Tuesday, April 30, 2002
webbysszzzzzzzzzzzz
The Webby Awards: 2002 Nominees
For the most part, a circle jerk.
posted by
lee on 04/30/02 at 11:41 AM
(0)
comments •
permalink
Monday, April 29, 2002
web watchdog
Consumers Union, publisher of
Consumer Reports, launched Consumer WebWatch, a service designed to rate websites. Consumer
WebWatch plans to develop specific guidelines to suit the different online
sectors that it will cover and offer information to help consumers protect themselves and help Web site developers improve their consumer protections.
Consumer WebWatch
Here is an example WebWatch guidelines:
CONSUMER WEBWATCH GUIDELINES
We believe Web sites will promote Web credibility if they adopt these basic policies:
1 Identity:
Web sites should clearly disclose the physical location where they are produced, including an address, a telephone number or e-mail address.
Sites should clearly disclose their ownership, private or public, naming their parent company.
Sites should clearly disclose their purpose and mission.
2 Advertising and Sponsorships:
Sites should clearly distinguish advertising from news and information, using labels or other visual means. This includes "in-house" advertising or cross-corporate ad sponsorships. Search engines, shopping tools and portals should clearly disclose paid result-placement advertising, so consumers may distinguish between objective search results and paid ads.
Sites should clearly disclose relevant business relationships, including sponsored links to other sites. For example: A site that directs a reader to another site to buy a book should clearly disclose any financial relationship between the two sites.
Sites should identify sponsors. The site's sponsorship policies should be clearly noted in accompanying text or on an "About Us" or "Site Center" page.
3 Customer Service:
Sites engaged in consumer transactions should clearly disclose relevant financial relationships with other sites, particularly when these relationships affect the cost to a consumer.
Sites should clearly disclose all fees charged, including service, transaction and handling fees, and shipping costs. This information should be disclosed before the ordering process begins.
Sites should clearly state and enforce policies for returning unwanted items or canceling transactions or reservations.
4 Corrections:
Sites should diligently seek to correct false, misleading or incorrect information.
Sites should prominently display a page or section of the site where incorrect information is corrected or clarified.
Sites should strive to mark content with its published date when failing to do so could mislead consumers.
Sites should clearly state their policy on a consumer's rights if a purchase is made based on incorrect information on the site.
5 Privacy:
Site privacy policies should be easy to find and clearly, simply stated.
Sites should clearly disclose how personal data from site visitors and customers will be used. Personal data includes name, address, phone number and credit card number.
Sites should disclose whether they use browser-tracking mechanisms such as "cookies," and other technologies such as Web beacons, bugs and robots.
Sites should explain how data collected from them will be used.
Sites should notify customers of changes to privacy policies, and provide an easy opt-out alternative.
posted by
lee on 04/29/02 at 10:18 AM
(0)
comments •
permalink
Sunday, April 28, 2002
stupid things men say
"We need a new toaster."
"Why?"
Stanley asked.
"Here, let me show you." I hold up two pieces of toast, each carbon black on one site, bread white on the other.
"How did this happen?"
Like I stood there with a lighter and carefully burned one side each of two pieces of bread. The toaster, mind you, is almost 20 years old. How did this happen indeed ...
But at least he let me throw away the old one rather than squirreling it away in one of his black holes containing "stuff I might need some day."
He thinks I sabotaged it, maybe not seriously thinking it but the question lurks on the fringes of his mind. Of course, he thinks I sabotaged the 16-year-old Chevy Nova so we could get a new car. He accused me of putting sugar in the gas tank. Again, only fractionally serious about it. It never occured to me to put sugar in the gas tank - if I had known that's all it would've taken to get a new car, I would've done it a long, long time ago.
A trip to
Wal-Mart today made very clear to me, yet again, why I prefer to shop online. The Norwalk, CT Wal-Mart employees are certainly nothing like those cheerful souls seen in their tv ads. no sirree. We just have to figure out their Quiet Time - you know, when there are almost no customers.
Stanley has long made it a practice to go to
Stew Leonard's (a local dairy/supermarket) about 15 minutes before closing. "They treat you like royalty if you go then," says Stanley. And they do, too - you can give them your list as you walk in the door and have it all packed by the time you reach the checkout counter - they'd probably pack the car too, if they weren't so busy trying to close so they could go home.
posted by
lee on 04/28/02 at 03:04 PM
(0)
comments •
permalink
Saturday, April 27, 2002
become an eco-geek
AirHead!. Find out what you can do.
posted by
lee on 04/27/02 at 08:30 AM
(0)
comments •
permalink
Friday, April 26, 2002
lies lies and damn lies
Whopper of the Week: Donald Rumsfeld - How were things in Tora Bora? By Timothy Noah
So what if it's in what's left of
Slate?
posted by
lee on 04/26/02 at 09:15 AM
(0)
comments •
permalink
TextArc - the question I have is, “Why?”
DO NOT go here unless you have a high-speed connection.
TextArc.org Home
This makes patterns of all the words in a document. W. Bradford Paley, the creator of this, um, applet? said "I am trying to create an agar in which meaning will grow." (Which means nothing.) It supposedly "turns a linear narrative into an interactive map in which the relationships between words that may be pages apart can be perceived at a glance." Yeah, sure it does.
This is a work of art - and an impressive bit of software creation. Monkeys typing.
posted by
lee on 04/26/02 at 07:02 AM
(0)
comments •
permalink
Thursday, April 25, 2002
whatever they want it to be
alicubi journal :: home
posted by
lee on 04/25/02 at 12:48 PM
(0)
comments •
permalink
for spam fans everywhere
The Spam Letters
Warning: recent mentions in the mass media means this site is getting heavy traffic. Be patient.
posted by
lee on 04/25/02 at 12:28 PM
(0)
comments •
permalink
Tuesday, April 23, 2002
Just what it says it is
Digital Sushi. What's even more interesting is that there is a sushi webring.
posted by
lee on 04/23/02 at 07:19 AM
(0)
comments •
permalink
Monday, April 22, 2002
Herblock exhibition
Herb Block was one of the best cartoonists ever. This is a great place to spend some time. It's a shame he's not around to chronicle the lunacies of the current administration.
Herblock's History (Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium): Library of Congress Exhibition
posted by
lee on 04/22/02 at 12:35 PM
(0)
comments •
permalink