David White CEO of Weboptimiser Group Ltd

Here I am! I have taken all the bee swollowing moments out already! David White is CEO of Weboptimiser Group Ltd. David talks about his expectations and highpoints of the IAB Europe Leadership Council held at the Over Seas League, London, January 26th 2007.

Roy Patel UK MD of Metrixlab

Roy Patel of Metrixlab provides his feelings about the IAB in Europe today and explains some of his companies findings and forecasts for the future of the online industry across Europe. Recorded at the IAB Europe Laadership Council held at the Over Seas League, London, January 26th 2007.

The Videos are out!

At last - 17 interviews later, lots of struggling with machines that did not used to have enough memory or processing power and a great discovery to find that nowadays, at last, we do have machines that are both affordable and can do the job! I did have to rent the lights, but apart from that the whole thing was quite a low budget affair. It goes to prove, to me at least, no doubt all you people realised already - that you can make business quality videos using a handicam and google video. I tried YouTube first and as you will see, they do not synchronise the sound at all well.

If you fancy some channel hoping, I can prove it to you! Hopping mad more like... Danny does a fantastic job, but sadly YouTube lets him down. Whilst over on Google Danny does a fantastic job and now you can hear him fantastic stuff - keep it going. Danny is such a pro he did the intro without prompt or discussion, just straight in for the take. Excellent. On re-reading this I ought to add that every take he did was a one off - we are just acting out this life, I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears, and with the lucky advent of online video, you can too.

OK, we are nearly there, I am waiting feedback from a couple so right now there are a few blanks, but all the videos are coming together and are soon to be accessible directly from within the IAB Europe website itself. For an immediate peek of whats coming, check it out. - My privilege - two nice links direct to the Weboptimiser website - and I got to have 17 conversations in one afternoon - more than if I had been a delegate, although of course I was one of those too. I just happened to bring along the camera, some lights, a special microphone, a laptop that we used to autocue the questions... it all came together very nicely. Thanks to every one, it was fun.

It was a genuine pleasure to meet so many people in such a short period, it was a great fun, full marathon - well 17 video interviews in something like four hours - I was knackered! It was great to meet people I had met before and even better to be giving them the opportunity to present themselves on camera I made some new friends too, girls and boys from the states, Spain, France, Belgium, Romania, Switzerland, Woking, London... and I got to have some close ups with 'the competition' too. Nice to meet you and I look forward to doing it all over again in Belgium in the summer.

IAB Leadership council

The IAB Europe credentials were established yet again. It was a great pleasure to meet up with familiar faces and to meet and greet some new ones. I was glad to extend a warm welcome and a big hello to Stan Faryna and Ana-Maria Ilie who run the newly formed IAB Romania - thanks for dinner that was great fun - Stan, Ana and Julia. They are now one of several fledgling IABs who have the benefits of all the other IABs to support them. Indeed IAB Europe now has over 20 countries within its reach.

It was also great to meet Erica from IAB US and Erin who works for IAB EU in Brussels two legal beagles. Erica is Senior Manager of Industry Initiatives and Legal Affairs - her main responsibility is the management of standards, legal affairs and has been responsible for implementing a number of legal changes across Europe. She kindly agreed to be our first video interviewee and I had great fun talking to her in a fireside chat at the Over Seas League in Piccadilly. Erin was able to discuss her role - also on video - and the benefits that IAB members receive - I was fascinated by what she had to say - and some will be shown online soon - see below. The surprising thing to me was that although I have been working with the IAB for the best part of 10 years - much of what she was said was news to me - I had heard rumours of legal services that we were all benefitting from but it was not until meeting Erin in person and discussing these issues further with Erica that it all made sense.

Erin and Erica were really interesting to talk to, they had different perspectives one working in Europe, the other in the States, bu they share common goals and it is physical events like these that really make the difference in terms of expanding awareness and to communicating the possibilities. It is always great to meet interesting people - and that, for me is the main purpose of these events. I think I, like many others, certainly Stan Faryno of IAB Romania left the event with renewed enthusiasm and excitement for our great industry.

I undertook 17 interviews in all, wrote them all to video and when I got home - I discover that those 17 people have given me 8.7 Giga Bytes of footage for me now to edit. I expect to be out from my bunker in about a month - we hope to publish all the videos online at the IAB Europe web site.

It was a great day and the list of people I videod included Erica and Erin Lynch of Europe Analytica, based in Brussels, Belgium, Anthony House of Google, Stephanie Carr of SearchWorks, John Myers of Search Latitude, Antonio Traugott Hernandez, Director General of IAB Spain, based in Madrid and Barcelona, Patrick IAB Belgium, Roy Patel, MD of MetrixLab, Caroline Vogt of Microsoft, Marc Hemple, co CEO of Interactive Communication Group, Switzerland, Nate Elliot from Jupiter Research, Amy and Stan from IAB Romania, Jo from Conde Nast, Peter Mason - Advanced International Media and of course the relentless Danny Meadows Klue. They were all great - it was my pleasure, time well spent, thanks very much to you all. having just seen the rushes we are looking good to go!

So as ever, my message to all non IAB members is join - the internet trade is at its beginning, today we can still change the world - participate - or miss out. For all those IAB members that could not attend - we missed you - but don't worry - key information will probably be published on the IAB Europe web site
.

See you all soon. David

It is a happy new year

The first week back had its ups and downs and there were a number of good things happened for the business. Most importantly I was reminded of how good people are and indeed the benefits of membership of the IAB.

Through the IAB I was asked to chair a seminar in May to talk about my favourite subject - search engine marketing! Our clients had some good things to say about our 24 by 7 pay per click service and how pleased they are to have sold more over Christmas since we have been employed on their account. Right up to Christmas we were recieving excellent references and feedback from our SEO clients so it was gratifying to receive more testimonials from the PPC side - they all add to our testimonials folder.

Danny Meadows-Klue gave me an excellent book - Wisdom of the Crowds. Guy Phillipson agreed to appear in one of our future marketing events. Our sales team completed a project that I really did not expect them to. Our production team came up with some great ideas and want to take them forward - so I can't wait for 2007 to unfold!

I would urge everybody within the internet marketing industry, search or otherwise to participate and work more closely with the IAB. My experiences in 2003, 2004, 2005 and now 2006 was excellent and our prospects for 2007 are better then ever before - roll on 2007.

Big mouth and €60m

It bolds well for the industry that a marketeer such as bigmouthmedia can get a deal of this magnitude.

I have to say that we at Weboptimiser Media Ltd have been offered a number of deals in the past few years, all of which have come to nothing. Nothing that is other than I have learnt a lot about the business and the type of deals that are possible. I could say that we walked away, we could say that the terms were not up to scratch. In the end, it seemed that the numbers offered just did not make sense, so I hope it works out for Steve and his team.

There have been several 'high profile' industry deals over the years that I can think of, Webgravity reportedly for £1m a few years back, a ppc company for £1m, Iprospect in the US for a tidy sum to a UK firm and so on, these deals are not new. Webgravity has been trying to find its way ever since, the PPC company was a client based turnover deal and I understand that there were some tremours there. I have not heard much about Iprospect since they did their deal and I cannot predict which way bigmouth will go, other than the word which is just one letter away - ego.

So good luck to Steve and his team. Like us they have had their troubles over the years and it is good to see that good outcomes are possible. There is a distinct trend of mergers and acquisitions within this industry and the future looks exciting for those that can get traction in the market. My opinion is that traction in the market is difficult to achieve. Not least of which is because Google and Yahoo have done such a fine job in convincing, allowing, co-ordinating... clients to go direct, through the cloning and suggestion of optimisation techniques.

Ultimately cloning or adopting or creating new optimisation techniques is better for the client and that is the best possible outcome for the industry in the long run. There will always be some clients who will require the services of thrid parties and the best third parties are those that focus on the creation of genuine added value - and this as well as brains takes cash and client momentum. I am certain that this is something that Weboptimiser Media Ltd has, and I can definately see it in one or two of our competitors too, but not in any of the companies that have completed deals recently. That may be their secret. Lets see.

They are of course all welcome to join the IAB UK or Europe and join us on any of the Search Task Force calls.

I am appointed chair of IAB UK Search Task Force

Wow. I am very pleased that I was confirmed Chair of the IAB UK Search Task Force.

I hope to carry on promoting the efficacy of search and it is interesting to look at search from yet another perspective, that of the UK and in some ways the challenge is to communicate with the big TV spenders that online is the way to go. This should be a relatively straightforward task and we have already narrowed it down to just three, maybe four initiatives.

So, thanksfor all those that voted and elected me as Chair and I hope that I can make a difference to the future of the UKs search industry.

The IABEurope search task force continues to grow

I am pleased to discover that I have increased membership substantially, there are nearly three times the number of members to the IABEurope search task force now, I am very pleased. More importantly the membership is starting to reflect the industry and has given me te opportunity to have a dialogue with some of my competitors which otherwise I probably never would have.

So in a sense and perhaps for my own selfish reasons the IAB is proving to be a great place for me and truly allowing the 'trade' to talk. It is a revelation to me that the channel exists. It provides a level playing field where you know that everyone else is capable of presenting an opinion and making sense of what is being said. In this way I feel that genuine progress is possible for the industry - as some would say it is all part of growing up.

However, the industry is still a child. The child is about 10 years old, and that is about how long I have been working in it. Our child has grown rapidly and in some ways recklessly. It is young and it has a lot of money to spend. It is interesting to think back on all the products, strategies and business models that have come about, I cannot profess to know them all, but I have seen many. What is more interesting is how the 'panacea' products never have been, how the 'too good to believe' services have withered and died and how, even as early as 5 the industry was talking about ethical optimisation. Although that was always a stance of my company, Weboptimiser Media Ltd.

Nowadays we are busier than ever, we have a few more things in play, about 8 projects in mobile, a range of coded seo services that range from content management systems to network management, very fast microsite creation and competitive analysis services, we work in email, display, affiliate marketing... all of which add up to a broad range of clients and a broad range of services.

The IAB Europe search task force is about to deliver on its first remit item with its first set of case studies and I am pleased to see that I am not the only provider of those as I have seen a further 8 case studies come through from Latitude. It is possible if every member country of IAB Europe posted just two case studies, then we could get the dizzy heights of 54 case studies. That would be far out. Just think what would happen if all the search marketing companies around the world pooled their case studies how big the repository would be and how convincing to people that the industry is genuine and accessible.

Chair of Search Task Force

“Unlocking the power of search can transform your customer acquisition strategy”, David White, newly appointed joint leader of the IAB Europe Search Marketing Taskforce.

Welcome to the European Search Marketing Taskforce

Welcome to the new taskforce leader
The IAB Search Marketing Taskforce will now be led by David White, CEO of Weboptimiser Media Ltd (UK). An expert in the search industry with staff collectively able to draw on hundreds of man years of experience in search. David takes over from IAB Chief Executive Danny Meadows-Klue and builds on the projects developed earlier in the year.

What’s on the agenda?
The key objectives of the IAB Europe Search Marketing Taskforce are to:
• Communicate the effectiveness of Search engine marketing
• Coordinate European feedback and views into the global ‘measuring the click’ guidelines the IAB is developing
• Creating a website to champion the best in search engine advertising
• Work on new techniques to quantify the market including improving the industry’s knowledge on search spend in each country

How does the taskforce work?
The group meets monthly by conference call and more regularly by email. Individual members can champion their own projects and collectively the taskforce leaders focus the group’s activity around key issues. As well as Google, Miva and Yahoo, national search engines take part and search marketing stakeholders from all sides of the industry are welcome to join.

What’s in it for Weboptimiser clients?
Weboptimiser leads the initiative to ensure our voice and regular communication with the major search engines on all issues concerning search. Through me you have the opportunity to pose specific questions to the task force. You can actively participate in growing the industry by joining the IAB and the Search Task Force or simply supply case studies.

The voyage

I have been quiet on the blog front for quite a while. I have been very busy. Business has exploded, growth is a strong upward curve and we are moving to more central, larger offices to facilitate further expansion.

I am taking a quick break in Miami and am glad to get away. I find that I have my thinking head on - when it should be my drinking head! I definately will be by the pool taking it easy in the sun shortly. It is the Memorial Weekend for US verterans and there is a hip hop festival with 350,000 people right outside the front door of my hotel! Help I am stuck. I have been warned to stay away from the hookers - they don't want my money, they make more by stealing my identity nowadays...

Just before Christmas 2005. I started a process of examinging what we do at Weboptimiser, with a mission to automate and systemise, so that we can outsource, increase volume and ensure stable quality.

For some this means that we rely less on our engineers and are considering the unholy automation of SEO. I think that this is an inevitable process of life. I.e. when we do something good, we want to do it better. We eventually get the time to analyse what we do and like Henry Ford, break things down into 'manufactoring' chunks. Some of what an SEO and PPC does are easily systematised.

I have discovered several things.
It was the right thing to do.
It has improved quality.
It now means we can do more
It has overal benefits to everyone - staff, sales and clients


We are building in extra intelligence into the process, in order to differentiate what we do and to make our work better and more meaningful. Our engineers are spending more time doing more interesting work, the more repetitive but essential stuff is now done for them, so I think that their overal lives are better, as well as the client output.

I have shared data files of our discoveries with the team, so they can see that we really do have the ability that I talk about. So if they need to discuss in a client situation they know what is possible and they have a very real idea about what we can do for sure. Again this should make thier lives more comfortable and help us set expectation levels accordingly.

It is not until you travel down a road that you can see the choices ahead. In other words, I am doing what I am doing for my own reasons, rightly or wrongly, others may look at it and realise from the information that I share that they could do something else (an epiphany!) to benefit the client - seo and ppc.

I am not for one moment pretending that I am the only one doing this. My message is join in, we are still at the beginning of a digital world that still needs to be explored. And so we are exploring and plan to continue, some of our exploration will lead to dead ends, others to rich new seams. I do so because we have found out so much already -as outlined in our white papers and case studies.

We have found out how users behave online, we have seen how certain trades behave online - we have identified the pain of being online too. We continue to discover. By forcing the march of discovery we continue to pioneer. We know what puts people to the top of search and conversely what ruins thier chances.

Although the road I am taking is clear to me. 3G SEM or sem taking into account competitive analysis - is something we have regularly undertaken, but not necessarily systematically and not necessarily knowingly or automatically. By making competitive analysis systematical and automatic, then our advice to clients becomes consistenly better - ensuring ongoing satisfaction and helping our recommendations to be more forcibly enforced - or undertaken by clients, strengthened by uniform competitive information.

There is a lot of validation out there to support competitive analysis, another realisation that I have had. I.e. Certain sites are more influential than others. For instance I cannot only get a PR for a site, I can also get an Alexa ranking and whilst these are not gospel as they are proprietory to Amazon and Google, they do form the basis of some quality measurement. We can see how many pages and backlinks are listed in Google, Yahoo, MSN and many other search engines these all provide numerical, statistical information that is there to see, for free.

Like SEO we have on site and off site factors - and this makes for a lot of data. So I conclude that competitive interpretation is going to be a factor of statistical analysis - a computation. In fact as I have discovered, a series of computations involving thousands of variables as complex as any algorythm and indeed an algorythm in itself.

Fortunately my real world sales and marketing knowledge coupled with my real world knowledge of search and web sites puts me in an excellent position to be make sense of it all - and only time will tell, although in my own humble opinion, I think I have done reasonably well to date.

The journey is there to be travelled. I am a traveller and lookign forward to the next set of choices, the next junction at the end of this particular road.

Watch this space as I plan to announce a deliverable that everyone can have shortly, for free.

Back to the blog...

I have been soo busy recently, I got out of doing the blog thing. I saw the blog as a potential mouth piece and also I enjoyed the book by Biz Stone of Google for writing and publishing "Who let the blogs out", as stated in my debut blog.

For my part I have been doing a lot with the business, changing things, refocussing that kind of thing and also, mainly streamlining and preparing the way forward. I have had some personal changes too and all these things have conspired to take me away from the blog.

In my opinion, sad though it is perhaps, and nothing to do with search, the best thing that has happened in the last few months is the IPOD Nano. I have of course met some very interesting people and done a few things myself and for the company, but I cannot talk about them.

Back to the blog, I am about to re-establish the Weboptimiser newsfeed and soon I will be commenting on the stories again. Thanks for those that have responded and I apologise to those readers that find spam appearing on my blog. I have done my best to take them out...

New NetTracker Lite unveiled

Sane Solutions, developers of the NetTracker range of web analytics software, has announced the launch of NetTracker Lite.Jim Rose is a clever guy, builds up his user base, gives a way a free version, and when people realise the benefits of tracking as they surely will, he has already set up an upgrade path, giving value to his clients and his company.

New Indeed.com jobs search site launched

Indeed has announced the launch of Indeed.com, a new search engine for jobs.Good use of keywords in that press announcement! Should do well.

WebTrends acquired by managers and Francisco Partners.

Private equity funds provider Francisco Partners and members of the management team have entered into an agreement to acquire the WebTrends business unit of NetIQ.I thought this was going to be picked up by iProspect, what with all the cross promotion going on. NetIQ had been touting this around for a while, users are concerned about who is going to support the product going forward, hence why 'members of the management team' are included in the announcement - long term internet brand, should do well if managed correctly

Google snaps up Urchin

Search engine Google has announced that it has purchased web analytics system developer Urchin Software.
Cool product, urchin has some advanced features, we reckon that Google is going to give it away, which will dent the analytics market, but be very good for hard pressed internet marketeers. I just hope the users take a free product seriously enough, it was already one of the lowest cost. Yet at a cost to Google of $30m that makes it an expensive giveaway, if that is what happens. Respect in any case, cool product, munches through huge log files with ease.

Support for Jamie Oliver and his Feed Me Better campaign

Sign up now and register a vote for the Feed Me Better campaign, click here to vote

Jamie's School Dinners is all about making radical change to the school meals system and challenging the junk food culture. Showing how schools can serve fresh nutritious meals that kids enjoy eating will make the difference. It is already too far gone that the only strategy left is to name and shame.

What we eat affects everything. Mood, behaviour, health, growth, even our ability to concentrate. A lunchtime school meal should provide a growing child with one third of their daily nutritional intake. But the processed junk foods served in most school dining halls these days don't. Read about the problem and act.

They say that "you are what you eat". Well, Feed Me Better applies to animals too. Check out this cool animation that explores the perils of factory farming. Take it a step further and learn more about the terror of factory farming at the www.themeatrix.com

Finally if you have something to say and you are not sure how to say it, go to the top and email the PM.

Yahoo! launches technology network

Yahoo! has launched a network that gives developers access to the company's technology.
Great news for everyone, open source is to be applauded by everyone.

Ask Jeeves provides search technology to Lycos

Ask Jeeves and Lycos have announced that Lycos has selected Ask Jeeves' algorithmic search technology to power search on Lycos.com.
Teoma does it again! I have met Paul Gardi, Mr Teoma... As Senior Vice President of Strategy & Growth Initiatives, Paul Gardi is responsible for leading the development, communication, implementation and measurement of Ask Jeeves’ strategic business plan for the United States and internationally. He is also responsible for Ask Jeeves external communications regarding search technology. Prior to this new position, Gardi was senior vice president of search and general manager of Teoma. He was responsible for guiding Ask Jeeves’ search technology as well as the development, growth and integration of Teoma Technologies into Ask Jeeves, Inc. Gardi served as president of Teoma Technologies prior to Ask Jeeves’ acquisition of the company.

New .eu domain poised for launch

A new .eu domain name is expected to start a bidding war across Europe.
The rules of registration should be comprehensive and up to date, there have been several new extensions launched, some have worked out well. Should be nothing to worry about, if you want to protect your company name, just buy the url. Looking forward to see how this pans out.

New Clicklab technology combats click fraud

Clicklab has announced that it is making its advanced pay-per-click (PPC) click fraud detection technology generally available.
Interesting, protection from click fraud is definitely needed, even if you look at pay per click from a cost per acquisition basis, click fraud erodes margins and ultimately is set to upset Googles market, even Google CFO George Reyes recently told CNN: "I think something has to be done about (click fraud) really, really quickly, because I think, potentially, it threatens our business model."

"Digital divide" narrows worldwide

The "digital divide" between rich and poor nations is narrowing fast, new research claims.
Excellent news... The UN hopes that widening access to technology such as mobile phones and the net will help eradicate poverty

Net users concerns damage commerce potential

Phishing scams and stories about ID theft are damaging the potential of using the net for online commerce, a new report claims.
This is nothing new, buyer beware is the caveat applied to everything you shop, whereever you shop. There are scam artists in all industries and mediums not just online, in the real world and in nature too.

New 3D search engine from Inozon

A beta search engine from online services developer and provider Inozon aims to provide users with a new way to search the internet for products and information.
Yeah right! I get it, download a plug in to succeed. Won't happen. They'll have 10 users in weeks, good luck to 'em. Now if they harnessed the Macromedia plug in - idea waiting to be knicked!

Government unveils computer security alerts service

The UK now has a new rapid alerting service for home computer users and small businesses.
OK, watching brief on this one. We'll see if they manage to scare the market or sort it out. I reckon this will just feed the market place with worries, yet it needs to be done, there should be a way for people to find out. Virus's do damage business and it does cost money to fix. Or upgrade to an Apple computer!

Paid search interest drops

Shares in internet search engine companies have started to drop over the last week, adding fuel to claims that there may be a price bubble in the market.
Classically punters are trying to call the market, this is great news. It demonstrates that there is a market if the market is perceived to be controlled by investors, when we take a taxi and hear the driver is investing - as last time, that will be the peak of the bubble!

Cyber attacks hit Japan

The Japanese government has been hit by a series of unique cyber attacks, targeting the computer systems of high-profile ministerial offices.
This is all over the world, not just Japan. This has got to be something that someone could find a commercial solution for, afterall, fear sells, what is taking the time on this?

Top UK search engines revealed

Neilsen//Netratings has announced the country's top 20 search engines of 2004
In my view there are just not enough, we need more channels, more routes to market, not less, competition rules!

Councils urged to blog

Local councils are being told to get online and keep internet journals, or blogs, to bring local people together.
Too right, it is a great medium for communication, provided that the writers are not too uptight. Buy who let the blogs out and read all about it...

News companies turn to RSS

RSS is transforming the way people receive news online, according to a number of media reports.
What happened to RSS? has it really taken off? It seems it is a technology too far, a technology that on the surface looks great, but in fact just does not motivate people to use it. A classic non sexy technology... Maybe the reasons are similar to those that are behind the delay of News companies introducing RSS readers. Hey maybe it is just about to take off, maybe this is what RSS is waiting for, lets wait and see... Thoughts?

Web giants bid for About.com

Five internet firms, including Google, Yahoo, The New York Times Company, AOL and Ask Jeeves, are believed to have submitted final bids.
As I have said before there is a shortage of online channels and that is why there is a lot of interest in this - one of the last bastions, perhaps. But a sealed bid process is that really the way forward? I think that reflects on the management of the business and demonstrates that they do not care, they do not plan to run it, they are just looking for money, which is OK for the management, but what about the staff and then, as a result, the product itself. Will this signal a huge purchase followed by a huge disaster. What a caring world we live in.

Movie industry launches fresh peer-to-peer attack

The film industry has filed its second lawsuit in the United States against file-sharing networks.
Truly, madly, MAD!! Hey I know, lets stop the free marketing...

Nokodo offers domain name searches

Nokodo offers keyword searching against the most recently deleted domain names.
We live in an online world where all the great names are gone and mostly unused, I for one welcome the availability of a tool that lets us know where we can pcik up great domains...

Macrovision tackles DVD piracy

Copy protection firm Macrovision has launched a new technology that will make DVDs harder to copy

Britons frustrated with ISPs

Many Britons are unhappy with their internet service.
I can vouch for that. BT openworld is one of the worse sites in the world. They offer a Mac service, then their engineers do not have any knowledge of what a Mac is!

Gates announces plans for IE7

Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates has announced that a new version of the company Internet Explorer browser is under development.
Maybe they may rethink their compatibility with the Mac and start making some friends.

Tours.com launches speciality search service

Internet travel search engine Tours.com has announced the launch of its newest search category: worldwide travel agent search by speciality.
Or if you call trailfinders, they will do it for you...

Yahoo! Blogs beta for Japan

Yahoo! Japan has launched a beta test version of Yahoo! Japan Blogs

Aussie search engine surges in popularity

New Australian search engine Ansearch is reportedly proving popular with web users

Firefox 1.1 launch delayed

The release of the new Firefox 1.1 has been delayed

Women and elderly secure PCs

Older people and women are increasingly protecting their PCs from malicious internet attacks

Weboptimiser wins award

Weboptimiser has been voted 14th fastest growing media company in the UK.
That is top in our field and I got to have lunch with Chris Ingram founder of CIA and Genesis. Great speech, nice bloke.

Women and elderly secure PCs

Older people and women are increasingly protecting their PCs from malicious internet attacks.
From the email I get, it is positively obscene. Wham, bam, no thank you spam.

Linux founder launches attack on software patents

Linux founder Linus Torvalds has attacked software patents.
THE CATHEDRAL AND THE BAZAAR

ID theft scams on the rise

Identity theft fraud is on the increase in the United States.
Whereami?

Chinese search engine considers IPO

Top Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com is reportedly planning to raise around $200 million (£106 million) in a US stock flotation this year.