((((((((((((((((( WEBREFERENCE UPDATE NEWSLETTER )))))))))))))))))
February 10, 2000
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New this week on WebReference.com and the Web:
1. CONTESTS: New Submit & Win PhotoShop!, Subscribe & Win!
2. FEATURED ARTICLE: Credit Card Snafus! Tons of Dog Food!
What's Going On Online?
3. NET NEWS:
* Denial of Service Attacks Hit the Web
* Sun to Release New Java 2 Versions
* WebCriteria Launches Site Behavior Agent
* Microsoft Digital Broadcast Manager to Power Pay-Per-View
* Macromedia Ships FreeHand 9
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1.CONTESTS: New Submit & Win Photoshop!, Subscribe & Win!
>New Submit & Win!
WebReference is pleased to announce our latest "Submit & Win!"
contest! Every Thursday the Update features a new article
contributed by our readers through our Open Publishing Initiative.
You get fame, hits, and the respect of your peers...and now, you
also get a brand new copy of Adobe System's PhotoShop 5.5!
http://www.webreference.com/new/submit.html
This week, writer B.L. Ochman shows us that not planning for the
success of your Website can be the same as planning for failure.
>Subscribe & Win!
Can't write? Still want to win? Don't worry, you can! Sign up
for the Webreference newsletter, and get a chance to win a super
software bundle from SoftQuad Software Inc. and Ulead Systems Inc.
Prizes include HoTMetaL PRO 6.0, PhotoImpact 5, and COOL 3D 2.5.
Each week we'll draw new winners from our new subscribers - you
could be next. Already a subscriber? Not a problem - just fill
out the form, and you'll be automatically entered to win.
This week's winners include Paul Heine of Berlin, Germany; Marsha
Glassner of San Francisco, CA; and James F. Sherman, Jr. of
Charlestown, MA. Congratulations winners, and enjoy the software!
http://www.webreference.com/new/contest.html
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2. FEATURED ARTICLE: Credit Card Snafus! Tons of Dog Food!
What's Going On Online?
Imagine this scenario. You are ordering vitamins at
drugemporium.com. You register for the site, put in your shipping
and payment information and press "Express Checkout." Up comes an
order not for your vitamins, but for the products ordered by Ester
Levitts in Kentucky. Her Discover card information is given, along
with her name, address and ordered items.
Think it's unlikely? Think again. It happened to restaurant
broker Ray Tekosky of New York City on Friday, Jan 28. He had the
presence of mind to download the errant order page and fax it to
me. I, in turn, faxed it to a reporter at The Wall St. Journal.
Was it news? You bet!
What happened here? Something that will happen again, maybe in a
much bigger way, maybe on your site. "We're still in the early
stages of ecommerce," says Tekosky. "There will be much bigger
mistakes on a much larger scale. Who's to say it wouldn't happen
with a banking situation? That could create the ecommerce
equivalent of the Mad Cow scare."
>"Donate the excess to charity"
Tekosky is not some ecommerce-basher. He buys online all the time.
He bought his Palm Pilot, his printer, many books, vitamins and
other goods on the Internet. And he's not the only one who's
having trouble with online buying.
Consider the plight of Web developer Barry Wexler and his wife,
Ira, who is an attorney. They thought they found a great deal for
dog food at petopia.com. All they had to do was pay in advance to
lock in a great price for six 40 pound bags of dry dog food for
their yellow Lab puppy. One 40 pound bag would be sent every 8
weeks. They would pay for the first three bags and get the next
three free.
Great idea, until the second 40 lb. bag arrived one week after the
first and the third 40 lb. bag arrived a few days later. The
Wexlers now have 120 lbs. of dry dog food crammed into a closet in
their small New York apartment. Duncan, their puppy, sits
hopefully in front of the closet door for hours on end, dreaming
of the contents. Petopia.com thoughtfully told them that they
could donate their excess to charity.
An email to Petopia went unanswered. The first phone call netted
no result. Finally someone emailed to say that the remaining
three bags in their order have been placed on hold until April
first. But that's April Fool's Day and the outcome remains to be
seen.
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>Failure to plan for success
What's going on? It would seem that drugemporium.com has a problem
with its secure server and petopia.com has a problem with its
shipping procedures. Actually, it's a good bet is that they both
had the same problem - they skimped on the back ends of their sites
in a rush to get online. My company and many others do a good
trade in re-doing web sites that were skimped on the first time
around.
Companies that sell online need to seek out the expertise of
ecommerce integrators to design and implement an intelligent
infrastructure for their sites. The days of having a brother-in-
law who "knows a lot about the net" design a site have gone the
way of the dinosaur. The ecommerce stakes get higher every day
and budgets must follow.
Instead of planning for success, a lot of companies throw up a
site and figure they will beef up the back end once the money
starts rolling in. And sometimes that happens a lot faster than
anyone planned.
We are likely to continue to live with a variety of snafus caused
by poor planning. The way your site can avoid these problems?
Plan for success. Build a system set to grow with your business.
Or pay the price later. Like poor Ester in Kentucky, and Duncan
in New York City.
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About the Author:
B.L. Ochman is president of What's Next Online, a company that
uses guerilla marketing tactics to build traffic and sales for Web
businesses.
You can reach her directly at: BLOchman@whatsnextonline.com, or
subscribe to their marketing tactics newsletter at
http://www.whatsnextonline.com
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3. NET NEWS: Denial of Service Attacks Hit the Web, Sun to Release
New Java 2 Versions, WebCriteria Launches Site
Behavior Agent, Microsoft Digital Broadcast Manager
to Power Pay-Per-View, Macromedia Ships FreeHand 9
>Denial of Service Attacks Hit the Web
The lead story this week is, of course, the "Denial of Service"
attacks that temporary brought down Yahoo, Amazon, Etrade, CNN,
and several other big name sites. Still no firm word on who is
responsible, but you can be sure that we'll all be hearing more
about this story for weeks to come.
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,1087,3_301881,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/02/09/cyber.attacks.02/index.html
InternetNews.com, CNN.com, 000209
>Sun to Release New Java 2 Versions
Sun Microsystems Inc. this week announced that the next versions
of its key Java 2 technologies have been submitted to the Java
Community Process program for review. The JCP program is a
community-based process for developing Java technology
specifications, reference implementations and associated
compatibility test suites.
http://www.internetnews.com/wd-news/article/0,1087,10_301601,00.html
InternetNews.com, 000209
>WebCriteria Launches Site Behavior Agent
WebCriteria Inc. Wednesday unveiled its next-generation
SiteProfile service. At SiteProfile's core is "Max," an
intelligent browsing agent that simulates a typical user, and how
they see, think and move through a Web site.
http://www.internetnews.com/wd-news/article/0,1087,10_301671,00.html
InternetNews.com, 000209
>Microsoft Digital Broadcast Manager to Power Pay-Per-View
Microsoft Corp. rolled out the developer preview of it's Digital
Broadcast Manager software, which makes it possible for companies
to sell pay-per-view and pay-per-download content via the Internet.
http://www.internetnews.com/streaming-news/article/0,1087,8161_301741,00.html
InternetNews.com, 000209
>Macromedia Ships FreeHand 9
Macromedia Inc. released FreeHand 9, its design and layout software
created specifically for cross-media publishing. Macromedia hopes
that FreeHand 9 will change the way designers approach their work
by providing a toolset for vector graphics for both print or Web.
New features and enhancements include Flash integration, increased
productivity, and new creative tools.
http://www.internetnews.com/wd-news/article/0,1087,10_300531,00.html
InternetNews.com, 000207
That's it for this week, see you next time.
Andrew King
Managing Editor, WebReference.com
update@webreference.com
Eric Cook
Assistant Editor, WebReference.com
ecook@internet.com
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