__ Just Outta Beta - __
__ Web Ruler __
Content might be king, but the almighty ad dollar rules the Web. That's why there's a huge push to accurately track pageviews and clickthroughs. But, as it turns out, local and network caching schemes disguise repeat visits to a site, and savvy surfers filter banner ads to speed download times, all of which thwarts tracking systems that record only the pages requested from a site's primary server.
A new technology from I/Pro and Nielsen Media Research, which the companies plan to fold into their existing products, promises to route around these problems by revealing what visitors actually have on their screens. So whether a page was received from the primary server, a proxy server, or a local cache, site owners and advertisers can know for certain that a banner was actually seen. Plus, this technology also reveals exactly how long any content or ad was viewed.
While some have questioned the merit of a system that knows what you're viewing, when you're viewing it, and for how long, I/Pro points out that the technology might eliminate the need for intrusive cookies. In any case, as with other media, content comes with a price, and tracking schemes are simply upping the ante.
__ Who Is We? __
Recent attempts to understand human consciousness have united experts from fields as varied as philosophy and quantum theory, neurobiology and machine learning. No event better expresses the new directions for this research than the famous Tucson, Arizona-based conference Toward a Science of Consciousness. The new book Toward a Science of Consciousness 2 chronicles the proceedings at the 1996 confab and features articles by such profound ponderers as Patricia Churchland, Daniel Dennett, and Danny Hillis.
__ Touch and Go __
Why lug around a 4-pound laptop when you can compute from an Internet kiosk? Such is the logic behind the rollout of 40,000 touchscreen Internet terminals by Golden Screens America. Accessible for a fee at airports, rest stops, and popular street corners, the initial 250 kiosks support email, browsing, and online banking.
__ Speed Freak __
It's hard to believe, but Harold Edgerton, the chief developer of the strobe light, was a serious scientist, not a polyester-clad disco freak. He devoted his lifework to observing events that happen at high speeds, and you can thank him for bringing the world flash photography, among other inventions. A new CD-ROM, Exploring the Art and Science of Stopping Time, takes you on a tour of Edgerton's famous Strobe Alley lab at MIT.
__ Dialing for Dollars __
Now that Northern Telecom has produced a smartcard phone, telepurchasing never looked so promising. Relying on transaction software from VeriFone, NT's new smartcard module fits into the existing line of PowerTouch dialers and lets you access your bank account, pay for retail goods, and download personal medical or financial information at home.
__ Electronic Gold Rush __
SegaSoft has cooked up a downright wicked virtual world for its new online game 10six. Here's the scenario: In the not-so-distant future, when corporations have become more powerful than governments, an odd planetoid enters Earth's solar system. Competing companies decide to carve up this celestial body and sponsor colonists to exploit the resources buried below its surface. As one of these wretched explorers, you are offered a plot of land, a few rudimentary implements, and that's about it.
As the name suggests, 10six allows 1 million people to join the battle and fight for planetary supremacy. SegaSoft has enhanced this enormous endeavor by using PostLinear's Transactor technology, which embeds a real-money economy directly into the gameplay itself. Players dole out their hard-earned dough to buy and sell the virtual objects in the game. If you need a mining rover to dig for minerals, you spend cold, hard cash to buy it from SegaSoft or another player.
It has often been written that the key to the new economy is community, but SegaSoft seems intent on proving the more interesting corollary to this rule: the key to the new community is economy. Some players will actually make big dollars trading in 10six markets, but the only way to cash in will be to live a substantial part of your life in the virtual world.
