Monday
31st July 2000
NAPSTER GETS A
REPRIEVE
Just hours before it was due
to shut down, the US Court of Appeals has given popular online music-swapping
service Napster a brief reprieve.
In the middle of last week the courts ordered Napster be shut down after
the Recording Industry Association of America filed suit against it, claiming
the company was facilitating the wholesale piracy of recording artists' music
over the Net. However, the US Appeals Court has allowed Napster to contest
the decision, granting the beleaguered firm until August 18th to lodge documents
with the court and the RIAA until September 8th to respond. Napster's software
catalogues music tracks stored on a subscriber's hard disk and makes that
catalogue available to other subscribers via a central directory. While Napster
has consistently argued that its peer-to-peer technology does nothing more
than provide a service and that it is therefore blameless if many of its
estimated 20 million users make use of the system to swap copyrighted files
(in much the same way that telcos are not held liable for calls broadcast
across their own services), the District Court was presented with evidence
last week that as much as 87% of data on the central Napster directory was
copyrighted material.
Friday
28th July 2000
ACCC TO HIT OBSOLETE WEB
SITES
The
Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (ACCC) announced today that it is prepared to act on obsolete
Australian web sites, and that companies broadcasting out-of-date information
may risk prosecution. ACCC Chairperson Professor Allan Fels said today that
"Some Internet advertisers may be tempted to keep outdated material on their
web sites. However, unless a web site clearly identifies material as outdated
or historic, consumers may be misled into thinking the material is current.
Such material can lead to severe consequences under the Trade Practices Act."
The ACCC advises that out-of-date offers should either be deleted from sites
entirely, or clearly flagged as no longer relevant. Once a year the ACCC
conducts a "Net sweep" targeted at wiping out or modifying particular types
of objectionable conduct on Australian web sites. The next "Sweep Day" is
scheduled to be held in the next few months.
Thursday
27th July 2000
NET MUCH BIGGER THAN PREVIOUSLY
THOUGHT
The Internet may be much bigger
than previously thought, according to a South Dakota company which has developed
new information-mining software. In a 41-page report,
BrightPlanet says it believes
there are now as many as 550 billion pages on the Web but most of them are
hidden in giant databases developed over the last few years by governments,
universities and businesses. Major search engines - which only catalog static
pages - collectively index around 1 billion of these, leaving much of the
"deep web" unknown and inaccessible to most people. BrightPlanet have developed
a commercial software program called LexiBot which will search these giant
online databases and claim it will be a boon to academic and scientific
researchers. However, typical searches will take 10 to 20 minutes to execute
and some queries will take as long as 90 minutes. BrightPlanet estimate that
traditional search engines currently catalog around 19 terabytes of information
from the "surface web", while the "deep web" actually contains around 7,500
terabytes. They also estimate that as much as 95% of the information stored
on the deep web is free.
Wednesday
26th July 2000
10% OF AUSTRALIANS NOW
SHOP ONLINE
10% of Australians shopped
online between April and June this year, according to a new study by market
researchers Taylor Nelson Sofres
Interactive (TNSI). The company, which surveyed 31,627 people in
27 countries, found that a further 18% of Australians had purchased products
offline during the period after seeing information about the products on
a web site, while another 20% had "considered" buying online. The report
found that Australia ranks in roughly the middle tier of online purchasing
nations at the present time. TNSI said that there appears to be a
correlation between how long a country has had the Net and how much online
shopping is actually carried out. Countries which have had the Net longer
than Australia (eg: the USA and Canada) showed significantly higher online
shopping behaviour. TNSI believe that this could be associated with increasing
knowledge amongst consumers, which in turn may indicate that the amount of
online buying currently occurring in Australia could increase by a significant
amount in a relatively short time. In
March this
year the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that 6%
of Australians had shopped online - treble the 2% that had done so less than
a year previously.
Tuesday
25th July 2000
BANKS, CORPORATIONS SNOOP
ON USERS
Three Australian banks and
an undisclosed number of major Australian corporations will soon begin trialing
new surveillance software to monitor Internet use at work by their staff.
NetMaster software, produced by Australian software developers
Commsoft, will allow network
operators to closely monitor employee Net use at work, recording such data
as the sites they visit, who they send emails to, and the amount of time
they spend online. It will also record log-on and log-off times and the volume
of downloads users receive. Commsoft have defended the software as an invaluable
management tool to ensure responsible Internet access during working hours.
Recent studies in the USA and Canada have both shown that anything between
10% and 30% of employee use of the Net is for purely personal ends. Commsoft
also believe that providing the software is used by employers to guide staff
in responsible Net use - and providing staff are fully informed it is being
used - it is also likely to fall within existing Australian online privacy
guidelines released
in March this
year by the Australian Privacy Commissioner.
Monday
24th July 2000
TV, RADIO USE DECLINING
IN USA
In a study that may have strong
parallels in Australia, Fairfield
Research report that TV and radio use in the USA both declined by
9% during the last year, while consumer use of the Net slid by less than
1% and readership of print media actually rose. Fairfield found that consumers
are now spending 39% more time reading magazines, 37% more time reading books
and 12% more time reading newspapers than they did in 1999. Time spent on
computer applications, however, dropped significantly in the past year, as
did TV and radio audiences. Nonetheless, Fairfield note that TV and radio
continue to account for 41% of all media consumed in the USA each day.
Interactive media (including the Internet, software and video games) account
for 26%; printed materials for a further 19%; and pre-recorded media (such
as music CDs) make up the final 14%. Fairfield also report that the average
US Net user now spends an hour a day online and that the overall pattern
of media consumption hasn't changed radically in the last year, indicating
that increasingly savvy Net users now know what information they can find
online and know how the Web complements other media.
Friday
21st July 2000
TELSTRA TO DOUBLE TRANS-PACIFIC
LINK
Telstra
announced today that it will double the size of the existing Australia-USA
Internet link to 1.4Gb in time for the 2000 Olympics. The company said it
intends to open four new Internet distribution points in Los Angeles, Washington
DC, Chicago and New York to complement its existing exchange in California,
and quietly expanded the existing link by 155 Mbps last week as part of the
program. The move has come in the wake of growing consumer dissatisfaction
with international access speeds, an expected influx of American traffic
during the Olympics and competitive pressures from the rival Southern Cross
cable that was laid into Australia this year by a consortium including Optus,
Telstra New Zealand, MCI WorldCom and OzEmail. While Telstra expect the upgrade
will "improve the experience" for Australia Net users and that most people
will notice "increasingly fast" response times over the next few months,
the company currently has no plans to reduce its charges for bandwidth.
Thursday
20th July 2000
CNET BUYS ZDNET
CNET
Networks announced today that it will acquire rival Ziff-Davis
Inc for $US1.6 billion. The move will effectively create the Net's 8th
largest property with an estimated daily audience of more than 16.6 million
people. CNET, which already has a very strong audience in the USA, will gain
a major online presence in 25 other countries as a result of the deal, including
ZDNet Australia (CNET already
has an existing content provision arrangement with Telstra). Under the takeover
agreement, San Francisco-based CNET will exchange 0.3397 shares for each
share of Ziff-Davis and 0.5932 shares for each share of ZDNet, a separately
traded company in which Ziff-Davis is the majority owner. It's expected that
the combined new company would have 1,600 employees and more than $500 million
in revenues by 2001. The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions for
CNET, which made 10 separate buyouts in 1999. The buyout is expected to be
completed in August.
Wednesday
19th July 2000
US MOBILES TO GET RADIATION
RATING
US mobile phone consumers will
soon be able to get plain-English information about the amount of radiation
emitted by mobile phones after the Cellular Telecommunications Industry
Association (CTIA) announced yesterday that it would do this voluntarily
within the next 3 to 6 months. According to CTIA, the move is aimed at allaying
consumer concerns about the safety of mobile phones, which are now used by
95 million Americans and hundreds of millions of others worldwide. However,
US analysts believe that the move may also be a pre-emptive strike against
future Government legislation and consumer litigation if mobiles are ultimately
proven to be unsafe. While all mobiles currently sold in the USA have been
certified to meet or exceed US federal requirements for the quantity of radio
frequency energy absorbed by the body, those standards themselves have
increasingly come under question in recent years since the long-term effects
of exposure at the currently specified safety levels have not been tested.
No similar moves are planned for Australia at the present time.
Tuesday
18th July 2000
NET = 2.1 BILLION
PAGES
The Internet is now composed
of at least 2.1 billion publicly accessible web pages, with more than 7 million
new pages being added each day, according to a new study by
Cyveillance.
In its report "Sizing the Internet", Cyveillance says the Net's highest rate
of growth is still to come and predicts there will be more than 4 billion
pages on the Internet by early 2001. If true, this will mean that the Net
is likely to double its current size in as little as 12 months.
Cyveillance also report that 84.7% percent of current web pages are US-based,
and that the average web page is 10K in size, contains 23 internal links
and 5.6 external links, and holds 14.4 images. It is only 6 months since
Inktomi announced that it had found there were more than 1 billion pages
on the Internet.
Monday
17th July 2000
ICANN APPROVES NEW NET
NAMES
The
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN), meeting in Yokohama over the last four days,
has given "in principle" agreement to extending Net suffixes in 2001. Although
ICANN has yet to decide the type of suffixes, the number of new suffixes
it will create and how domain registrars will handle any legal issues that
may surround the issuing of the new domain types, the resolution to move
ahead was passed unanimously by ICANN's 19-member board. The new suffixes
will be the first created for the Net since the 1980s. The ICANN resolution
calls for the introduction of new names in "a measured and responsible manner",
and hopes they will become available early in 2001 after procedural matters
are ironed out. Potential new registrars who want to issue the new domains
will be required to pay ICANN $US50,000 for the privilege.
Friday
14th July 2000
"MOST WIRED" WON'T GET
ADSL
A little more than
7
weeks after announcing that it hoped to have high-speed ADSL Internet
services available to 3.5 million Australian households by August,
Telstra admitted today that
ADSL will not be available to most highly-connected households inside its
proposed coverage areas after all. Homes which have multiple phone numbers
but only one voice line won't be able to access the high-speed Internet
service, a Telstra spokesperson said today, because pair gain equipment used
to increase the number of voice calls that can be carried on copper telephone
lines prevents ADSL being used. The pair gain problem is expected to be
widespread in most metropolitan areas, where Telstra has used the technology
extensively in recent years as a substitute for laying down additional copper
lines. The problem will also affect a large number of small businesses and
SOHO operators, though Telstra hope that businesses will be able to connect
to Big Pond Direct via ADSL by year's end. Meanwhile, Australia's first Telstra
protest site Telstra
Exposed was launched this week. The site questions the efficiency
of the company and the performance of its shares.
Thursday
13th July 2000
MICROSOFT RELEASE IE
5.5
Microsoft
released a new version of their Internet Explorer web browser today.
Announcing the release at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference
2000 in Orlando, Florida, Microsoft's Bill Gates said that the new
IE 5.5 features faster page rendering speeds and improved standards compliance.
For developers, the new release will support Cascading Style Sheets (CSS),
dynamic HTML (DHTML) and Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL).
For users, the new release will consolidate a slew of patches and upgrades
to earlier versions of the product as well as offer slightly improved Net
rendering speeds and security. IE 5.5 will also incorporate a print preview
capability and improvements to the speed and reliability of printing, both
a bane of contention with many IE users. Meanwhile Microsoft's chief executive
Steve Ballmer, speaking at a separate engagement at the Comdex Canada
computer trade show in Toronto, Canada today, denied that Microsoft was trying
to control the Internet. "I don't think anybody can dominate the Internet,"
Ballmer said. "I might also argue that nobody really dominates the PC market,
but I don't want to get back into that view of history."
Wednesday
12th July 2000
ONLINE MARKETS MAY
FAIL
Less than a week after 14 of
Australia's largest companies announced an ambitious plan to establish a
common online electronic marketplace where suppliers could bid for their
business, a report by
Silicon.Com warns that many
existing similar B2B market sites are already in trouble because of the
difficulties suppliers face in getting their content online. According to
the report, a current lack of uniform standards for electronic catalogues
means that suppliers who patronise multiple e-markets are already struggling
to cope. Each marketplace currently has its own proprietary catalogue format.
As a result, many businesses face steep costs to become involved in e-markets
at the present time, and many small businesses are turning their back on
them because of this. Last week Amcor, ANZ, Australia Post, BHP, Coca-Cola
Amatil, Coles Myer, Foster's, Goodman Fielder, Orica, Pacific Dunlop, Qantas,
Telstra and Wesfarmers announced their intention to join forces in a venture
known as corProcure, which would allow them to put an estimated $8
billion worth of their annual purchasing requirements online.
Tuesday
11th July 2000
SURFERS WATCH LESS
TV
The Net is more powerful than
TV, according to a study of 1,000 people conducted in the USA by
Greenfield Online. In the
survey, 62% of Internet users said that if they had to choose between the
two, they'd watch less TV to have more time online; and 11% said they'd be
prepared to give up TV altogether. A further 21% said they'd sacrifice recreation
time to go online, while 9% would spend less time with family and friends
to surf the Net. Meanwhile, a study by
Forrester
in the UK reports similar results. Forrester found that while 48% of UK web
surfers now go to sites they saw advertised on TV (up from 16% last year),
almost 40% say they now watch less TV as a result of using the Internet.
Forrester also found that while many dot.coms have been pouring huge amounts
into electronic media advertising, most of it appears to have been wasted:
over 80% of UK users reach sites via search engines and 59% using a link
from another site, while 20% of users reach sites through online advertisements.
Only a slim 19% go to sites they hear advertised on radio - and the ultimate
figure is similar for TV advertising as well.
Monday
10th July 2000
131 SHOP CLOSE TO
COLLAPSE
131
Shop, one of bright new hopes of ecommerce when it listed on the
ASX last year, now has less than 3 months' cash left according to a new report
released today. The company revealed that it had lost most of its capital
- $7.3 million - over the last 11 months because it had greatly overestimated
sales of its "e-business startup kits". As a result, it had less than $1.18
million in working capital left at June 30th (enough to last it for 3 months)
and had cut its workforce from 19 to 4. 131Shop attributed poor sales of
the "starter kit" to a lack of consumer awareness and confidence in the 131Shop
brand, as well as "negative publicity in relation to its cash position."
The company has also pulled out of a number of contracts including its
high-profile sponsorship deal with the Brisbane Broncos and several other
advertising agreements. 131 Shop directors Gary Punch and Wayne
Myers resigned from the board on June 15th, along with company secretary
Bill Lyne. The company does not currently have a CEO. "It would be
difficult to attract a quality CEO with the company's current position,"
the board stated.
Friday
7th July 2000
NEW VIRUSES ATTACK OUTLOOK,
EUDORA
The next generation of email
viruses will embed hostile scripts directly into the text of email messages
and execute as soon as the email is opened, according to a report today on
C/Net.
Two of these types of viruses - Kakworm and Bubbleboy - are already circulating
on the Net, C/Net warns, and their detection is posing serious problems for
anti-virus makers. As a result, Kakworm and Bubbleboy are probably the precursors
of a new raft of email viruses even more destructive than May's "I Love You"
virus which exploited a security hole in Microsoft Outlook to cause millions
of dollars damages world-wide. According to C/Net, the viruses make use of
either VBScript or JavaScript to exploit known security holes in Outlook
and the newer versions of Eudora. The simplest form of protection against
them, they advise, is to disable script execution in email software. This
option, they say, is of little use to the overwhelming majority of email
users but is set "ON" in both products by default.
Thursday
6th July 2000
FASTER MODEM STANDARD
PROPOSED
The next generation of 56K
modems may allow users to surf the Net 40% faster if a new standard is adopted
by the
International
Telecommunications Union (ITU). At a meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland
last week a working committee agreed on three important new standards for
voiceband modems. One of these - the proposed V.92 standard - would allow
V.92 modems to surf the Net up to 40% faster than current 56K modems;
provide significantly quicker start-up times on recognized connections; and
give the modem the ability to put itself on hold when the network indicated
that an incoming call was waiting. The Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 16 Mr
Pierre-André Probst noted "these important new features will
further improve Internet users' experience by significantly reducing connect
times and providing improved access to new Internet services." Committee
chairman John Magill said that the ITU had recognised that modems
"will remain the pre-dominant worldwide access technology for many years
to come and these important new recommendations will help users to get the
most from this technology”". The meeting was jointly hosted by industry
leaders 3Com, Conexant Systems, Lucent Technologies and Motorola.
Wednesday
5th July 2000
ONLINE SHOPPING POPULAR
WITH CONSUMERS
Online shopping is moving
increasingly into the mainstream, according to a new report released by
Greenfield
Online today. While the number of consumers indulging in online window
shopping declined over the last year (from 86% in April 1999 to 78% in April
2000), the numbers making online purchases fell by much less (74% to 70%).
This appears to indicate that real purchasers are steadily supplanting window
shoppers as the online shopping market matures. Greenfield also found that
as the percentage of women online has increased, so have health and beauty
product purchases. They estimate that the 5 most popular products now sold
online are books (26%), CDs (24%), Software (18%), Health and Beauty Products
(14%) and Clothing (also 14%), pushing computer hardware into 6th place for
the first time. Not surprisingly, Greenfield found that many consumers (43%)
have a preference for buying from "click and mortar" retailers. Greenfield
also report that the majority of online consumers (67%) are most likely to
be attracted to web site ads that offer something for free. Other attractors
are discount prices (47%), contests (43%) and brand names (39%).
Tuesday
4th July 2000
DOT.COM BACKLASH
COMING?
An economic backlash to rival
the Savings and Loan scandals of the 1980s may be building amongst dot.coms,
according to a report in
ZDNet
today. The article warns that more than $US48 billion in venture capital
was poured into dot.coms last year and the amount could top $US100
billion this year. Even so, many high-profile dot.coms have recently
closed their doors and more than a dozen more are slated to run out of funds
within 12 months unless they receive fresh cash injections. Far from expanding,
the report warns, 59 Internet companies have cut 5,398 jobs in the USA since
December 1999, with 31% subsequently closing their doors. The current estimate
is that only three out of every 10 start-up Internet companies will succeed
in the long run, ZDNet report. As a result, many people inside and out the
industry are preparing for more companies to go belly-up with major spin-off
effects on the staff and support businesses who've been earning a living
off the ballooning sector up till now.
Monday
3rd July 2000
AUSTRALIAN NET
EXPANDS
Despite the cloud of doom that
appears to have settled over the future of many high profile ecommerce sites
during the last few months, the Australian internet returned to an upward
growth path during June according to our monthly Australian Internet Growth
Index (AIGI). The AIGI, which has been attempting to estimate the number
of live Australian sites on the Net since January 1996 (as opposed to the
number of registered domains) recorded a month of overall growth in new
Australian sites during June after several months of very marginal upward
movement. The July 1st figures (with June 1st figures in brackets) are as
follows:
Australian
Internet Growth Index June 2000
(Figures Show Estimated Live Sites) |
-
Brisbane - 4,236
(4,058)
-
Sydney - 16,542
(15,916)
-
Melbourne - 10,615
(10,124)
-
Adelaide - 4,568
(4,522)
|
-
Perth - 4,501
(4,397)
-
Hobart - 2,174
(2,176)
-
Canberra - 4,622
(4,580)
-
Darwin* - 4,875
(4,910)
|
NB: The Darwin figure includes
rural Australian sites |
|
During June 2000 Australian
Cybermalls hosted 62,005 visitors, a fall on May's 65,905. Our visitors
viewed 207,749 page displays from our servers, which in turn consumed 9.16Gb
of bandwidth. Our June 2000 traffic summary
can be viewed
here.
|
