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Worth reading
Worth reading today:
•Good overview of the spam-mail problem in The New Yorker:
Spam's growth has been metastatic, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of all mail. In 2001, spam accounted for about five per cent of the traffic on the Internet; by 2004, that figure had risen to more than seventy per cent. This year, in some regions, it has edged above ninety per cent.
• Virtual marketers have second thoughts about Second Life, from the LA Times (reg. required, or see bugmenot). Finally journalists are beginning to question the hype about SecondLife - I've felt skeptical for a long time. From the article:
But the sites of many of the companies remaining in Second Life are empty. During a recent in-world visit, Best Buy Co.'s Geek Squad Island was devoid of visitors and the virtual staff that was supposed to be online.
The schedule of events on Sun Microsystems Inc.'s site was blank, and the green landscape of Dell Island was deserted. Signs posted on the window of the empty American Apparel store said it had closed up shop.
• ‘Harry’ and the Strange Logic of Book Discounters (reg. req'd) in which the New York Times' Joe Nocera explains the antiquated business model of book publishers: "[T]iny Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla., which has sold fewer than 2,000 copies of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' will make more money on it than might Amazon. Did I mention that the book business is a funny business?"
• The Remote Control CEO, an Inc. magazine profile of Stephen McDonnell, CEO of Applegate Farms (which I mentioned in a recent post), who manages his global business from his home office. Good example of working remotely.
