Norbert's Biztalk posts

DomainerMeeting Conference in Paris (19+20 June 2008)

In case someone happens to be in Paris this thursday and friday, I've got some discount / promotion codes for the domainermeeting conference being held there -- just send me a message (first come, first served ;)

see http://domainermeeting.com

and/or http://bargains.at/domainermeeting

:) nmw

Facebook has just recently launched a "chat" application

I find that facebook isn't the stickiest of social / community websites, but I do find it amazing how many people have a facebook account.

Just today someone asked me about IM applications (I like skype), but one big advantage of using an online application for chatting is that no additional software needs to be installed (I have also tried out live.yahoo.com -- but I find that is a little to noisy for my taste ;D)

Here are some questions: which applications do you like for "instant messaging" (if any)? Do you feel secure using such applications? Which security issues might be involved with the various provers providing such services?

(Feel free to contribute any ideas -- even if it's only remotely related :D)

:) nmw

Would it be possible to have a "My ratings" area?

One thing that I feel is often missing from sites that incorporate ratings (a very web 2.0 element) is a place to click and see what you have rated. It might even be nice if you could revise the rating (especially if it's something open-ended, like a discussion).

Such an interface would be a "carrot" to promote people to rate things more -- insofar as it works like an "automatic bookmark". Maybe it could even be integrated with bookmarking, such that anything rated is automatically bookmarked (e.g. with a default text such as "rated [#] on [DATE]").

What are alternatives to search engine marketing (advertising) on Google?

Do you feel that your only option to advertise online is Google?

Or do you feel it's the cheapest? Most economical? ...?

What could you imagine might be a more affordable, effective method to market / advertise your business?

Would love to hear any / all suggestions -- whether online or offline!

:) nmw

Web Sites are Content >> Semantic Containers for Websites >> Websites are Content

Hi All,

I just joined today after hearing a podcast about the site on NPR.

The title of this topic kind of summarizes the way I look at information on the Internet: Web Sites (the domain names) are the most valuable information on the Internet -- at least in part because each domain name is "authenticated" via the registration process.

Also, the domain name acts like a "tag" to the type of information contained at that location -- as the data on the internet becomes more and more "non-searchable" (e.g. "rich media"), the domain name will also become ever more significant for information retrieval purposes.

I wrote an "article" about this a little over a year ago and called it the "Wisdom of the Language" (note that I indirectly used "pizza" as an example of one kind of information that is often sought after -- and as you may know, pizza.com last week sold for $2.6M).

Here's some more current news re: "content": "BusinessWeek.COM: Is Content King? Or Is Search?" (and BTW: I also feel that "algorithms" are content too, so I actually disagree with the distinction made in the article)