'Writer's Blog!'
A salesman at PRWeb's parent company Vocus confirmed that management had sent out an e-mail that said the company would stop publishing online gambling press releases.
PRWeb had been one of the largest press release distributors for the online gambling industry, with clients including UltimateBet, Paddy Power and Full Tilt.
There are no plans for the company to accept online gambling press releases in the future, according to Vocus salesman Rod Harris. The company's sister site in the U.K. is also following the company's new policy.
"From what I'm hearing they're going with it," he said. "It's a wrap. We have PRWebUK and they're falling in line with the same rule."
PRWeb is based in Ferndale, Washington. Washington has some of the toughest anti-gambling laws in the country. Residents who play poker online or place wagers online on anything except online horse-race wagering are committing a Class C felony.
It is not known what lead up to the change or if the company was ordered by the state's government to stop distributing online gambling press releases.
Harris said that PRWeb's decision took him by surprise.
"As far as my level, one day we're issuing them. Then we get this e-mail. I myself know an online gambling client I was hoping to sign-up," he said.
PRWeb says that their service has been used by more than 40,000 organizations.
The company still has archived online gambling press releases on its Web site, with the last one posted on April 14 from CelebPoker. PRWeb says that all releases remain online until a user deletes them.
Vocus, the parent company of PRWeb, is based in Lanham, Maryland. It is publicly traded on NASDAQ and provides Web-based software for corporate communications and public relations. It acquired the privately-held PRWeb in August 2006.
Digital Element, the leader in IP Intelligence solutions, today announced that Zinio LLC, the global leader in digital publishing products and services, is leveraging the company's technology to deliver new insights about its global online audience.
Recognizing that consumer adoption of digital publishing technology is growing rapidly across the globe, and that the digital reading model is both more convenient and environmentally friendly, Zinio decided to leverage Digital Element's IP Intelligence technology to:
Improve its understanding of the way in which consumers interact with its publishing site; Better segment its online audience; and Seamlessly deliver targeted content to its diverse and global online base of readers.
Digital Element's industry-leading IP Intelligence provides Zinio with the tools to perfect audience segmentation and improve targeting accuracy based on a comprehensive set of parameters that include geographic location (country, region, state, city and zip code), connection speed, Internet Service Provider (ISP), language, domain name, demographics, and more.
"Zinio is in a unique position. We serve digital content to millions of people. In a time of great change, as more publishers adopt digital strategies as a primary driver, understanding the nuances and element of each reader is key," said Rich Maggiotto, CEO of Zinio.com. "By enhancing our insights, we are creating an intelligence repository that will fuel the continued growth of the digital publishing industry. From our own research, Digital Element's data accuracy made it the clear choice to help us stay ahead of the curve and continue to maintain our position as the world's leading global digital newsstand."
As interactive capabilities have improved, digital publications and their readerships have grown accordingly. Gilbane Group, an information technology analyst and consulting firm, reported in its 2008 research that from 2005 to 2007 the total number of publications that offered a digital edition grew from 1,188 to 3,286 -- a 277 percentage increase. During the same period, the number of digital subscribers increased from approximately 5.2 million to 13.4 million -- an increase of 260 percent.
"Zinio was an early leader in online publishing and continues to pave the way in terms of innovation for the thousands of consumer brands it represents," said Rob Friedman, executive vice president, Digital Element. "Leveraging our technology will provide new insights about the more than 5 million global readers that Zinio currently serves. IP Intelligence will be an invaluable tool in helping Zinio provide even more reach and relevance for its publishing partners and their online subscribers."
About Digital Element
Founded in 1999, Digital Element is the industry pioneer of IP Intelligence, a non-invasive, privacy-sensitive technology that automatically uncovers geographic information, connection speed, domain name, ISP, language and other characteristics about online users based solely on their IP addresses. This knowledge enables online businesses to customize content for more accurate and profitable online interactions, making it ideal for targeted advertising, content localization, geographic rights management, local search and enhanced analytics. Digital Element's patented IP Intelligence solution with its exceedingly accurate geolocation capabilities is used by industry-leading advertising networks, web publishers, search engines, social networks, e-tailers, analytics platforms, and online enterprises around the world to revolutionize the way people experience the Internet.
Digital Element is a business unit of Digital Envoy, part of Landmark Interactive, a Landmark Media Enterprises Company. For more information about Digital Element, visit http://www.digital-element.net.
About Zinio LLC
Zinio is the global leader in digital and interactive publishing products and services, currently distributing over 1,000 digital magazine titles currently in its stable. Partnering with American and International publishers, Zinio opens opportunities for revenue growth and wider circulation. Zinio also designs marketing programs that focus on consumer acquisition and retention, cross-promotion, and driving revenue. Zinio is also the founder of The Read Green Initiative(TM) (GoReadGreen.com).
As a worldwide distributor, Zinio has offices in San Francisco and New York and Distribution partners across the globe. Zinio's partners include Bonnier, Hearst, IDG, Gruner + Jahr, Hachette Filipacchi, IPC Media, Mariah Media, McGraw-Hill, Playboy Enterprises, Rogers Publishing and Ziff Davis. Zinio is also the exclusive home of VIVmag, the world's first fully digital and 100% interactive women's luxury publication. For more information, or to purchase any of the digital magazine-specific titles offered by Zinio, please visit www.zinio.com.
EffectiveUI, an award-winning user interface design and development firm, and Herff Jones, a leading producer of scholastic products, today announced the launch of eDesign(TM), a breakthrough multi-user web-to-print system for collaboratively publishing school yearbooks. eDesign enables students to work on their yearbook pages outside the confines of the classroom, is easy and fun to use, and requires no software purchase.
"eDesign signals the most significant technological advance in the yearbook industry since the advent of desktop publishing. eDesign is a sea-changing piece of innovation that gives students control of pages, reduces the margin of error when they submit yearbook pages to us, and ensures smooth production of a top quality printed product," said Tom Tanton, senior vice president for Herff Jones Imaging and Education Group.
Now in its first season of implementation, eDesign is helping Herff Jones grow its market share in a highly competitive marketplace by providing customers with the best yearbook experience possible. Nearly 75 percent of the firm's new customers have opted into the new online page prep and submission solution.
According to Tanton, EffectiveUI was selected to create the eDesign application because of the firm's focus on the user experience, the design team's proven successes in delivering intuitive interfaces and for the developer's award-winning results integrating cutting-edge Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR technology. "The EffectiveUI team understood what we wanted to achieve and delivered a high quality and innovative product," said Tanton. "Their work process is nimble, responsive and professional -- which allowed us to create a robust solution."
Anthony Franco, president of EffectiveUI, attributes the success of eDesign in large part to user testing. "We are fanatical about making users happy. On this project, we needed to get inside the heads of extremely savvy teenagers who were weaned on technology. User input made a huge impact on how we came to understand what eDesign should do. What sets this product apart is that it is focused entirely on customer needs," said Franco.
"My eighth graders love eDesign. They say it is so much easier and more fun to use than other yearbook applications. As a yearbook adviser, I greatly appreciate eDesign's ease of management and reduced complexity, which at the middle school level is very welcome," said Cindy Everett at Eastside Christian School in Marietta, Georgia.
When Herff Jones delivers school yearbooks in Q2 of 2009, the firm expects to measure the return on its eDesign investment. According to Tanton, Herff Jones staff will closely monitor the number of customers who stay with the solution after the first year, and whether or not the eDesign renewal rate is higher than the overall customer base. He added that customer retention is a definite advantage within the mature yearbook publishing industry, as is the opportunity to cross-sell additional scholastic products to a loyal customer base.
Herff Jones will calculate the internal efficiencies gained from the eDesign implementation. With six plants located across the U.S., eDesign is prompting a significant technological shift inside its facilities. In addition to the new online page creation and submission system, high-speed presses, total reliance on digital imagery and use of the Web for the customer proofing process enable the entire Herff Jones enterprise to better handle peaks and valleys of the seasonal business.
The designers and developers at EffectiveUI collaborated closely with Herff Jones to make the yearbook experience great for teens.
About EffectiveUI
EffectiveUI is an award-winning and recognized leader in the design and development of custom rich Internet, desktop and mobile applications, enabling companies to maximize their business results while offering exceptional interactive experiences. Leveraging emerging technologies and expertise in user experience, strategy, design and development, EffectiveUI helps today's most respected brands deepen customer engagements by creating more compelling, dynamic and useful customer interactions.
EffectiveUI has developed groundbreaking applications for organizations across multiple industries, including eBay, GE Health, NBC Universal, Viacom, Discovery Channel, Dow Jones, Adobe and Microsoft. For more information and examples of EffectiveUI's work, please visit www.effectiveui.com.
About Herff Jones
Herff Jones, Inc., an Indianapolis, Ind. based corporation in its 88th year, is a leading manufacturer and publisher of educational products, recognition awards and graduation-related items for the school market in North America. Herff Jones product lines include yearbooks, class rings, medals and awards, diplomas, graduation announcements, caps and gowns, school photography and institutional materials.
Approximately 4,000 employees manufacture its products in 22 U.S. plants. Those products are sold through a network of more than 800 sales representatives. Herff Jones is one of the nation's largest 100% employee-owned corporations.
Herff Jones Media Contact:
Stacy Hine
Direct: 317.612.3480
Email: Email Contact
EffectiveUI Media Contact
Chris Aron
Direct: 303.748.2444
Email: Email Contact
Selling through online shopping carts, publishers or distributors can now simply issue activation codes and an eBook download link to the end consumer. Selling through physical retail channels, publishers can sell eBooks on flash drives, CD’s or blister cards.
Publishers can assign activation codes to specific distribution partners and track activations in real time from within their own back office administration portal 24/7.
“Content security is increasingly important to publishers” said Michael Ball, Chairman of DNAML. “In October DNAML launched the DNL DRM internal eBook payment gateway solution and real time reporting administration portal. Today’s release is further evidence that DNAML’s DNL DRM is fast becoming the standard to follow in eBook security and administration. A combination of protection choices, real time reporting, publisher-managed administration portal, in- book payment gateway solutions and bullet proof DRM provides the world’s only publisher managed end-to end digital publishing solution,” said Mr. Ball.
“We strive to provide flexibility and autonomy to publishers and authors whilst keeping their content safe and secure. And doing so while providing the consumer with an extremely reader-friendly ebook experience. The release of the DNL DRM Activation Code based system will allow publishers to utilize the DNL DRM eBook security system to expand their online and physical distribution base,” says Adam Schmidt, CEO of DNAML.
About DNAML
Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, DNAML Pty Limited is a software development company specializing in e-publishing solutions.
Over the past ten years DNAML has created innovative products in the field of electronic publishing, based around its document-authoring system, Desktop Author. Desktop Author can be used to create multi-media empowered, interactive and secure eBooks in the DNL eBook format.
The DNL eBook format embeds the payment gateway system internally within the ebook allowing it to be purchased from within the ebook. DNL eBooks are protected by the DNL DRM system which also allows DNL eBooks to be sold on a try before you buy basis. The DNAML suite of offerings in the eBook space is the ultimate end to end solution.
CONTACT: DNAML - ASIA PACIFIC
Adam Schmidt
+6128485111
adam@dnaml.com
For further information please visit https://secure.dnldrm.com/signUp.aspx
Contact Information:
DNAML Pty Ltd
Adam Schmidt
Tel: +6128485111
Email us
Senders can stamp their own personalities on free, high-quality cards at an ad-free site Month2Month.com, a young e-card Web site, announced today it is launching the first e-cards that senders can completely personalize as their own rather than using an e-card company's name. This new service offers several important innovations and features that other e-card companies do not:
-- Cards can be easily personalized with the sender's own name or
brand instead of the commercial logo of the e-card company. All of the
company's Halloween cards now have this feature, which will be
rolled out to include all of Month2Month.com's cards in the coming
weeks.
-- The site has no advertising of any kind. Month2Month.com is convinced
that many people stopped sending e-cards because they either had to pay
for them or put up with annoying, intrusive advertising, on both the
sender and the recipient ends.
-- The cards themselves bear no company or site logo to commercialize them.
Senders can feel proud to stamp their own personalities and sign their
own names on these cards.
-- Senders can choose which cards they want to personalize from a wide
variety of cards. They can even change the card sentiment from
"Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" or "You
Are Invited" to suit their needs.
-- All of the cards on the site are free, not just a limited group, and
there is no registration required or personal information gathered for
later use.
"We have focused all of our efforts to make sure that both senders and recipients of the card have the best possible experience," explained Month2Month.com CEO John Aslanian. "This includes everything from the size of the cards (ours are larger and fill more of the screen), to the design, to the Web site itself. We want to greet our site visitors with top-notch cards in one of the last few commercial spaces on the web free of annoying, intrusive advertising, which we feel takes away from the meaning and warmth of the card."
Aslanian said he created the Web site because he was appalled at the poor quality and unimaginative products he saw at other card sites, both paid and free, and thought there was a great need in the market for top-quality free cards. "One of my biggest pet peeves is being shown irrelevant ads while looking for cards, only to find they aren't worth the wait, or the best ones aren't free. Even if you pay, the quality is not great."
On any given weekday, animators manipulate images of haunted hayrides, garden scenes, or dancing cowboys in the sunny loft studio of the company's headquarters in quiet Port Chester, N.Y. Producing the cards can be laborious; each card can take up to six weeks to make, as opposed to just a few days at larger companies. And the rewards of taking such pains to create just one card are obvious: in an independently-conducted market research survey, 90% of users surveyed said the cards were better than well-known, paid, big-brand card sites.
The cards are all made in-house and never outsourced to freelancers. "This is an extremely rare practice that speaks to our conviction that the assembly line e-cards put out by large corporations have lost their spark," Aslanian said. "Our new site reflects our commitment to providing users with a better way to say 'Boo!,' 'I love you,' or 'Happy Holidays' on the Web. We want users to see our cards as good enough to deserve their own names."
To use the company's free e-cards, visit http://www.Month2Month.com .
About Month2Month.com
Founded by John Aslanian in 2006, Month2Month.com is an Internet company located in Port Chester, N.Y., 30 miles north of New York City. Its e-card Web site, http://www.Month2Month.com, provides a broad selection of creative, high-quality, full-animation greeting cards that are totally free, on a site that contains no advertising, and doesn't require anything on the part of senders except to personalize their cards with a warm message of cheer.
SOURCE Month2Month.com
http://www.Month2Month.com
KidZui.com's Zuis of Obama and McCain
There's a new website that makes it safe for children three and up to surf the web and network with their friends... plus take part in a special election poll.
KidZui.com, designed for kids age 3-12, is a free web browser and online service - like a kid version of Facebook - that offers access more than a million kid-friendly sites and more. All of the content has been approved by the company's editorial team of trained educators and parents.
There's even a fun election section just for kids! Kid Zui says "Just as adults can support candidates on Facebook, kids using KidZui can now “befriend” Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, view each candidate’s profile page, and comment on and share content with their friends."
You can see the results of who's winning in the kids poll at kidzui.com/election2008. As of the publishing of this story, Barack Obama had been friended by the most children (with 60%).
KidZui has also been awarded the first-ever WiredTrust Best Practice Seal for a children’s site.
“The Internet’s youngest users see what their teenage brothers and sisters are doing online and want to do the same,” said Dr. Parry Aftab, Internet Privacy & Security Lawyer, Managing Director of WiredTrust. “KidZui has found the right level of social networking features to give kids a sense of community while keeping them safe. KidZui deserves the first WiredTrust Best Practice Seal for building an Internet for Kids that gives them the best of the Web, while keeping parents connected with their kids.”
Call Us For Details (952) 955-6346!
