Amazon Ad Sales to Compete With Google?

theodp writes "Today, Amazon confirmed that they are testing what some are calling 'Amazon-Sense', a paid ads program in its affiliate network that resembles Google's ad program." From the article: "The speculation about Amazon's potential AdSense clone arose from the statements made by one of the members of the e-tailer's associates program."

Comments

Please do not use the term "e-tailer"

[Wee]

I grew up before the dot-bomb days, and spent time fighting through that era. Happily, I emerged unscathed. But I still have scars:

I remember thinking http could never replace gopher.

I remember seeing that Lynx could be bought in a box from O'Reilly.

I remember when Yahoo was part of .edu (and useful).

I remember when people thought Java was that thing which got the bouncing ball to happen in your Netscape Mosaic.

I remember people thinking Pointcast was a good thing.

I remember all manner of business plans (many funded!) which blossomed from any number of neologistic buzzwords simply because of their inclusion.

I remember anyone, anywhere, wanting a website -- and paying companies like USWeb $350 an hour for an "HTML Designer" to help them make those gold rush dreams happen. (And I remember said "designer" being an art school dropout with just a shade less than half a clue.)

I remember companies using VC money to host outrageous parties instead of buy necessary hardware. I don't remember too many specific moments during some of those parties.

I remember when anything could be e-hyphenated.

So I also remember when people started using the term "e-tailer". And it was when I initially heard that term from the mouth of a live person that I first imagined myself stabbing another human being in the throat.

No good can come from the use of that term. So please, I ask: Stop using it.

-B