FYI: new and notable.
Bonnie Hohhof Search engines: news and updates.
Internet sites with information you can use.
Software and products.
Searching reviews and tips.
General readings of interest.
Articles mentioning competitive intelligence
Search engines: news and updates.
A9.com, Inc. researches and builds innovative technologies to improve search experience for e-commerce applications. A separately branded and operated subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., A9.com opened its Palo Alto, California, doors in October 2003. A9.com’s technology will power search on Amazon.com and other web sites.
http://www.a9.com/With little fanfare,
Amazon.com subsidiary
A9 launched its long-rumored Google powered search engine last week. But A9 goes beyond Google, offering a number of unique options, including some very cool personalization features. Chris Sherman, “Blending the best of Google and Amazon,’ SearchEngineWatch,com April 21 04
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3342881PageRank is Google’s measure of importance assigned to a web page on a scale of 1 to 10.
You can check the PageRank value of any page by downloading the
Google Toolbar This article is intended at understanding PageRank and providing an insight into its different aspects. Harjot Kaleka, “Google
PageRank algorithm explained,’ SearchGuild, March 9 04.
http://www.searchguild.com/article112.htmlThe
MSN Sandbox is the place to play with some new technologies at MSN. It is a chance to experiment and peek behind the scenes at some new ideas. Current listings include Newsbot, Toolbar, NetScan, TerraServer.
http://sandbox.msn.com/Topix.net combines an excellent news search engine with two other hot technologies: local search and personalization. The Topix database includes full text news stories from over 4,000 sources, including a great deal of content that's difficult to quickly access elsewhere. The real power of this nifty news search engine comes from its easy-to-use pre-built pages that aggregate news and other information into more than 150,000 topic-specific pages. Gary Price, “Behind the scenes at news aggregator Topix.net,’ Search EngineWatch.com, April 13 04,
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3339631KaZaZZ! announced the launch of its patent pending Intelli-Match search technology. The innovative new search technology gauges consumer’s search interests based on their search activity and provides related search suggestions within the consumer’s search box during subsequent visits to KaZaZZ! Press release, April 14, 04
www.kazazz.comInternet sites with information you can use.Looking for some opinions on products or services from people like you? Epinions.com is an excellent
consumer review site that features reviews on everything from the latest computer system to attractions at a variety of vacation spots. Jennifer Laycock, “Epinions.com review,’ About.com
http://websearch.about.com/cs/shoppingengines/gr/epinion.htmThe Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the public policy research arm of the US Congress. With its $80 million budget and 800 employees, it issues about 3,000 briefs, reports, short issue papers and longer position papers per year. An arm of the Library of Congress, CRS is renowned for its non-partisanship and in-depth analysis, but it does not make its reports available to the public. However, it cannot prevent members of Congress from giving them out individually and some government agencies from posting reports they find relevant. Perhaps 1000 have become available on the web.
http://2act.org/p/576.htmlHere are some selected books and legal articles on the subject of
Freedom of Information and related secrecy issues, with a focus on the U.S. statute at the federal agency level rather than international or local aspects. Sources include some legal bibliographic indexes. I have tried to select the most useful references from that list. Even if you keep up on FOIA matters, this list probably contains a few materials you've missed. Also included are a number of links to useful FOIA websites. Michael Ravnitzky, “A selected bibliography on the Freedom of Information Act, 1980-2004.’ LLRX.com, March 15 04,
http://www.llrx.com/features/foiabiblio.htmThe web site of the US Department of Labor, Bureau of
labor statistics, also includes a listing of links for programs and surveys, organized by employment, prices and living conditions, compensation and working conditions, productivity and technology, employment projections, and international programs.
http://www.bls.gov/bls/proghome.htmThis page is meant to be a comprehensive site of free, easily available
economic time series data useful for economic research, in particular economic forecasting. This site (set of web pages) was started in 1996 to give students easy access to large amounts of data, and to be able to quickly get charts of that data. There are more than 100,000 time series for which data and custom charts can be retrieved. A facility of great utility is the availability of Excel files for all series. The majority of the data is USA data. The core data sets involve US macroeconomic data (that is, for the whole US), but the bulk of the data is employment data by local area -- state, county, MSA, and many cities and towns.
http://www.economagic.com/Very extensive list of annotated, subject and country organized internet sites for
Africa, South of the Sahara. Maintained by the African Collection Stanford Libraries.
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/guide.htmlThe federal government’s investment in research and development (
R&D) at the nation’s universities — which is pivotal to the U.S. innovation system — has grown considerably. This report assesses that investment and presents a detailed analysis of the
federal funds received for the conduct of R&D by state and by individual universities and colleges. Donna Fossum, ‘Federal investment in R&D at the nation’s universities and colleges.’ RAND, 2004,
http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1824/The objective of the Commercial Service (CS) Kuala Lumpur is to promote U.S. non-agricultural exports and export-related investment to
Malaysia, as well as to help American firms find local agents and distributors. CS features a variety of programs and services, including hosting trade missions, organizing American pavilions at major trade fairs, and performing extensive market analysis and research.
http://www.buyusa.gov/malaysia/en/Export.gov is the portal to all export-related assistance and market information offered by the federal government. Whether you're looking for trade leads, free export counseling, or help with the export process, Export.gov is your first step in growing your international sales,
http://www.export.gov/China Vitae is an online biographical database that provides more than 2500 biographies of current Chinese political, military, economic, business, and academic leaders. The China Vitae database offers state-of-the-art searches of its biographies, including advanced tools for learning about the backgrounds and careers of senior Chinese officials.
http://www.chinavitae.comSoftware and products.anacubis announced the immediate availability of anacubis Desktop 2.0, a ground-breaking visual research and analysis tool.Designed to give business users the power of instant analysis, anacubis Desktop 2.0 is an affordable and intuitive visual analysis tool that transforms complex information drawn from any structured data source into a dynamic graphical map that instantly highlights the relationships and links buried in the data. Press release, April 5 04
www.anacubis.comThe new
Dialog Profound was released last month when Dialog began utilizing a new technology platform, on which Dialog Profound and Dialog® NewsRoom, another Dialog service, are now operating. New versions of three other Dialog business information, news and market research services — Dialog Intelliscope
, Dialog Company Profiles and Dialog NewsEdge® — will be launched on the platform later this year. Press release, April 15, 04
http://www.dialog.com/pressroom/2004/new_profound_041504.shtmlHotBot's new Desktop Search utility not only searches the web, it indexes files and email on your computer, making them searchable as well. Chris Sherman, “HotBot’s new desktop search toolbar,’ SearchengineWatch, April 14 04
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3339921Forbes.com has teamed with FIND/SVP, the leading research and advisory services firm, to bring you the “
Custom Research Center,” which you can access anytime online. FIND/SVP expert research professionals can find answers to virtually any business question you might have – with short confidential answers to get you smart fast, or as in-depth research for more strategic decisions. Custom Research Center,
http://forbes.findsvp.com/Inxight Software, Inc., today announced Inxight TimeWall™, the most powerful visual timeline analysis tool available. TimeWall provides users with the ability to see the bigger picture of the information at hand, while simultaneously allowing them to focus on and interact with specific, important data points. Inxight announced In-Q-Tel as its first TimeWall customer. Press release, April 20 04,
http://www.inxight.com/news/pr.php?i=126&y=2004MarketWatch.com, Inc, a leading multi-media publisher of business news and provider of financial information and analytical tools, today announced that eSignal, a provider of streaming, real-time financial market data, news, analytics and decision support tools and a division of Interactive Data Corporation, has teamed with MarketWatch to launch
CBS MarketWatch LIVE, an online streaming, real-time news and market data product that is also compatible with portable handheld devices. Press release, April 6 04
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/support/pressreleases/default.asp?id=pr_recent.asp&siteid=mktw#pr8The Benefit Network today announced that it is working with
NewsGator Technologies, to bring a powerful set of tools that allows users to search for and read HR RSS content when they want it, including exclusive subscriber-only content. It puts control in the hands of the subscriber, eliminating the need to sign up for newsletters, and minimizing the need for spam filters. Since users can pull targeted content they have selected when they want it, they never have to give out their email addresses. Press release, April 20 04
www.newsgator.comLast fall, Microsoft's Web portal launched
Newsbot, a searchable database of
news from thousands of publications, which tailors news for Web surfers based on their reading habits. Still in test form, Newsbot now lets people view their search history and store past material, a feature MSN calls "The Daily Me." Adding a more social flair to the service, "The Daily We" lets people view stories commonly read by other Newsbot visitors with the same taste. Stefanie Olsen, ‘MSN updates searchable news site,’ cnetNews.com April 15 04
http://news.com.com/2100-1038-5192876.htmlOpen Text Corporation, provider of Livelink collaboration and content management software for the enterprise, has introduced an online community of practice for government customers. The community, based on Livelink, is intended to provide an always-open forum to share ideas and best practices for applying enterprise content management (ECM) software in government. Press release, April 15 04
http://www.opentext.com/news/pr.html?id=1469Launch of a new
news alert system from
PR Newswire. Through the use of an unobtrusive tool bar located at the bottom of a computer screen, NewsPrompt delivers alerts on breaking news and links to full-text articles from around the world, based upon pre-determined criteria and keywords set up by the user. In early testing, users cited breadth of content, ease of use, flexibility, speed of alert systems, broadcast coverage, and cost- effectiveness as the benefits of PR Newswire's new service. Press release, April 21 04
www.prnewswire.comRocketinfo unveiled significant enhancements to the RocketNews (www.rocketnews.com) current news and business information search engine, launched in 2001. These most recent enhancements make it the fastest, most comprehensive and advanced news search engine on the web. In addition, Rocketinfo has also embraced and integrated the rapidly growing RSS and Atom content syndication formats into their comprehensive indexing portfolio. Press release, April 13 04
http://www.rocketinfo.com/content/pressrelease2.htmlSearching reviews and tips.
The vendors participating on the
Enterprise Search Center site (currently Entopia, Northern Light and Synomia) have volunteered to show you how their search engines perform under a real market test. In late 2003 and early 2004 we challenged vendors to use 8 of our Web sites as “the enterprise,” to show us (and you) how well their engines perform on real content. (requires registration)
http://www.enterprisesearchcenter.com/The
My Scannery website offers a personalized and automated way to track the database of The Scannery. In just two steps you can create a watchlist of keywords and search phrases and we will monitor them for you, analyzed by country, for free. My Scannery provides an automated way to search the database of The Scannery, the investors search engine that covers over 20,000 public companies from around the world.
http://www.thescannery.com/MyScannery/While it's true that there are other web-based
RSS aggregators out there such as
MyFeedster,
DailyWhirl,
Newsgator, even
MyYahoo, none hold a candle to
Bloglines. ‘Can RSS relieve information overload?’ LawLibTech, April 14 04
http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000129.htmlSearchers are loyal to their favorite
search engine, and stubbornly stick with it even if they don't initially find what they're looking for, according to a new survey of
web users. Loyal or lazy? 56.7 percent of Internet users use the same search engine or directory when they are looking for information, according to a new iProspect Search Engine User Attitudes Survey. Just 30% of web users have a few specific search engines they use on a regular basis. A scant 13% follow the advice that we frequently preach here at Search Engine Watch, using a different search engine depending on what they are looking for. Chris Sherman, ‘Search engine users: local or blasé?’ SearchEngineWatch, April 19 04
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3342041Yahoo! Search Shortcuts are special features designed to help you to find answers quickly. Click the title of a specific feature to learn more about it. Shortcuts include dictionary definitions, maps, news, patents synonym finder.
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/tips/tips-01.htmlHere are a few new general
web search tools to keep an eye on. These projects are NOT ready for prime time but still are worth a spot on your search engine radar. Each of these tools is building its own databases and not repackaging data from other sources. Gary Price, ResourceShelf, April 21.
http://www.resourceshelf.com/archives/2004_04_01_resourceshelf_archive.html#108261166091543674General readings of interest. Recognizing that this is an emerging area, here are 10 rules for using
blogs and wikis to achieve your branding goals. Nick Wreden, ‘10 rules for corporate blogs and wikis,’ MarketingProf.com, April 13 04
http://www.marketingprofs.com/4/wreden5.aspThe co-founder and former CEO of Bloomington-based Katun Corp. was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court for his involvement in two
corporate fraud schemes. Clarke also was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution to the Center for Ethical Business Cultures in Minneapolis and the Caux Round Table, based in St. Paul, to be used to support ethics education and instruction at Minnesota schools. In March, Clarke had pleaded guilty to helping Katun employees obtain confidential
competitive information from other companies and to offering secret "consulting payments" to employees of Xerox Corp. in exchange for confidential Xerox pricing information. Sam Black, ‘Ex-Katun CEO sentenced again,’ Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal, April 12, 04
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2004/04/12/daily34.html"We provide information for real decision making so we look for high quality content. We use Factiva to monitor competitive information and news impacting our clients; Ozmosys to monitor Web sites; HeinOnline as our archive of law reviews; BNA Newsletters; and of course, information from Lexis and Westlaw." O'Grady emphasizes: "It's not about giving them just something, it's about the right
content." David Scott, ‘Faces of Econtent,’ Econtent, March 04.
http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=6374Once a rogue application mostly used to chat with friends,
instant messaging is finally taking hold for legitimate business communications. But with the Securities and Exchange Commission ruling that messages need to be archived just like e-mail, IM networks need to be managed carefully. Debra D’Agostino, ‘Instant messaging: IM here to stay,’ eWeek, April 21 04
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1571642,00.aspThis fan site features reviews of
horror films from pre-1930s to the present. Also includes interviews with the Hollywood actors who play in the blood-curdling tales. The site's lists of award winners are a good starting point if you don't know much about the genre and wish to know the major films. Reviews are browsable by title, reviewer, year, and "master" (star, director, studio).
http://www.classic-horror.com/Like spam,
spyware is unlikely to be abolished by new laws or regulations. Also like spam, the intrusive software is attracting enough popular ire to spur politicians to act anyway. As the Federal Trade Commission began discussing spyware publicly this week, it quickly learned that different interests define the problem in disparate ways, fixing varying degrees of odiousness to their definitions. Like spam, spyware is in the eye of the beholder. Caron Carlson, ‘FTC tackles slippery subject of spyware,’ eWeek, April 20 04
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,,1571261,00.aspThe first
Mother’s Day observance was a church service in 1908 requested by Anna Jarvis, of Philadelphia, to honor her deceased mother. Jarvis, at an early age, had heard her mother express hope that a day to commemorate all mothers would be established. Her mother had also expressed the sentiment that there were many days dedicated to men but none for mothers. Two years after her mother’s death, Jarvis and friends began a letter-writing campaign to declare a national Mother’s Day observance to honor mothers. In 1914, Congress passed legislation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Facts for features, US Census Bureau.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/001780.htmlWe've compiled some of our favorite tips and tricks for Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. These are tips that will make
Microsoft Office more powerful, more productive, and even easier to use, and they'll let you customize the suite to work the way you want. Whether you're using Microsoft Office XP or Microsoft Office 2003, you're sure to find tips and tricks here that will help you make even better use of the nation's best-selling office suite software. ‘Microsoft Office: 106 tips and tricks,’ PC magazine, May 4 04 ,
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1568992,00.aspAim to educate and remind every client that you can take easy steps to help your
consultants perform better, faster, save you considerable amounts of money, and increase the chances of turning your project in early or on time and within budget. What do consultants need from you? Clear objectives, reasonable deadlines, direction, executive support, tools, access, accountability, respect, your time and your ears when needed. Jim Buttjer, ‘How to get more out of the consultants you hire,’ Darwin magazine, April 04
http://www.darwinmag.com/read/040104/consultants.htmlC.K. Prahalad, professor of business administration, and Venkat Ramaswamy, professor of marketing, both at the Michigan Business School, contend in their new book, The
Future of Competition, that companies need not (and should not) go it alone when trying to create value. Their research suggests an emerging economic model of value cocreation, in which consumers and companies routinely collaborate to create value that, to a large extent, is personalized to the individual. Book excerpt, “How to put your customers to work,’ CIO, April 15 04,
http://www.cio.com/archive/041504/excerpt.htmlGlobalization is often presented by its foes as some kind of corporate plot, but Richard Parsons, the CEO and chairman of the board of Time Warner, describes the trend toward worldwide business consolidation as the product of a number of different economic, demographic, and technological forces. ‘Why, and how, companies must go global,’ Strategic Management at Wharton, April 04
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/970.cfmA survey of office workers at London's Liverpool Street Station found that 71% were willing to part with their password for a chocolate bar. Workers were asked a series of questions which included, "What is your password?" – to which 37% immediately gave their password. The survey was run by the organizers of Infosecurity Europe 2004, an
information security exhibition at London's Olympia. It also showed that the majority of workers would take confidential information with them when they change jobs and would not keep salary details confidential if they came across them. ‘Staff reveal passwords for a chocolate bar,’ Out-law.com, April 20 04,
http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=staffrevealpasswor1082490425&area=newsThink
spyware isn't spreading? According to a new report from EarthLink and Webroot Software, there's an average of almost 28 spyware programs running on each computer. More serious, Trojan horse or system monitoring programs were found on more than 30 percent of all systems scanned, raising fears of identity theft. Paul Roberts, ‘Spyware runs rampant, study says,’ PCWorld, April 15 04.
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,115700,00.aspArticles mentioning competitive intelligence
As Business Geographers we are generally concerned with portraying spatial information so that understanding can be reached and decisions made on things that cover space and time.
Competitive Intelligence (CI) deals with “what are they doing” rather than “how can we be better at what we are doing.” Because of this difference in perspective, I think there are a number of insights we can gain by exploring their world. Hal Reid, “Competitive intelligence and location technology,’ Directions magazine, April 15, 04
http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=553Sales forces expect sales guides to arm them with information they need to confidently sell your company's solution, including ways to handle the competition. Yet some sales guides gloss over the competition, or provide weak competitive positioning. So give the sales force what they need to win. Following are six field-tested, salespeople-approved best practices to help you put
competitive intelligence to work for your sales force. Stephanie Tilton, “CI and sales guides: what sales forces need to win,’ CustomerCentric Selling News, April 04,
http://www.customercentricsystems.com/newsletter/v3-n4-a3.aspAccording to Bernard Belletante, dean of the Euromed Marseille School of Management, “Graduates with knowledge management and
competitive intelligence qualifications are also eagerly sought. However, it is difficult to attract students to these programs, since the subject matter is not well known.” Specialized masters: market-driven expertise,” International Herald Tribune, April 14, 04
http://www.iht.com/articles/514713.htmlOrganizations reported by public news sources to be undertaking blog projects include Verizon, reportedly using commercial blog technology within its
competitive intelligence and market research group. Mike Gotta, “Social computing: getting ahead of the blog,’ ZDNet, April 20 04.
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/Social_Computing.htmlCompanies must be able to paint a picture of drugs' market at each development stage, and they must project their competitive landscape well into the future. Given this need,
competitive intelligence spending begins early, in pre-clinical development. Press release, April 22 04
http://www.PharmaCommercialization.comAs an Enron executive, Brewer was responsible for risk management in energy operations, the e-commerce initiatives for Enron's water subsidiary and
competitive intelligence for Enron broadband services. During her time there, she witnessed numerous illegal and corrupt dealings. Press release April 21,
http://www.automationalley.comRocketinfo's market and
competitive intelligence solutions combine current news feeds with research, analysis and delivery software. These solutions allow large organizations to automate the process of defining, collecting and analyzing relevant, current news and information from a large number and variety of internal and external sources and delivering it to employees, partners and clients on a daily basis.
http://www.rocketinfo.com/content/intelligence.html
