Who remembers Sidewalk, Microsoft’s local venture? Sidewalk was one of many business ventures within MSN (alongside Expedia, which fared better). Sidewalk was folded and sold in 1999.
Today, MSN Sidewalk is back, of sorts, in a Google or Amazon sort of way. Continue reading →
November, 2005
29
Nov 05
How does Google succeed where others have failed?
23
Nov 05
Why do so-called Web 2.0 sites all look like they came from the same style class?
Why do so-called Web 2.0 sites all look like they came from the same style school? This came to mind as I was reviewing some of the entries in the Solutionwatch blog.
The evidence:
1. Zurpy
2. Flock
3. Ning
4. del.icio.us
5. Flickr
6. Even Microsoft…
My top candidate reasons:
1. All Web 2.0 sites/projects/users are controlled by Google, and they’re all using the style sheet they get from the mother ship
2. Allright, Microsoft doesn’t belong to Google yet, so all these other sites are run by great developers with bright ideas, but are too cheap to hire a designer, so they just copy each other.
3. We’re headed for a world where everything is so meshed-up that sites become indistinguishable and blandness rules the day.
What do you think?
22
Nov 05
Google Analytics, and others
For once, let’s talk about the usual application of the term “web analytics”: the analysis of web site traffic data. If the web site you’re analyzing is your own, and you have access to its traffic data, understanding how your site is used and visited is essential. Since this is turning into a platitude, and the topic is exhaustively documented, here are the two most appealing tool options for this task:
- The newly released Google Analytics, which is the best of the freely available tools. Google Analytics has a lot of depth out of the virtual box. This site is now tracked by Google Analytics
- Analog, which is included by some hosting services, but is the best free choice for those who control their own server and/or have direct access to the server log files. Analog is also more customizable.