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Business 2.0 magazine shuts down

Alpha — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:45:23 +0000

It is ironic but the magazine created to document the new economy driven by online advertising is shutting down because of declining advertising revenues. Time Inc. announced last week that the last edition of Business 2.0 magazine will hit the stands in October.

The magazine was established in 1998 along with many other similar publications that sprung in Silicon Valley to document the new economy given birth by the newest medium, the Internet. The monthly magazine survived the dot-com bust in 2001 and continued to grow its readership to the current 600,000 subscribers. Unfortunately, advertising revenues have shifted from print media to online and Business 2.0 started to hurt financially to the point that its parent company decided it was time to close its doors.

I was a reader of Business 2.0 and even though as a print publication it was always a bit behind on the latest news, I always enjoyed many of the articles. It is unfortunate that Time Inc. was not able to find a suitable buyer for the magazine; a buyer who could keep it going for many more years.

EU law to put an end to critic misquotes

Alpha — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:32:49 +0000

Movies, plays and books are often promoted using quotes from critics’ reviews. In most cases, the marketing people will select quotations from positive reviews; but some times positive reviews from well known critics are hard to come by. This is especially true for shows that are plain awful. So, marketers occasionally break the rules and misquote a critic to promote their product. Take for example the theater critic who wrote of Saturday Night Fever play: “if it’s an all-out romp you want, this only fitfully deliver.” Promotional material for the show shortened the sentence to, “an all-out retro romp.”

Advertising agencies not playing fair is nothing new. But the European Union wants to mostly put an end to such dishonest practices with the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. The EU Consumer Affairs website states,

The Directive aims at enhancing consumers’ rights and boosting cross-border trading by harmonizing divergent national rules on business-to-consumer commercial practices. The new legislation outlines “sharp practices” which will be prohibited throughout the EU, such as pressure selling, misleading marketing and unfair advertising. Certain rules on advertising to children are also set out. Through this legislation, EU consumers will be given the same protection against aggressive or misleading marketing whether they buy locally or from other Member States’ markets.

In other word, the EU wants to protect consumers from misinformation. What this law means is that when it comes into effect for all EU member countries, marketers misquoting critics may find themselves prosecuted with punishments that could even lead to jail time.

With the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Europeans are not likely to be tricked again Sony who invented their own movie critic in 2001 in order to promote some of their worst films such as A Knight’s Tale and Rob Scneider’s The Animal.

Every day that goes by, Europe sounds like a great place to live!

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs on stage together

Alpha — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 02:04:36 +0000

Only The Wall Street Journal could possibly convince Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Apple’s Steve jobs to share a stage together for the first time in 20 years. The two strong men of the two most influential and successful computer technology companies in North America were interviewed live by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher in a special event during the fifth annual D: All things digital conference. Gates and Jobs talked about the past, present and future of all things digital. They agreed that the two have had a special relationship over the years which even though most people consider it one of rivalry and bitterness, it is more of a competitive and business one. Microsoft and Apple started by being partners back in the late seventies only to become competitors in later years although as Jobs said after coming back to Apple he realized that it didn’t have to be that way. Apple and Microsoft can coexist and both be successful in the technology marketplace. And that is the truth, isn’t it? I am glad that the two men avoided taking cheap shots at each other. It was refreshing to hear them talk about the digital future and how the technologies that they are developing will change the way we use computers and manage our daily lives. Luckily, the entire interview is available online for free. I have included below the first 15 minutes to wet your appetite. You can watch the entire event at the official D: All Things Digital website.

Save on printer supplies at the Databazaar

Alpha — Fri, 25 May 2007 22:59:33 +0000

Are you running a home business and are in search of affordable office supplies? Then why not head over to Databazzar.com and purchase printer cartridges, laser toners, printer paper, and fax supplies at an affordable price with free shipping on all orders? Databazaar is a company based in Florida has been ranked the 5th largest online office supplies retailer in the U.S. with customers in more than 20 countries in the world. Most importantly, Databazaar is an online marketplace of inkjet cartridges and laser toners like no other when it comes to the wide selection of available of brands. For example, Databazaar offers the most comprehensive selection of Epson inkjet cartridges at low prices. Other brands include Brother, Lexmark, Hewlett-Packard, Sharp, IBM and Dell. With Databazaar, you will never lose a client because you run out of office supplies.

This post is sponsored.