Business: June 2006 Archives

Microsoft are squaring off against Google and Yahoo in the contextual advertising market. While their adcenter may not be 100% functional as yet it still has some interesting features, features that come from Redmond's obvious investment in the area. So what is "adlabs"? According to Microsoft it is:

a joint effort of Microsoft adCenter and Microsoft Research, is a state-of-the-art lab in Beijing with a mission to research and incubate advanced technologies for Microsoft adCenter. AdLabs is designed to provide you, the advertiser, with rich targeting capabilities and to give your customers a more relevant online experience.

Some of the demos are pretty interesting, while others are amusing, but all things considered it does show that MS is very serious about this market and we can expect to see more from them in the coming months.

Want to give RoR a go? We're currently beta testing it and I thought some people would like to get something for free on a Friday, so I'm giving away a few hosting accounts and domains (not .ie!) to readers of this blog. Simply email me with the subject line "RoR" and I'll get you hooked up More details on the BK Blog EDIT: We've had an excellent response to this offer and more than enough people have signed up. Watch this space for more news.

The IEDR has vanished (again!) including whois, website and backend

Has the IE zone become a squatter's paradise? Over the last few months the number of dodgy registrations has grown incrementally. For example, this afternoon I typed in Google.ie into my brower - or at least I thought I did! I ended up on yet another typo squat belonging to Gabor Varga & Jozsef Petho, who also own such classics as ipod.ie. Which domains do they have? Well if you try a few possible typos of the domain google.ie you might guess them: gogle.ie googel.ie googl.ie googol.ie (you can generate your own ones here) Of course the only way that their little scheme would be viable is if they are running ads on the sites that the domains are pointed to. If the ads they are running are either amazon or google ads then they are in breach of the terms of service, as both programs preclude the use of domain names that infringe their intellectuall property rights (try alexa.ie!) For a managed registry IEDR obviously don't seem to be paying that much attention to the obvious abusers.... They will, of course, claim that the registrants were able to justify the registration through the provision of RBNs, but anyone with half a clue can see that these domains are being registered with only one thought in mind - to grab typo / type in traffic So who is worse? IEDR or Eurid?

If you are looking for a job, or simply want to get a taste of the job market, there are a plethora of Irish and international websites that allow you to search current vacancies, submit your CV and generally make the most of the "online experience". However, if you are actually trying to recruit staff, you will be sorely disappointed. Earlier this week we started advertising a job vacancy. Naturally we want the widest choice of candidates so that we may make the best possible choice. I would have thought that advertising job vacancies online would not be complicated. Boy was I wrong! The majority of the Irish jobsites do not allow you to advertise vacancies online. Yes, they will list your job vacancies BUT you have to call them or wait for them to call you back! I'm sorry, but isn't this 2006? I'm more than happy to spend money online. I'm comfortable with ecommerce. Why the hell can't I actually make use of it? RecruitIreland.com, which is an offshoot of Thomas Crosbie Media (aka The Irish Examiner) requires you to either email them or call them. Jobs.ie / Nixers.ie - Fill out a contact form and wait for them to respond. They'll ignore any explicit instructions you put in the contact form and insist on calling you. IrishJobs.ie - seems to be a carbon copy of the other two. The only site that actually allowed me to pay them - yes, part with my money, wasn't even Irish. It was a multinational. Monster.ie. Monster.ie embraces ecommerce. You could ring them if you really wanted to, but you aren't obliged to. Pricing of standard listings is plainly visible, as are current discounts and special offers. You can signup online, pay your money and start making use of their vast resources in minutes. Much as I would like to be able to support Irish online recruitment websites I have to admit they really suck. Monster, on the other hand, rocks! Now why on earth can't the Irish ones make life that simple? EDIT: Our current vacancy is here

We're looking for staff to join us as we expand. Check out the site for full details