Travelocity focuses on RSS technology

According to eyefortravel.com, Travelocity is enabling RSS feeds to notify subscribers when there is a lower fare. Here's another great example of an application of RSS. This shows further evolution of the next phase of the internet. When the web started catching on people surfed. As the number of websites continued to grow, people searched. We are starting to see the next phase where people will subscribe.

"Each day, Travelocity searches thousands of flights to identify low fares. Travelocity's new RSS feed will ensure that when Travelocity finds a low fare to a subscriber's favorite destination, an alert is communicated to that subscriber through their RSS news reader of choice (i.e., My Yahoo!, My MSN, NewsGator, Pluck, etc.). Subscribers simply create a personalized RSS feed by selecting their own customized list of preferred destinations or choosing from Travelocity's recommended destinations by trip type. As subscribers review their daily RSS reader, Travelocity's feed will provide customized travel information, news on discounted fares, and special offers. When they're ready to check availability for a flight, one click takes them directly to Travelocity."

Online Ad Revenue Up Nearly 34% For The Third Quarter

DM News reports that online advertising revenue jumped to 3.1 billion in the third quarter. They report that it is anticipated that online ad revenue for 2005 will jump more than 20 percent from last year's $9.6 billion and might cross a record $12 billion in sales for the year.

Google Suspends Analytics Sign-ups

PC Word reports that Google has suspended new sign ups to the free Analytics system. When new users visit analytics.google.com they get a message saying "Google Analytics has experienced extremely strong demand, and as a result, we have temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity."

Ray Ozzie Is Blogging (again)

I was reading Ray Ozzie's latest post. Now that he is Chief Technical Officer for Microsoft he has decided to fill us in from time to time about what he is up to. He hints that he may post some neat little tidbits next week.

I started reading his history and found it very interesting that he was hired back in the 1981 by Dan Bricklin at VisiCalc (the inventor of the first spreadsheet program and predecessor of Lotus 123). He was then Hired by Lotus and is the inventor of Lotus Notes.

Quite a impressive career to say the least. Microsoft purchased his company Groove Networks. It will be interstate to see how they integrate Groove's technology as they start to roll out more web based services.

I have added Ray's blog to my required reading list. More to come...

Cringley's Latest Theory on goggles Future Plans

This is a really interesting read (like always for Cringley). He discusses the idea of Google utilizing all the dark fiber they have purchased to make a distributed server farm to run all those cool applications they keep releasing and all the new ones coming up.

Worth a read, let me know what you think.

RC Bigelow Hires Mason

AdWeek reports on Mason PR acquiring RC Bigelow as a client. The tea segment is booming (from $2 billion in 1990 sales to $6 billion last year)!

Bigelow has purchased the last working tea plantation in the United States. Mason is helping to develop this as a destination for visitors to the Charleston area.

Looks like fun. Very cool!

5 Star Amazon Review of Naked Conversations

I just posted my 5 star review of Naked Conversations on Amazon. They say it will be posted in a day, but I don't see any other reviews posted yet, so they may be waiting until the book comes out in January...

Anyway, here is what I wrote:

This book is a wonderful exploration of the world of blogging. This isn't a book that tells you 'how to blog' but instead gives you concrete examples of 'why to blog'.

The authors talk about how blogs are a wonderful way to carry on a conversation with your customers and build relationships. They describe in detail how blogging can give you the opportunity to boost your credibility in a world that is becoming more and more cynical of traditional marketing and PR tactics.

The Mason Technologist - Top 20% According to PubSub

The latest PubSub reporting shows The Mason Technologist moving up from unranked in the beginning of October to now in the top 20%!

Google is Offering Free Web Analytics Software

Google has announced that they are offering Google Analytics for free (previously called Urchin). Urchin was originally $500 a month, after Google purchased the company they dropped the price to $199 and now it's FREE. The catch? -- For unlimited use, you need to be an AdWords customer. Non-AdWords customers are limited to 5000 page views a month.

Forbes Has Thrown a Rock In the Bee's Nest

The cover story for the November 14th issue of Forbes is called "Attack of the Blogs"
Shel Isreal has written a thoughtful letter to the author Daniel Lyons.

This article is so one sided it makes me wonder if they are trying to be as sensational as possible to sell magazines.

I intercepted our CEO's copy and tucked Shel's letter right on the front page. I then went up to his office and told him to read the letter BEFORE reading the article.

Thanks Shel!

DaimlerChrysler Is Listening -

Randall McAdory from DaimlerChrysler was interviewed by chiefmarketer.com. It's good to see my former employer is 'with it' when it comes to tracking the conversation online. McAdory obviously understands the importance of the blogosphere in not only getting unfiltered feedback on their brand, but also as a way to research and uncover new trends.

Many other companies have learned the hard way that ignoring this segment can be very damaging to the brand. Two top examples are Dell Computer and Kryptonite Locks. In both of these cases, they ignored the issues and got burned.

DC needs to take part in the conversation as well. I think starting up their own DaimlerChrysler blog is a crucial next step.