The Null Device
2000/3/25
High-tech marketing: AOL is giving away a free keyboard that shovels eyeballs their way: (Salon)
What's different here are the 18 colorful keys lining the top of the keyboard, most of which have generic subject names like "travel" or "auction." Pressing one of them automatically logs you on to the Net and sends you to a list of RocketBoard.com partners in the given area, who will be paying bounties for sales made or customers acquired through these buttons.
The "AOL," "AOL Instant Messenger" and "e-mail" keys whisk AOL users straight to those AOL services. But if your ISP happens to be something other than the mass-market, mainstream access provider, the first three hits to any of the keys will produce a page inviting you to -- guess what? -- become an AOL subscriber.
The recording industry's secret weapons against Napster: (Suck)
We're seeding high schools with phrases like, "Yo, that's K!" (K for "Konsumer"). We'll make recording "I prefer my media ... physical" spots a requirement for any band who wants to place on Billboard's Top 10. ... We need to make it clear that if you're getting your music for free, then you're probably poor and have bad teeth and skin too. The moment a teenager says to a peer, "Free music? Like, you want to borrow my deodorant? Not!" we'll have met our goal.