settlement are focused on its definitions of what constitutes an out-of-print book. Google would have broad power to sell titles falling in this category without the explicit permission of a copyright holder, she said. "The so-called settlement would create mechanisms by which Google could continue to scan with impunity, well into the future, and to our great surprise, create yet additional commercial products without the prior consent of rights holders," Peters wrote in a more comprehensive written statement submitted to the Judiciary Committee. Peters was particularly troubled by provisions that would empower Google to make digital copies of all books published by Jan. 5, 2009, with no set deadline on completing the task. Google loses the digital rights to the books covered in the settlement only if a copyright holder opts out of the deal. The open-ended nature of the settlement is "tantamount to creating a private compulsory license," Peters wrote, something she believes could circumvent the authority of Congress. © 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved.© 2009 ECT News Network. All rights reserved. Print Version E-Mail Article Reprints Talkback: Be the first to comment on this story. Next Article in E-Commerce Expedia Is Spare but SavvySeptember 11, 2009 Expedia is mercifully devoid of the visual ad bombardment typical of many travel Web sites, but in an effort to be sleek, it seems to leave out some user-friendly features. Or perhaps it just keeps them well hidden. Ads do turn up at opportune moments, though, and the ones I encountered were personalized to the point of irresistibility

Though regulators are making Microsoft and Yahoo squirm, it's unlikely their search-advertising collaboration will get the kibosh. Even together, the two will have a difficult challenge ahead as they attempt to take on Google, the dominant force in the market. It is possible, though, that anticompetitive concerns will result in watering down the terms of the deal.Success is just a matter of knowing the right "secrets." Download the free eBook, "The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales." You will discover the fastest, most effective ways to grow your business and still have time to live your life. The Department of Justice has asked Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to supply it with more information about its proposed search advertising tie-up that the duo announced earlier this summer. Both companies have said they are cooperating with the inquiry. Indeed, they all but predicted this would happen when their partnership was first announced."As expected, we have received a request for additional information from the Department of Justice," Yahoo spokesperson Nina Blackwell said in a statement emailed to the E-Commerce Times."The request for more information is consistent with our expectations and as we've indicated previously, we're hopeful the agreement will close in early 2010," she added.The deal has already been hampered by many twists and turns -- and in some cases dead-ends -- and there will likely be more to come before it reaches the end zone. There is still the lingering specter of last year's proposed Yahoo-Google search advertising partnership, which dissolved last year following pointed inquiries from the Department of Justice.Advocates of the Microhoo deal -- which, ironically, include many in the search advertising space that would like to see more competition -- worry that it too could be derailed. Routine Investigation As of now, the Justice investigation can be considered routine."I see it as part of the process to make sure that there is no behind-the-scenes tie-up that may prevent advertisers having the option to move away from Microsoft-Yahoo if they choose," said N. Venkat Venkatraman, a business professor at Boston University."From a market share point of view, there is less concern if we take today's relative positions. I see this as the Department of Justice doing its job as part of the review process," he told the E-Commerce Times."When you look at big names like Microsoft and Yahoo, there will always be some inquiry conducted," noted Stephen Y. Chow, an attorney with Burns & Levinson."Because the field of search engine providers is so concentrated," he told the E-Commerce Times, "it's not unusual for the DoJ to look into this further, because it constitutes further concentration by economic measures, even though it may be procompetitive."
Terms and Conditions The 10-year arrangement gives Microsoft access to Yahoo's content and advertisers. Microsoft will be paying traffic acquisition costs to Yahoo at a rate of 88 percent of search revenue generated from Yahoo's sites for the first five years of the agreement.There's a clause that provides an out for Yahoo if the deal doesn't pay off as the two companies originally expected, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Yahoo may terminate the search agreement if the "trailing 12-month average of the RPS (revenue per search query) of Yahoo and Microsoft combined queries falls below a specified percentage of Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) estimated RPS measured on a comparable basis or if the combined Yahoo and Microsoft query market share in the United States falls below a specified percentage."From the beginning, it was assumed that the bigger challenge for the Microsoft-Yahoo collaboration would be the antitrust scrutiny it was bound to undergo, both in the U.S. and Europe. The consensus has been -- and still is, for the moment -- that the deal will eventually be green-lighted by the Justice Department. That's because even combined, Microsoft and Yahoo are still just a puny adversary for Google, which has an iron grip on the search advertising market. "Based on the fact that neither company has a significant portion of the search market, it is unlikely that DoJ will [block] this deal," Ryan Radia, an information policy analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the E-Commerce Times. "For that to happen it would require legal action, and a court would have to review the decision." More likely would be the attachment of conditions for DoJ approval, he said. For instance, there is a possibility that Justice might side with privacy advocates who would like to see limitations placed on the type of data that could be collected in a tie-up between the two companies. Depending on how onerous the requirements are, Radia speculated, the deal could conceivably be less effective for the companies. "In the end, though, I believe the DoJ will conclude that there are no anticompetitive consequences to the deal." Though regulators are making Microsoft and Yahoo squirm, it's unlikely their search-advertising collaboration will get the kibosh. Even together, the two will have a difficult challenge ahead as they attempt to take on Google, the dominant force in the market. It is possible, though, that anticompetitive concerns will result in watering down the terms of the deal. Success is just a matter of knowing the right "secrets." Download the free eBook, "The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales." You will discover the fastest, most effective ways to grow your business and still have time to live your life. The Department of Justice has asked Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to supply it with more information about its proposed search advertising tie-up that the duo announced earlier this summer. Both companies have said they are cooperating with the inquiry. Indeed, they all but predicted this would happen when their partnership was first announced. "As expected, we have received a request for additional information from the Department of Justice," Yahoo spokesperson Nina Blackwell said in a statement emailed to the E-Commerce Times. "The request for more information is consistent with our expectations and as we've indicated previously, we're hopeful the agreement will close in early 2010," she added. The deal has already been hampered by many twists and turns -- and in some cases dead-ends -- and there will likely be more to come before it reaches the end zone. There is still the lingering specter of last year's proposed Yahoo-Google search advertising partnership, which dissolved last year following pointed inquiries from the Department of Justice. Advocates of the Microhoo deal -- which, ironically, include many in the search advertising space that would like to see more competition -- worry that it too could be derailed. Routine Investigation As of now, the Justice investigation can be considered routine. "I see it as part of the process to make sure that there is no behind-the-scenes tie-up that may prevent advertisers having the option to move away from Microsoft-Yahoo if they choose," said N. Venkat Venkatraman, a business professor at Boston University. "From a market share point of view, there is less concern if we take today's relative positions. I see this as the Department of Justice doing its job as part of the review process," he told the E-Commerce Times. "When you look at big names like Microsoft and Yahoo, there will always be some inquiry conducted," noted Stephen Y. Chow, an attorney with Burns & Levinson. "Because the field of search engine providers is so concentrated," he told the E-Commerce Times, "it's not unusual for the DoJ to look into this further, because it constitutes further concentration by economic measures, even though it may be procompetitive." Terms and Conditions The 10-year arrangement gives Microsoft access to Yahoo's content and advertisers. Microsoft will be paying traffic acquisition costs to Yahoo at a rate of 88 percent of search revenue generated from Yahoo's sites for the first five years of the agreement. There's a clause that provides an out for Yahoo if the deal doesn't pay off as the two companies originally expected, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Yahoo may terminate the search agreement if the "trailing 12-month average of the RPS (revenue per search query) of Yahoo and Microsoft combined queries falls below a specified percentage of Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) estimated RPS measured on a comparable basis or if the combined Yahoo and Microsoft query market share in the United States falls below a specified percentage." From the beginning, it was assumed that the bigger challenge for the Microsoft-Yahoo collaboration would be the antitrust scrutiny it was bound to undergo, both in the U.S. and Europe. The consensus has been -- and still is, for the moment -- that the deal will eventually be green-lighted by the Justice Department. That's because even combined, Microsoft and Yahoo are still just a puny adversary for Google, which has an iron grip on the search advertising market. "Based on the fact that neither company has a significant portion of the search market, it is unlikely that DoJ will [block] this deal," Ryan Radia, an information policy analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the E-Commerce Times. "For that to happen it would require legal action, and a court would have to review the decision." More likely would be the attachment of conditions for DoJ approval, he said. For instance, there is a possibility that Justice might side with privacy advocates who would like to see limitations placed on the type of data that could be collected in a tie-up between the two companies. Depending on how onerous the requirements are, Radia speculated, the deal could conceivably be less effective for the companies. "In the end, though, I believe the DoJ will conclude that there are no anticompetitive consequences to the deal."

The Newspaper Association of America

The Newspaper Association of America asked for ideas on what newspapers can do to escape the financial quagmire many seemed trapped in. Companies like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Google answered with their suggestions, some of which sharpen targeted advertising and some of which rely on readers to pay up for what they're used to getting for free. Think you have to compromise on security to save on costs? Think Again. Trend Micro™ Enterprise Security, powered by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network™, can lower your content security management costs by up to 40%. Find out just how much you’ll save with our TCO Impact Calculator. Some of the world's most prominent technology companies are offering suggestions to publishers on how they can charge readers for news online.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) , Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) , Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) -- a company some newspapers blame for helping dig their financial hole -- responded to a request by the Newspaper Association of America for proposals on ways to easily charge for news on the Web. However, building the infrastructure for charging readers is one part of the equation. The other part looks more challenging: getting publishers to make the leap and stop giving news out for free on the Web. The Difference Between 'Open' and 'Free' Randy Bennett, the senior vice president of business development at the newspaper association, said his group initiated the process after a meeting of publishers in May near Chicago. A report that was posted online Wednesday by the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University includes 11 different responses from technology companies. Bennett said the trade group wanted to give newspapers options, and will not recommend one proposal over the others. Google's proposal may be the most eyebrow raising, if only because the company -- which aggregates thousands of articles from media outlets on its news pages -- is so closely associated with the freewheeling ethos of an open Internet. "Google believes that an open Web benefits all users and publishers," the company writes in its proposal. "However, 'open' need not mean free." Google proposed offering news organizations a version of its Google Checkout system, which is used for processing online payments. It would give readers a place to sign in to an account and then pay for media from a variety of sources without having to punch in their information over and over. The company says it could offer publishers several pay methods, from basic subscriptions to so-called "micropayments" on a per-article basis. Smaller Firms Weigh In Along with the technology heavyweights offering ideas are tiny startups.
CircLabs, run by just four people and incubated at the Missouri School of Journalism, is developing a program that would feed news from different sources into a bar across the top of Web browsers. Martin Langeveld, the company's executive vice president, said the application will offer both targeted advertising and the option of charging. (Langeveld said the company has seed money from The Associated Press. AP spokesperson Paul Colford said the news cooperative does not disclose which ventures it invests in.) The idea, Langeveld said, isn't just to squeeze more money out of readers but to build "something that addresses the needs of consumers, publishers and advertisers." The number of proposals bodes further competition for Journalism Online, a startup led by Court TV founder Steven Brill and former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz. The company has made a well-publicized effort to sign up newspapers for its own payment system. Still, having the tools available may not persuade publishers to use them. Publishers are nervous about scaring off readers. Charging for news online may open a new source of revenue for struggling newspapers but also could choke off Internet ad dollars by driving down traffic. "This was supposed to be the year that newspapers started charging for online content," said Alan Mutter, a former newspaper editor who works as an industry consultant and blogger and submitted one of the 11 proposals. (Mutter said the AP also has invested in his project). "Based on what I've seen, I don't get any sense that there is unanimity about charging or that they would know how to go about doing it." The Newspaper Association of America asked for ideas on what newspapers can do to escape the financial quagmire many seemed trapped in. Companies like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Google answered with their suggestions, some of which sharpen targeted advertising and some of which rely on readers to pay up for what they're used to getting for free. Think you have to compromise on security to save on costs? Think Again. Trend Micro™ Enterprise Security, powered by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network™, can lower your content security management costs by up to 40%. Find out just how much you’ll save with our TCO Impact Calculator. Some of the world's most prominent technology companies are offering suggestions to publishers on how they can charge readers for news online.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) , Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) , Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) -- a company some newspapers blame for helping dig their financial hole -- responded to a request by the Newspaper Association of America for proposals on ways to easily charge for news on the Web. However, building the infrastructure for charging readers is one part of the equation. The other part looks more challenging: getting publishers to make the leap and stop giving news out for free on the Web. The Difference Between 'Open' and 'Free' Randy Bennett, the senior vice president of business development at the newspaper association, said his group initiated the process after a meeting of publishers in May near Chicago. A report that was posted online Wednesday by the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University includes 11 different responses from technology companies. Bennett said the trade group wanted to give newspapers options, and will not recommend one proposal over the others. Google's proposal may be the most eyebrow raising, if only because the company -- which aggregates thousands of articles from media outlets on its news pages -- is so closely associated with the freewheeling ethos of an open Internet. "Google believes that an open Web benefits all users and publishers," the company writes in its proposal. "However, 'open' need not mean free." Google proposed offering news organizations a version of its Google Checkout system, which is used for processing online payments. It would give readers a place to sign in to an account and then pay for media from a variety of sources without having to punch in their information over and over. The company says it could offer publishers several pay methods, from basic subscriptions to so-called "micropayments" on a per-article basis. Smaller Firms Weigh In Along with the technology heavyweights offering ideas are tiny startups.
CircLabs, run by just four people and incubated at the Missouri School of Journalism, is developing a program that would feed news from different sources into a bar across the top of Web browsers. Martin Langeveld, the company's executive vice president, said the application will offer both targeted advertising and the option of charging. (Langeveld said the company has seed money from The Associated Press. AP spokesperson Paul Colford said the news cooperative does not disclose which ventures it invests in.) The idea, Langeveld said, isn't just to squeeze more money out of readers but to build "something that addresses the needs of consumers, publishers and advertisers." The number of proposals bodes further competition for Journalism Online, a startup led by Court TV founder Steven Brill and former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz. The company has made a well-publicized effort to sign up newspapers for its own payment system. Still, having the tools available may not persuade publishers to use them. Publishers are nervous about scaring off readers. Charging for news online may open a new source of revenue for struggling newspapers but also could choke off Internet ad dollars by driving down traffic. "This was supposed to be the year that newspapers started charging for online content," said Alan Mutter, a former newspaper editor who works as an industry consultant and blogger and submitted one of the 11 proposals. (Mutter said the AP also has invested in his project). "Based on what I've seen, I don't get any sense that there is unanimity about charging or that they would know how to go about doing it."

Multi-store retailing involves tailoring multiple

Success is just a matter of knowing the right "secrets." Download the free eBook, "The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales." You will discover the fastest, most effective ways to grow your business and still have time to live your life. Just as the evolution of the speed-skating boot set new standards for the sport, innovation in today's constantly evolving e-commerce landscape has worked as a catalyst to move it forward. E-commerce practitioners from all industries need to be ready to step up and embrace innovation as a means of staying ahead of the game. For retailers looking to implement a first-generation e-commerce solution or replace existing systems, there are a number of cutting-edge products available. Determining which of these will drive revenue growth can be tricky to even the most experienced e-commerce practitioner, and it is wise to consider innovation as not only a tactile product but also as business process.
This article will explore nine such innovative advancements, both tactile and process-driven, that are present in today's interactive sphere, in the context of companies that have employed them. Video Solutions Video is a tool used to promote, sell and support commercial products or services and may contain a number of clickable objects that, when selected, provide further information or initiate a transaction process. Video positions a product front and center and replaces the lengthy product descriptions and specs of the past with a more interactive shopping experience. MartinandOsa.com offers shoppers a product called "Shop by Outfit," which replaces the traditional static image of a model showcasing an outfit with an interactive video model that rotates and showcases an outfit in its entirety. A great example of a utilizing low cost, low barrier-to-entry video solution is WineLibrary.com. The site showcases retailer Gary V. who blogs on wine and cheeses and then links his blogs back to his products. Customer Service "Customer service" is defined as "the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase," and it is a process that should never be overlooked simply because the service is occurring online. An effective online customer service campaign can drastically change the face of online shopping by infusing features into sites that are not easily replicated in a real-world setting. For example, Shoeline.com's Return O'Meter increases customer trust -- as well as the company's conversion rate -- by showing customers how many times a style of shoe has been returned and the reason for the return, a feature you wouldn't normally find in an offline shoe store. Zappos.com offers innovative customer service solutions that are normally overlooked in most stores -- virtual and offline -- but that have an invaluable effect on customer retention. These features range from prominently displaying its 1-800 numbers to offering free upgraded shipping when a customer doesn't expect it. Real-World Guided Selling Real-world guided selling is a feature that assists customers in choosing products that best fulfill their needs by analyzing user requirements and generating buying recommendations. Sites like DavidsBridal.com allow you to custom create your bridal party outfits or, in the case of Oneida.com, set up your picture-perfect table setting. Crutchfield.com allows you to find the product that is most appropriate for you (e.g., TV Fit Finder) whereas MyDeco.com acts as your own personal shopper by recommending products based on your budget and your responses to a set of visuals. Multi-Store Retailing Multi-store retailing involves tailoring multiple virtual storefronts to specific customers, brands, products, styles, seasonal ranges or geographies. Multi-store retailing has been employed by CoastalContacts.com, which utilizes tailor-designed, geography-specific domains to increase search engine optimization and illustrate the importance of avoiding country-select splash pages in favour of IP reduction. Hayneedle uses over 200 product-specific domains (e.g., binoculars.com, birdcages.com) to increase Web site rankings and SEO. User-Interface Design User-interface design takes into account an individual's experience and interaction in an attempt to make the user experience as simple and efficient as possible. It is comprised of functionality requirements gathering, user analysis, information architecture, protyping, usability testing and graphic interface design. This innovation is most commonly employed using the hover technique, which allows multiple items to be revealed when a user hovers over one static image. Endless.com, an online shoe and handbag retailer, utilizes the hover to ensure that its call to action never disappears. It continually reminds customers that more colors and options are available aside from what they are currently viewing, and it provides access to zoom functionality that gives customers a close-up look at each product. Navigation Tools Navigation tools consist of the tabs, text and graphic hyperlinks that let customers know both where they are on a site and where they can go. Navigation features should always be available and obvious to ensure that customers are led in the intended direction. Although some debate exists as to whether this innovation is good or bad, many companies have capitalized on it successfully. OfficeMax.com utilizes an alphabetical navigation system that relies on repeat business from customers familiar with its categories. Endless.com employs a carousel navigation that allows customers to quickly run through categories and a price slider/color filter that changes search product results dynamically. Effective Merchandising Merchandising in the e-commerce ecosystem is very similar to visual merchandising in an actual storefront. It is comprised of promoting the sale of goods by their design, packaging, pricing and display, and implementing effective design ideas to increase store and sales volume. MartinandOsa.com's "layer your own look" feature encourages users to build their own outfits by displaying products that go well together. Engines such as Baynote, Rich Relevance, Clever Set and Choice Stream elevate click streams, viewing patterns and past purchasing history to make personalized recommendations that enrich the online shopping experience. Social Shopping
This innovation, popular with the Web 2.0 crowd, involves integrating the social networking experience with the shopping experience. Based on the input of others, users communicate about products, prices and deals, obtaining information and recommendations that would be hard to get from sales personnel in an offline environment. Hayneedle has an innovative product offering called "Shop Together," which allows two people to co-shop a site from different computers in different locales. Republic.co.uk uses Polyvore, a social networking application that allows people to create an outfit, show it off, and then make a decision based on other people's feedback. Customer Loyalty In the world of e-commerce innovation, loyalty refers specifically to techniques that are intended to reward a retailer's best customers and form long-lasting relationships. By simply incorporating subscription or widget features with incentives or offering products at a limited one-time-only low price, it is easy to continually keep customers happy and ensure their repeat business. A great example of this is Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) , which offers its subscribers added bonuses for buying everyday items such as bulk coffee. When choosing an innovative e-commerce solution, it is always best to keep in mind the following: You should strive to embrace the idea of breaking something, whether it's a business process or the notion of navigation, if you truly want to advance. Brainstorm ways to keep costs down with your innovations (think of the Gary V. example). Don't underestimate the power of processes as innovations, and don't forget to look to the real world for innovative inspirations. After all, the helicopter was invented based on the spinning motion of a helicopter seed as it fell from a tree. Strive to translate what happens in the physical retail store into an even more rewarding virtual experience. Don't let yourself be discouraged by roadblocks placed in your path to innovation. Use testing to prove your ideas. Most importantly, don't be left behind by a fear of the unknown. Embrace innovation, and see where it takes you.
Pete Sheldon is a product manager Elastic Path Software, which provides a flexible Java-based e-commerce platform for enterprises. Success is just a matter of knowing the right "secrets." Download the free eBook, "The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales." You will discover the fastest, most effective ways to grow your business and still have time to live your life. Just as the evolution of the speed-skating boot set new standards for the sport, innovation in today's constantly evolving e-commerce landscape has worked as a catalyst to move it forward. E-commerce practitioners from all industries need to be ready to step up and embrace innovation as a means of staying ahead of the game. For retailers looking to implement a first-generation e-commerce solution or replace existing systems, there are a number of cutting-edge products available. Determining which of these will drive revenue growth can be tricky to even the most experienced e-commerce practitioner, and it is wise to consider innovation as not only a tactile product but also as business process. This article will explore nine such innovative advancements, both tactile and process-driven, that are present in today's interactive sphere, in the context of companies that have employed them.Video Solutions Video is a tool used to promote, sell and support commercial products or services and may contain a number of clickable objects that, when selected, provide further information or initiate a transaction process. Video positions a product front and center and replaces the lengthy product descriptions and specs of the past with a more interactive shopping experience.
MartinandOsa.com offers shoppers a product called "Shop by Outfit," which replaces the traditional static image of a model showcasing an outfit with an interactive video model that rotates and showcases an outfit in its entirety. A great example of a utilizing low cost, low barrier-to-entry video solution is WineLibrary.com. The site showcases retailer Gary V. who blogs on wine and cheeses and then links his blogs back to his products. Customer Service "Customer service" is defined as "the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase," and it is a process that should never be overlooked simply because the service is occurring online.
An effective online customer service campaign can drastically change the face of online shopping by infusing features into sites that are not easily replicated in a real-world setting. For example, Shoeline.com's Return O'Meter increases customer trust -- as well as the company's conversion rate -- by showing customers how many times a style of shoe has been returned and the reason for the return, a feature you wouldn't normally find in an offline shoe store.
Zappos.com offers innovative customer service solutions that are normally overlooked in most stores -- virtual and offline -- but that have an invaluable effect on customer retention. These features range from prominently displaying its 1-800 numbers to offering free upgraded shipping when a customer doesn't expect it. Real-World Guided Selling Real-world guided selling is a feature that assists customers in choosing products that best fulfill their needs by analyzing user requirements and generating buying recommendations. Sites like DavidsBridal.com allow you to custom create your bridal party outfits or, in the case of Oneida.com, set up your picture-perfect table setting. Crutchfield.com allows you to find the product that is most appropriate for you (e.g., TV Fit Finder) whereas MyDeco.com acts as your own personal shopper by recommending products based on your budget and your responses to a set of visuals. Multi-Store Retailing Multi-store retailing involves tailoring multiple virtual storefronts to specific customers, brands, products, styles, seasonal ranges or geographies. Multi-store retailing has been employed by CoastalContacts.com, which utilizes tailor-designed, geography-specific domains to increase search engine optimization and illustrate the importance of avoiding country-select splash pages in favour of IP reduction. Hayneedle uses over 200 product-specific domains (e.g., binoculars.com, birdcages.com) to increase Web site rankings and SEO. User-Interface Design User-interface design takes into account an individual's experience and interaction in an attempt to make the user experience as simple and efficient as possible. It is comprised of functionality requirements gathering, user analysis, information architecture, protyping, usability testing and graphic interface design. This innovation is most commonly employed using the hover technique, which allows multiple items to be revealed when a user hovers over one static image. Endless.com, an online shoe and handbag retailer, utilizes the hover to ensure that its call to action never disappears. It continually reminds customers that more colors and options are available aside from what they are currently viewing, and it provides access to zoom functionality that gives customers a close-up look at each product.
Navigation Tools Navigation tools consist of the tabs, text and graphic hyperlinks that let customers know both where they are on a site and where they can go. Navigation features should always be available and obvious to ensure that customers are led in the intended direction. Although some debate exists as to whether this innovation is good or bad, many companies have capitalized on it successfully. OfficeMax.com utilizes an alphabetical navigation system that relies on repeat business from customers familiar with its categories. Endless.com employs a carousel navigation that allows customers to quickly run through categories and a price slider/color filter that changes search product results dynamically. Effective Merchandising Merchandising in the e-commerce ecosystem is very similar to visual merchandising in an actual storefront. It is comprised of promoting the sale of goods by their design, packaging, pricing and display, and implementing effective design ideas to increase store and sales volume. MartinandOsa.com's "layer your own look" feature encourages users to build their own outfits by displaying products that go well together. Engines such as Baynote, Rich Relevance, Clever Set and Choice Stream elevate click streams, viewing patterns and past purchasing history to make personalized recommendations that enrich the online shopping experience.
Social Shopping
This innovation, popular with the Web 2.0 crowd, involves integrating the social networking experience with the shopping experience. Based on the input of others, users communicate about products, prices and deals, obtaining information and recommendations that would be hard to get from sales personnel in an offline environment.
Hayneedle has an innovative product offering called "Shop Together," which allows two people to co-shop a site from different computers in different locales.
Republic.co.uk uses Polyvore, a social networking application that allows people to create an outfit, show it off, and then make a decision based on other people's feedback. Customer Loyalty In the world of e-commerce innovation, loyalty refers specifically to techniques that are intended to reward a retailer's best customers and form long-lasting relationships. By simply incorporating subscription or widget features with incentives or offering products at a limited one-time-only low price, it is easy to continually keep customers happy and ensure their repeat business. A great example of this is Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) , which offers its subscribers added bonuses for buying everyday items such as bulk coffee. When choosing an innovative e-commerce solution, it is always best to keep in mind the following: You should strive to embrace the idea of breaking something, whether it's a business process or the notion of navigation, if you truly want to advance. Brainstorm ways to keep costs down with your innovations (think of the Gary V. example). Don't underestimate the power of processes as innovations, and don't forget to look to the real world for innovative inspirations. After all, the helicopter was invented based on the spinning motion of a helicopter seed as it fell from a tree. Strive to translate what happens in the physical retail store into an even more rewarding virtual experience. Don't let yourself be discouraged by roadblocks placed in your path to innovation. Use testing to prove your ideas. Most importantly, don't be left behind by a fear of the unknown. Embrace innovation, and see where it takes you. Pete Sheldon is a product manager Elastic Path Software, which provides a flexible Java-based e-commerce platform for enterprises.

A second click on the screenshot takes the reader

Success is just a matter of knowing the right "secrets." Download the free eBook, "The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales." You will discover the fastest, most effective ways to grow your business and still have time to live your life. Google's Fast Flip is a virtual page turner. (click image to enlarge)It's not perfect, and it won't solve the advertising crisis in traditional publishing, but Google's Fast Flip news-viewing product may represent a small step toward helping pen-and-paper publishers make a profitable leap to the digital age. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) rolled out Fast Flip on Monday as an experimental Labs product. It allows users to slide through tiled screenshots of news stories from the service's three dozen partner publishers.
Clicking on a screenshot -- the service uses screenshots to speed loading times -- brings up a larger view that allows readers to flip screens from story to story, almost as if reading a newspaper or magazine. A second click on the screenshot takes the reader to the publisher's site. The screenshots can be organized in a variety of ways: by currency or by popularity, for example, or on the basis of recommendations from other readers.
Fast Flip also borrows a convention from traditional printed publications: the section. Available sections include politics, business, U.S. news, world news, sports, science and technology, entertainment, health, opinion and travel. Publishers include The New York Times, Fast Company, Cosmopolitan, The Atlantic, the Center for Investigative Reporting and Newsweek. Revenue-Sharing Arrives For the first time, Google is sharing ad revenues from advertisements served up alongside the stories, and the company says it hopes the service will help increase traffic at those sites. Previously, Google paid only wire services for content. "We think publishers who participate in Google Fast Flip will benefit in the form of additional exposure, Web traffic and revenue," said Google spokesperson Chris Gaither. "That additional traffic offers another opportunity for a publisher to win loyal readers and show ads if they'd like." While it's too soon to tell if Fast Flip will graduate from Labs status, the company is may allow publishers to embed the Fast Flip technology on their own Web sites in the future, Gaither told the E-Commerce Times. Google's Business Case Google has substantial incentive to make news search workable, said Ken Doctor, an analyst for Outsell, a research and consulting firm that covers the media world. Nearly half of news organizations are teamed up with Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) , and any risk, no matter how remote, of losing access to news content is a threat to Google's bottom line, Doctor said. News organizations have long grumbled about Google making money off their content. If Google does not find ways to improve its relationships, publishers could make it harder to access their news, going so far as to prevent Google from indexing their content. That would be a dangerous proposition for publishers too, because about a quarter of their traffic come from Google, noted Doctor. Still, the risk to Google is enormous. "Without that constant supply of current news, they would be a less essential part of people's days," he told the E-Commerce Times. Early Reviews The initial rollout of Fast Flip has received mixed results, with many panning it and a few praising it. The interface is a bit "clumsy," said Doctor. Links are highlighted as usual on the Fast Flip page, but they're not active. Clicking on a link delivers the same result as clicking anywhere on the page. It takes the reader to the article on the publisher's Web site, where the links work as usual. The presentation -- crammed full of screenshots and other distractions -- is not reader-friendly, in Doctor's view.
"Visually, I think that it's just overcrowded. It's an engineer's dream -- it's not a product that's designed for readers," he said. "What we want is iTunes for news," Doctor suggested, referring to Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) signature cover flow presentation where album covers spin effortlessly into and out of view as the computer user searches for interesting music. Another problem is that readers might just read Success is just a matter of knowing the right "secrets." Download the free eBook, "The Edge of Success: 9 Building Blocks to Double Your Sales." You will discover the fastest, most effective ways to grow your business and still have time to live your life. Google's Fast Flip is a virtual page turner. (click image to enlarge)It's not perfect, and it won't solve the advertising crisis in traditional publishing, but Google's Fast Flip news-viewing product may represent a small step toward helping pen-and-paper publishers make a profitable leap to the digital age. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) rolled out Fast Flip on Monday as an experimental Labs product. It allows users to slide through tiled screenshots of news stories from the service's three dozen partner publishers. Flipping Through Fast Flip Clicking on a screenshot -- the service uses screenshots to speed loading times -- brings up a larger view that allows readers to flip screens from story to story, almost as if reading a newspaper or magazine. A second click on the screenshot takes the reader to the publisher's site. The screenshots can be organized in a variety of ways: by currency or by popularity, for example, or on the basis of recommendations from other readers. Fast Flip also borrows a convention from traditional printed publications: the section. Available sections include politics, business, U.S. news, world news, sports, science and technology, entertainment, health, opinion and travel. Publishers include The New York Times, Fast Company, Cosmopolitan, The Atlantic, the Center for Investigative Reporting and Newsweek. Revenue-Sharing Arrives For the first time, Google is sharing ad revenues from advertisements served up alongside the stories, and the company says it hopes the service will help increase traffic at those sites. Previously, Google paid only wire services for content. "We think publishers who participate in Google Fast Flip will benefit in the form of additional exposure, Web traffic and revenue," said Google spokesperson Chris Gaither. "That additional traffic offers another opportunity for a publisher to win loyal readers and show ads if they'd like." While it's too soon to tell if Fast Flip will graduate from Labs status, the company is may allow publishers to embed the Fast Flip technology on their own Web sites in the future, Gaither told the E-Commerce Times. Google's Business Case Google has substantial incentive to make news search workable, said Ken Doctor, an analyst for Outsell, a research and consulting firm that covers the media world. Nearly half of news organizations are teamed up with Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) , and any risk, no matter how remote, of losing access to news content is a threat to Google's bottom line, Doctor said.
News organizations have long grumbled about Google making money off their content. If Google does not find ways to improve its relationships, publishers could make it harder to access their news, going so far as to prevent Google from indexing their content. That would be a dangerous proposition for publishers too, because about a quarter of their traffic come from Google, noted Doctor. Still, the risk to Google is enormous. "Without that constant supply of current news, they would be a less essential part of people's days," he told the E-Commerce Times.
Early Reviews The initial rollout of Fast Flip has received mixed results, with many panning it and a few praising it. The interface is a bit "clumsy," said Doctor.
Links are highlighted as usual on the Fast Flip page, but they're not active. Clicking on a link delivers the same result as clicking anywhere on the page. It takes the reader to the article on the publisher's Web site, where the links work as usual. The presentation -- crammed full of screenshots and other distractions -- is not reader-friendly, in Doctor's view. "Visually, I think that it's just overcrowded. It's an engineer's dream -- it's not a product that's designed for readers," he said.
"What we want is iTunes for news," Doctor suggested, referring to Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) signature cover flow presentation where album covers spin effortlessly into and out of view as the computer user searches for interesting music. Another problem is that readers might just read