Domain: unitedvirtualities.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to unitedvirtualities.com.
Comments · 19
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Re:Here's another hint...
What do you expect from the company that "invented" those multimedia, pop-up elements that take over the entire browser window (aka "Shoshkeles)?
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Plugins and Javashit: Just Say NoSome Shitweasel Fluffed in a Press Release:
> "The only format that loads completely before it is allowed to play, the Full Screen Superstitial is guaranteed to play perfectly for every consumer, every time." ...only so long as the user is using IE6.0 with all the security features disabled and all the auto-download and auto-execute flags turned to their lowest possible settings!In other words, Mr. Shitweasel, "No they aren't".
Does anyone remember Shoshkeles?
Neither do I. Nor do Lynx, Netscape 3.x, 4.x, Mozilla, nor Thunderbird.
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Banner Ad Armageddon
I remember this same sort of thinking when HotWired introduced the first banner ad. And yet, without banner ads, Slashdot probably wouldn't even exist. The question in my mind is: What great sites don't exist now, that could exist by using micropayments?
The net as a culture dealt with advertising, and we'll deal with micropayments, too. The sites that try to nickel-and-dime you to death will die the same death as the sites that spam you with endless pop-up windows, blinking banner ads, or shoshkeles. The equation is simple -- moneygrub your users too often and they'll flee in droves. Micropayment sellers will learn the lessons of the market, the same as anyone else.
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Try it. You'll like it.Some people treat the subject of micropayments like they're telling ghost stories around a campfire:
"I heard the Micropayment Monster's gonna start charging us for ev'ry page we look at on th' web!"
Settle down, kids. There's no monster. Micropayments are good, and the BitPass model really seems poised for success. It took me only a few seconds to sign up for it last night, and a couple clicks later I was reading Scott's comic -- the most enjoyable 25 cents I've spent in a long time.
"Well, I heard that this one guy surfed the web one night, an' the Monster sent him a credit card bill for a million dollars!"
"Oh yeah, well, this kid's mom that I know, she totally freaked out cuz of micropayments everywhere, and threw her computer out the window and committed suicide!"
First, the idea that every website is going to start charging people per page is asinine. The sites that try to nickel and dime you to death will end up in the same graveyard as the sites that try to advertise you to death. Don't you already mentally blacklist websites doused in crazy blinking Flash ads or shoshkeles? Most of us will just add the nickel-and-diming sites to the same pile. And advertising will always make more sense than micropayments for large, brand-oriented sites like CNN.com.
Second, the BitPass model isn't going to spring any sudden credit card surprises on anyone. It's essentially the prepaid phonecard model applied to online content. You buy a BitPass card for as little as $3, spend it in nickels, dimes and quarters on your favorite webcomic, band or online beggar, and you're done. Buy another card if you want, or don't. It's pretty simple.
Third, I've often heard people saying things like "I think an entire cent is too much" for online content and "it better be DAMN well WORTH it!"
Let's get some perspective. Name anything that provides more than 15 seconds worth of enjoyment for a dime. Give it a shot. Even a quarter. What can you buy for a quarter? Anything? You probably couldn't get a hobo to kick you in the nuts for a quarter. Whining about the epic, tragic loss of a dime? That's comical. Griping that even an entire cent is too much to support the artists you like? That's insulting.
Scott's comic is a good example of the value of micropayments. It's worth a quarter; it's not worth $7. There are all kinds of creators out there who are excited about micropayments because they know subscription or donation-based models don't work for them. There are worthwhile websites that aren't ad friendly that are creaking under the strain of overwhelming bandwidth bills. Micropayments enable them to survive and flourish.
Tycho's quote that "if you have enough readers who care about your work to go through all that rigamaroll, you could succeed with any business model" just isn't true. If you have 10,000 readers who are willing to spend 25 cents a month on you, then the only way you're going to get that money is through micropayments. Period. With micropayments, you're a creative indie superstar making a living; without them, you're just another schlub barely keeping his website afloat.
If BitPass succeeds -- and with the engine of webcomics behind them, I think they actually might -- it will change the web. Not in the drastic, market-mad campfire story ways, but in the amount of enjoyment and information we'll be able to squeeze out of the web. There will be more websites worth going to, more musicians being rewarded, more webcomics worth reading, more webloggers not just blogging but reporting.
I'd say that's worth a quarter. -
Re:It could work ...
You have to admit it beats the heck out of a car driving across your screen
The same guys that brought you shoshkeles (e.g. the car driving across the screen) are the ones bringing you this--now do you know how annoying this will be? ... :-p -
Just in case you want to look at them..Saves digging around too much. The ads from here can be seen directly at these locations:
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Just in case you want to look at them..Saves digging around too much. The ads from here can be seen directly at these locations:
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Just in case you want to look at them..Saves digging around too much. The ads from here can be seen directly at these locations:
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Just in case you want to look at them..Saves digging around too much. The ads from here can be seen directly at these locations:
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Just in case you want to look at them..Saves digging around too much. The ads from here can be seen directly at these locations:
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Re: Opera and WebWasher
I'm using Opera 5.2(and 6.0 on another comp) and WebWasher 3.0. So far the only way that I've been able to force it to display the adds is by going to the demo page at united virtualities.
I've tried every other posted url and I've been quite unable to get it to display adds :) I think the only reason it displays on the demo page is the whole thing is flash.
Links:
http://www.opera.com
webwasher.com
http://www.unitedvirtualities.com/ -
Actually all you have to do is ...
Actually all you have to do is set the "run activex controls" setting to prompt or disable. It is interesting to note that if you try this with the demos from United Virtualities then the ad will not appear, but then neither does the original page you wanted to view. If you try this with the live boston.com site then you get the content and no annoying ads.
I wonder if the marketing and sales of United Virtualities intentionaly did this with the demos to "prove" that their technique is "flawless". -
Re:Konqueror doesn't appear to be affected
Oops...maybe I spoke to soon. I went to the United Virtualities website and looked at their showcase with Konqueror. When I did that, unfortunately the ads worked all too well.
All I can think of is perhaps http://www.boston.com doesn't have ALL their ads converted to the shoshkele format.
*SIGH* -
No, it's "Shoshkele ™"Well, it appears that United Virtualities has trademarked the name "Shoshkele". Maybe if we're lucky, that means they've attempted to patent the advertisement method and will hence enforce it, resulting in fewer companies overall that would use this type of obtrusive advertising? Ha - we could only wish. From their webpage,
"Please note that the demos showcased on this page are Flash 4 based. This is done for confidentiality reasons. If you need to test the functionality of final release Shoshkeles (TM) please contact us."
So they're showing us demos in Flash 4 so that people can't "view source" to rip off the code? Meaning that the ads are actually NOT Flash 4 but something else, perhaps, as they say that the ads don't actually require any plugin.I'm thinking that sooner or later, people will start ripping off this ad style, and they're not going to call it a "Shoshkele". Unless UV patents this ad method, (and IANAL) I don't see how they can keep others from ripping them off. Besides, I've already seen annoying ads like these on weather.com.
Now all we need is a filter for this sort of crap in Mozilla and I'll go back to using it.
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Re:origin of "Shoshkele"
how about:
"Shoshkeles, named for the middle daughter of their creator, ..."
from http://www.unitedvirtualities.com/press.htm -
"... no discernable download..."? HA!!!I just love this quote from Whats a Shoshkele?
This technology does not require plug-ins, and there is no discernable download for users.
Sorry, but these ads use flash. this does require a plugin. The plugin is already present with Internet Explorer.
Downloading a regular ad is usually slow through my dial-up connection. The size of the ad usually dwarfs the rest of the page. I definitely do not want to be downloading a flash ad before I can see my content. -
Ads work in Mozilla 0.9.3
the ads on this page work in Mozilla 0.9.3 on Windows platform.
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Re:new obtrusive adsThey are called "shoshkeles" (i think it's yiddish for "annoying as hell"). You can read all about how great they are from the company that invented them:
http://www.unitedvirtualities.com/shoshkeles.htm
These are flash-based ads that superimpose themselves directly over the viewed page and then merge into the page. Its hard to explain, just take a look. They're SO annoying that they will probably piss the "eyeballs" off so much that they will instantly decide to NOT buy the advertised product. Of couse, the copy here makes them sound like consumers can't get enough of them: "The graphic and audio elements create an intimate moment between targeted consumer and advertiser." Barf. Do they actually believe that? When was the last time you shared an "intimate moment" with an advertisement???
The Showtime example is the best, however. It is offered as an example of "geographically and demographically targeted" advertisement, but the ad is for a Showtime pay-per-view boxing event, and show on top of a WorldBook Encyclopedia entry for Boxing Day, which has nothing to do with the sport. How they managed to let this slip through on a list of hand-picked examples for potential advertisers amazes me.
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Re: Banner Ads To Become More Annonying?> Impossible! We need a new word, annoying isn't good enough even now...
May I submit the word "Shoshkele" as the word for "transcendentally annoying, transcending even transcendent annoyance, the kind of annoying that makes you want to hunt down every marketing executive and sodomize them with 20 feet of razor wire wrapped around an aluminum baseball bat":
Or as the advertisers define it:
Sample Shoshkeles.(Amusingly enough, I point out that the most amazing thing about marketroid-speak is that I couldn't figure out what the fuck a shoshkele was, even after reading the "What's a Shoshkele" link on the aforementioned marketroid site.)
This is all going to end up like the Marketing Department of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, who defined a robot as "Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun To Be With".
And the HHGTTG defined the marketing department of SCC as "A load of useless gits who'll be first against the wall when the revolution comes".