04 January 2003

Understanding Nokia's Web Crawling GARRINGREEN HOTSPOT -- By looking at web server activity once a fortnight, I conclude Nokia is crawling for content related to its trading name, mobile phone trends, and WiFi. Nokia's crawlers have feeding frenzies when discovering their brand name on well-linked blog pages. I expect to test the sensitivity of the Nokia crawler against image alternate tags bearing content absent from any other place on the page. 7:03:24 PM

Searching for Dylan Creaven BAWNTAMEENA, Co Tipperary, Ireland -- This site received attracted more requests for Dylan Creaven last week (29) than all searches for the site's editor Bernie Goldbach (21) last year. [Analog and G!] 4:06:46 PM

Farewell to the Free ECONOMIST -- The Online Publishers Association counts 1,700 websites that charge for some form of digital content, from greeting cards to games to genealogy services. Weightwatchers, a privately owned online dieting firm that introduced a subscription service in June 2001, says it pulls in about $5m a month in fees, suggesting a paying customer base that has already grown to around 300,000 cyberdieters. (Weightwatchers International, a $5 billion public firm that licenses its brand to its online cousin, has 1m dieters a week at offline meetings.) Match.com, an online dating-site where people post personal ads, has more than doubled its paying subscribers this year, to 650,000. Still, the successful are few: just 50 sites collect 85% of revenues, according to the OPA. [Economist and Forum 15] 11:55:19 AM