Digital Marketing Blog

Q&A: Jyri Engeström of Jaiku

A former senior product manager for Nokia's internet tablet devices in Finland, Jyri Engeström this year left to form his own startup, Jaiku . It is part of a new wave of mobile presence services designed to help inter-company groups and loved ones stay in touch.

At the Le Web 3 conference in Paris, Robert Andrews asked Engeström why the world should know where you are and how serendipitous connectivity turns into effective communication.

by Robert Andrews 19 December 2006 15:47pm 0 comments

Online discount woes hit Hamleys

Toy retailer Hamleys had its website pillaged by bargain hungry e-shoppers over the weekend, as customers exploited an error with discount codes.

The offer allowed shoppers using different discount codes together to get a whopping 60% off goods at Hamleys' online store. After the 'offer' was displayed on the HotUKDeals website, thousands took advantage.

by Graham Charlton 19 December 2006 15:31pm 2 comments

Venice Project review

The Venice Project, the latest venture of Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, has been going for a week now and we received an invitation to try it out.

The P2P site aims to deliver an internet TV service which is as near to TV as possible, while adding the sort of social features you would get on YouTube or other video sharing sites. The service is currently being tested by 6,000 people.

by Graham Charlton 19 December 2006 12:00pm 2 comments

'You are a spammer' - accusations and implications

A member of my team has just conducted a seminar at the local University for Marketing Students. Interestingly, one of the major discussion points was “who is to blame for spam?”

by Henry Hyder-Smith 18 December 2006 12:07pm 3 comments

Q&A: Polly Gowers of Everyclick

Polly Gowers is the managing director of Everyclick, the UK-based search engine which gives away half of its gross revenues to good causes. Launched last year, it syndicates search results from Ask.com and is being used by several charities as a fundraising tool.

We asked Polly a few questions about how the company has been able to influence users’ search habits, and how its new round of funding is going.

by Richard Maven 18 December 2006 11:58am 1 comment

Mozilla to release Firefox 3.0 next year

Despite the fact that Firefox 2.0 was only released last month, Mozilla is to release the new version of its browser as early as next year.

The rival to Microsoft's Internet Explorer has increased its share of the browser market since the release of Firefox 2.0 to nearly 11% in the US, 22% in the UK, and an average of 23.2% across Europe.

by Graham Charlton 15 December 2006 16:42pm 1 comment

Massive increase in phishing attacks, claims FSA

The Financial Services Authority has expressed its concern about the rise in phishing scams to a Lords Parliamentary sub-committee, claiming that such incidences are on the rise.

A spokesman from FSA’s Crime Team told the Lords that such attacks have risen by a staggering 8,000% over the past two years.

Of course this statistic merely reflects a rise in 'reported' incidents, which does necessarily paint a precise picture of what's going on.

by Graham Charlton 15 December 2006 16:41pm 0 comments

Online consumers reluctant to shop around

Despite the number of e-commerce websites on offer, the UK's internet users seem to be playing it safe and doing the majority of their shopping at the more established ones.

According to Royal Mail research, despite the fact that there are more than 26,000 retail websites, 72% of online shoppers are buying from less than ten online retailers each year, with the average customer using just eight different e-commerce websites.

by Graham Charlton 15 December 2006 16:38pm 0 comments

StumbleUpon launches video service

StumbleUpon yesterday announced the launch of a new video service that will offer viewers a selection of videos from YouTube, Google Video and MySpace, based on their personal preferences.

StumbleUpon has until now been known for a browsing application which helps Web users discover sites based on the ratings of users with similar tastes. It is now applying the same idea to video. And it's pretty cool.

by Graham Charlton 15 December 2006 16:37pm 0 comments

Fashion network Glam raises $18.5 million

Glam, an online fashion and lifestyle publisher, has announced that it has raised $18.5 million in venture funding, which it plans to use for mergers and acquisitions.

Glam Media, which claims to have had 8 million unique users in November, has also announced a deal with Hearst magazines to add content from Marie Claire to Glam’s sites.

by Graham Charlton 15 December 2006 16:36pm 2 comments