Robert Andrews

Yahoo! searchers suggest fix to buggy new feature

Yahoo! engineers had to start fixing a bug in a new live search feature, just a day after announcing the addition.

Yahoo! Search's Kevin Lee introduced the new Search Suggest function, which offers suggestions on search terms as a user types.

by Robert Andrews 13 July 2007 13:00pm 0 comments

Google bans ads for controversial drug

Google has announced it will ban online advertisements for an appetite suppressant that has come under fire in medical circles.

The search giant contacted some advertisers to inform them it would stop taking ads for ephedrine-based products "in the coming weeks".

by Robert Andrews 13 July 2007 12:00pm 1 comment

E-marketing read rates decline, Wednesday still rules

Fewer people are reading marketing emails, according to a new survey.

The study, conducted by agency eROI concluded: "We continue to see a decline in read rates across the board as more and more email clients are adopting the 'images off' default setting."

by Robert Andrews 12 July 2007 11:00am 2 comments

Women find net indispensable part of life

The internet is becoming increasingly indispensable for women, with over two thirds (66.1 percent) saying their lives would be disrupted if they had to go without the web for a week.

Burst Media's study of 1,800 women aged 25 and over found four out of five females go online between 7am and midnight.

by Robert Andrews 11 July 2007 13:56pm 0 comments

Google adds developers' Mapplets to maps

Google Maps has launched an on-site applets platform that could do for the mapping tool what Apps have done for Facebook.

Mapplets are mini web applications that can be bolted on to extend a user's Google Maps experience with a range of new functions, from petrol prices to Manchester's Metro system.

by Robert Andrews 11 July 2007 14:30pm 0 comments

Pot Noodle launches UGC ad campaign on YouTube

Pot Noodle has launched a user-generated advertising campaign hosted on YouTube.

Owner Unilever has invited users to submit videos of themselves eating the snack in unusual places - for each video submitted, the company will send out 12 Pot Noodles.

by Robert Andrews 10 July 2007 11:25am 0 comments

Nielsen/NetRatings drops page views metric

Web traffic measurement agency Nielsen/NetRatings will reportedly scrap the "page views" metric in response to the growing challenge posed by dynamic websites.

Ajax websites and web-based videos mean content can be loaded with no web page reloading, so the firm will begin instead reporting the length of time users spend at audited sites.

by Robert Andrews 10 July 2007 12:00pm 0 comments

Cash prize for anti-Microsoft XML lobbyists

The Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), a software rights advocacy group, has offered a EUR 2,500 prize to whoever can devise the best campaign against Microsoft's attempts to seek standardisation for its Office file formats.

The FFII objects to the Redmond, Washington, software giant's attempts to gain International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) approval for its Office OpenXML file format.

by Robert Andrews 09 July 2007 15:09pm 0 comments

Six million .uk domains live, Nominet reports

Nominet has registered its six millionth .uk domain name, with the national country code attracting a growing number of domestic companies.

The registry said a YouGov survey of 2,324 internet users showed people were six times more likely to enter a .uk domain name than a .com address when using a search engine.

by Robert Andrews 09 July 2007 15:11pm 1 comment

FeedBurner drops charges for pro services

RSS feed management service FeedBurner is abolishing charges for two of its premium features, now that it is owned by Google.

TotalStats and MyBrand, which give users extended data and on-site feed URLs, were previously available under FeedBurner's PRO package at a cost of between $3 and $14.

by Robert Andrews 04 July 2007 16:39pm 0 comments