On the Web, titans battle for turf
Article Abstract:
Microsoft's Home Advisor and Real Select's Realtor.com are poised to duel for control of the Internet real estate market. Home Advisor, available since Jul 1998, contains between 300,000 and 400,000 listings, according to Microsoft. Potential shoppers can view listings acording to five key areas: How Much Can I Afford, Finding a Neighborhood, Finding a Home, Finding a Loan, and Offer and Closing. Microsoft claims that Home Advisor represents the first Web site to inegrate these superstore-like services. Other options include budget preparations and loan pre-approval. Real Select operates Realtor.com, which leads all industry Web sites with its touted 1.3 million home listings, for the National Association of Realtors. Users can target an area before specifying their preferred type of house and budget. Details include the number of bedrooms and total rooms, square footage and age of the house. Realtor.com covers about 95% of US listings and draws 3.25 million visitors per month, according to Real Select.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1998
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Every day's a music festival on the Web
Article Abstract:
Web users can explore a wide range of music distribution offerings, but the approach also has its drawbacks. Music retailers already are following the lead of booksellers such as Amazon.com in utilizing a universally accessible one-stop shop that boosts customer convenience. The Web's multimedia capabilities allow retailers to build massive online recordings databases cross-referenced by artist, title and genre. Audio samples represent the most attractive feature, but 30-second excerpts make it difficult to discern longer works. Other problems include locating obscure artists and composers, as well as Web-transmitted music quality unable to match that of a home stereo system. A four-minute music track can consume as much as 6.5MB of hard-drive space, which means an album could consume at least 3% of a 2GB hard drive. Recordable CD drives or forthcoming DVD recorders first must become more prevalent.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1998
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Building Web pages is child's play
Article Abstract:
Personal home pages have been gaining in popularity among novice users since 1995. AOL reports that 5.3 million members have accepted its offer of a standard template for creating free home pages in around one minute. Microsoft's Front Page, meanwhile, emerged as the most popular Web editing program. The user-friendly Geocities free theme neighborhoods, which provide home pages for 1.75 million people, are favorites of thousands of children. Among the editing tools are an HTML editor and a simplified editor that conceals scaffolding. Users can make color and graphics choices through pull-down menus or type text. Young people also can learn about HTML and how the Internet creates, organizes and displays information. Geocities's Times Square is a favorite of teenagers, while younger users tend to visit the Enchanted Forest.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1998
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