ACHTUNG! Auto translation in search
A new service will automatically translate any German search term into English and French, and will simultaneously search websites in those languages, writes Deepak Mankar.
Hands-on, "breaking news", eyewitness history, anyone? Try Durga Das's India From Curzon to Nehru and After (Rupa & Co, New Delhi, 2004, Rs.295/-). Or, if there's a Strand Book Stall near you, Rs.236/- only. It's one of the best ways of updating one's knowledge of recent history.
Durga Das's writing, happily enough, is objective, sane, even-keeled, fast paced - and without rancour or malice even when he's telling a tale of the wickedest villainy. He has told whatever happened as he "saw" it happen. As an Associated Press of India employee and a close associate of KC Roy, the news syndication pioneer in India, right from the time of Curzon's viceroyalty, Durga Das had an intimate access to the high and the mighty.
He used his opportunity to advantage and did a great job of news gathering and dissemination for a long, long time. The book is an insider's take on and a view from the wings of twentieth century Indian history. Absolutely edge-of-the-seat reading, far more exciting than the most thrilling of thrillers! Read a sample excerpt here: - a service of Newspaper Direct - that lets you see 225 newspaper front pages for free.
You also can read the rest of the papers if you are willing to pay. A useful feature is the ability to search through a newspaper by keyword, something that is a little difficult in the paper version. PressDisplay uses AJAX on top of a .NET server. (AJAX wikipedia.org is the current craze on the Internet - also the technology that powers Google Maps google.com.
BANNER ADS THAT JUST MAY WORK. Meet 'eMiniMalls'.
At long last, Katja Riefler (E-Media Tidbits, 13 July) found Chitika chitika.com, "a pay-per-click contextual advertising service based in Marlborough, Massachussetts, that has introduced "eMiniMalls" - banners I'd probably like to click on if offered in the right context". In other words, these banners are "a sort of mini-shops" with "prices, product reviews, and links to merchants". They use the Demo-Banner chitika.com to show the services on Chitika's website. Earlier on NYTimes.com nytimes.com had more background on the service.
Bob Tedeschi in his article entitled 'Internet Banner Ads Look to Get More Interesting (and Thus Less Easy to Ignore)' explains the concept as follows: "Late last month, Chitika (pronounced CHIH-tih-ka), an advertising company based in Marlborough, Mass., began testing eMiniMalls, a technology that scans a Web page, chooses a product the reader might be interested in, then displays banner ads that are miniature shopping comparison pages, with prices, product reviews and links to merchants."
He cites Gary Stein, an analyst with Jupiter Research, an online consultancy, who opines: "I know it's interactive, and shopping search is a good idea, but it's still perceived as this thing, this space. Banners just aren't all that great at attracting attention." Nonetheless, argues Tedeschi: "Chitika's unusual approach to banners is aimed at attracting attention. The ads, which are being tested by a handful of online publishers, including the college savings site upromise.com, allow users to click on different tabs to view various features of a product without being whisked away to another site."
NO MORE RELEVANT? Disintermediation revisited.
One of my earliest feelings about the Internet was that it would make intermediaries irrelevant and thus cut costs. Now, years later, I came across an article by John Battelle who used to edit Wired magazine once on this very topic. adage.com. In it, he defines disintermediation as "just another way of saying that you've become irrelevant to your customers." For the content makers, it may be advantageous because they can now go directly to their audience without the need to be employed by a media company.
Battelle's advice for both marketers and publishers is along the following lines. Make sure, he urges, that your content is visible prominently "when the consumer's intent is declared" — that is, when they look for something on search engines. Encourage links to your content, because links enable you to "join the conversation". Look for new models to connect content, audience and marketers. Makes sense, doesn't it?
That's all for now though there's plenty more out there. Join me again next week, same place.
Copyright (c) 2001- 2005 by Deepak Mankar. All rights reserved. Deepak Mankar, an advertising practitioner on the creative side since 1965, is also intensely passionate about the web and web content creation. Read his online articles athttp://www.asiaondemand.com/. Website:http://www.addgandhi.com/original/. You may e-mail him at dmankar@bom8.vsnl.net.in