“MaximumASP is a natural choice to debut IIS 7.0 in a hosted environment. Throughout the evaluation and testing process, MaximumASP demonstrated excellent flexibility and technical skill, and has developed a strong relationship with the developer product groups at Microsoft,” said Bill Staples, the product unit manager of IIS 7.0.

“The IIS product is at the center of Microsoft’s Web platform strategy,” Staples continued. “IIS serves as the underlying hosting and management infrastructure for all of Microsoft’s Web platform technologies including ASP.NET and Windows Communication Foundation. Microsoft is excited to work with MaximumASP as an early adopter of IIS 7.0 and believes its commitment to quality hosting and excellent customer service will result in a fantastic opportunity for customers to evaluate IIS 7.0.”

At the other end of the deal, Chris Page, CTIO of MaximumASP, seemed equally enthusiastic. “We are very excited about the IIS 7.0 architecture and anxious to give users a sneak preview of how it will change management of hosted sites and Web applications,” he said. “MaximumASP continues to lead the hosting industry by giving our customers a competitive edge and enabling them to be first-to-market with new solutions.”

Users all over the world will be able to try out the new technology, which will be available in a hosted environment, for free. It’s likely that many people will take advantage of the opportunity to test-drive the long-anticipated “Longhorn.”

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.

But in paper sales, weekday subscriptions have fallen 2.5%, and Sunday circulations have decreased even more, by 3.1%. This means that 45.4 million and 48.5 million readers, respectively, still buy the physical copies, according to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA).

Younger people are driving this development, as they increasingly prefer to reference cable TV and the Web for their news. This trend began in the 1980s, and as industry analyst John Morton says, “It isn’t likely to change.”

Paper sales did not uniformly decrease, though. A few of the major newspapers eked out minor gains, with USA TODAY’s sales increasing by 0.1%, The New York Times managing a 0.5% growth, and the Chicago Tribune increasing circulation by 0.9%.

Other benchmark newspapers showed drastic declines. The Los Angeles Times lost 9.1%, The Boston Herald dropped by 9.1%, and The San Francisco Chronicle fell off a small cliff, with sales decreasing by 15.6%.

Despite these depressing numbers, investors seem optimistic. In the same period, McLatchy’s stock price increased by 3.2%, the New York Times Co. rose by 4.6%, and Tribune Co. shares showed an increase of 6.5%. It remains unknown how much of these increases might be due to the increasing Web traffic.

The NAA advised watch groups to consider the Internet numbers in addition to paper circulation, which is usually taken as the key benchmark of newspapers’ performance. It will be the NAA’s mission in the future to convince advertisers that a strong Web showing can be just as important.

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.

The most recent of these items comes from the Church of the Customer blog. Ben McConnell notes that NPR, with its 300-plus podcats, is looking at developing a Web 2.0-like community for listeners of its online audio content. McConnell was speaking with NPR’s Eric Nuzum, who told him “the new vision is to create listener communities who would congregate on the site because of the 304 podcasts the broadcaster offers.”

I read this on the heels of hearing from Neville on today’s installment of For Immediate Release about a new podcast offering called Waxxi. Waxxi kicks off its business on Saturday with a live podcast featuring Naked Conversations authors Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. By “live,” I suspect the Waxxi folks will record the call-in show and make it available as a podcast.

If that’s the case, it’s an interesting model for a podcast, but it’s also one that Chris Pirillo, the force behind Lockergnome and Gnomedex has been doing for some time on his podcast. The very first thing you see at the top of Pirillo’s podcast blog are these three bullets:

I was also wondering if you couldn’t just record a Skypecast conference and offer it up as an interactive podcast.

Michael Butler of the Rock n Roll Geek Show has also done the live chat thing while fans listen to the live stream of the recording.

But whether Waxxi’s model is new or just an extension of ideas already employed to lesser degrees elsewhere is academic. The point is clear: Podcasts-a social media phenomenon in their own right-are melding more and more with other elements of social computing to become community-driven, interactive vehicles, even if they ultimately do remain nothing more than MP3 files.

In any case, I’m signing up to participate on Saturday just to get more information on Waxxi and how it works.

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Shel Holtz is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications.

As a professional communicator, Shel also writes the blog a shel of my former self.

This would represent a huge growth from the current level of 16 million (as estimated by the Chinese search engine Baidu.com). And as the existing bloggers already tend to nearly 37 million blogs, a four-fold increase in the number of writers could lead to an even more amazing jump in the quantity of Chinese blogs.

These numbers are not unprecedented. China already stands as the second-largest Internet market (after the United States). And these blogs are not stagnant, outdated scripts-73 percent of Chinese bloggers write at least once a week, according to a study by the Internet Society of China.

Continued growth is expected, with the number of Chinese bloggers predicted to reach 100 million by 2007. An interesting aspect of this trend is the tight government control placed on it. The ruling Communist Party censors language, political discussions, and even closes down some of the more outspoken blogs.

Nonetheless, such a large market has attracted a number of American firms, including Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google.

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.

Yahoo, the search engine giant, is being sued for allegedly placing ads with spyware companies without the knowledge (and against the implicit wishes) of the advertisers.

In addition, suit claims that Yahoo has placed ads on “typosquatting” Internet sites-that is, sites with addresses that are only a mistaken keystroke or two away from more popular pages. Many of these typosquatting sites are used exclusively as advertising platforms.

The lawsuit goes on to allege that Yahoo manipulates advertising exposure by varying the ads’ placements. Collectively, such actions could violate several laws and statutes.

The suit is being filed by Ben Edelman, a Massachusetts lawyer known for his antispyware stance. Edelman says Yahoo placed advertisements with spyware vendors when the search engine corporation was paid to give the ads more mainstream and reputable exposure. He seeks to recover the advertisers’ misspent funds, hinting that there is a “lot of money” involved, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars.

The two companies Yahoo is accused of conspiring with are Intermix Media and Direct Revenue, which have been named in other lawsuits against spyware and adware vendors. The companies have contested these claims, and are still in court over the issue.

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.

Lots of discussion. One of the tools you use to express your ideas and get your points across is the good ol’ flipchart or whiteboard, those mainstays of office meeting rooms, conferences and other events.

Your event ends. And what about all those great ideas written on the whiteboard or paper flipcharts with marker pens? Someone might try and transcribe them later (nightmare!) or you might tear off the flipchart sheets and take them with you and think about scanning them or something. Usually, though, they’ll sit in a corner somewhere until they’re consigned to the rubbish bin. Knowledge and ideas forgotten about.

Not necessarily.

What I’ve been doing for some months is photographing whiteboards and flipcharts with my Nokia N70 cameraphone (such as at the workshop I co-presented in London earlier this month). At least I have a record even if it is just a 2-megapixel digital image file. I can share it so everyone can still have that information.

Far from ideal, though. The images are often dark or a bit out of focus. I could then spend ages tweaking them in Photoshop or some such app. But it’s about the best you can do until you can get hold of one of these gadgets.

Then, via Techcrunch, I found out about scanR.

What a neat service. You email your photos of whiteboards or flipcharts, as well as documents, to scanR. It then converts those images into searchable PDF files. It cleans the photos, tags the documents with extracted keywords, and emails the results to you as PDF files (or sends them as faxes if you prefer). Here’s the detail of how the free service works.

And look at this example – a (reduced) photo of a flipchart I took at that London workshop:

I transferred the camera photo to my PC and emailed it (and one other) to scanR. Here’s that same photo cleaned up and converted by scanR to PDF, which I received within 30 minutes:

(Here’s the PDF if you want to see the results for yourself.)

Imagine – your event ends, you email the photos you took of the flipcharts or whiteboards to scanR. You include your colleagues’ email addresses as well as your own for delivery, and scanR sends you and your colleagues the PDFs.

Sweet and simple. I know what I’ll be doing at more events where flipcharts are in use and there’s a network connection handy.

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Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

But you might be asking yourself, so what exactly is supply chain management and how can it affect my company?

Let’s understand what it is first.

From the production house the product starts its journey and travels through to the supplier, distributor, retailer and ends at the hands of the consumer. This whole journey is a well managed mechanism and controlled by supply chain management. When it goes global and the journey of the product covers multiple countries, then it is called global supply chain management.

With globalization, business has become more complex. Global supply chain management not only mobilizes products but also the entire value added chain, in which financial activities and sharing of information are also included.

Big companies have many hubs around the world. Raw materials, finished products, finance and other pertinent information travel from one hub to the next. Global supply chain management is the basis of the whole operation.

The cost of production and profitability is dependant on the global supply chain as well as how well employees throughout the company are trained for such fast-paced tasks.

Global supply chain management has two major components:

1. International movement of products and raw materials, title transformation, payments, controlling risk factors

2. In parallel with the above activities, an information network is hard at work. Information sharing and collecting is very important to run an effective global supply chain management system

The efficiency of the global supply chain management of any company can make everything look easy. However in order to attain those efficiencies your employees need to understand the fundamentals. The most basic fundamental is that supply chain management is not just domestic anymore nor is it just for large corporations. Small and midsize companies have to be global supply chain management savvy if they wish to survive.

The growth and development of a company is largely dependent on the global supply chain management system and its most important asset – employees.

Are your employees top-notch when it comes to global supply chain skills? If you can’t answer yes then you better start thinking about training because your competitors are.

So, what type of training is needed companywide?

First, introduce employees to global supply chain management. Don’t assume they grasp the concept. With increased globalization and offshore sourcing, global supply chain management is becoming an important issue for many businesses. So, make sure the foundation is laid.

Second, employees should learn the underlying factors behind the trend to reducing the cost of procurement and decreasing the risks related to purchasing activities.

Third, they should understand the following principles:

a) competition is no longer among independent companies but instead about connected supply chains

b) supply chain competition is global

c) winners will be companies that best integrate and achieve commitment to supply chain excellence among diverse organizations

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Sherry Harris is the President and CEO of online career training school, Malibu Institute. For more information on master certificate courses and programs offered, go to: http://www.MalibuInstitute.com

These are among the findings from the latest UPS Europe Business Monitor survey of 1,500 business leaders from Europe’s top 15,000 companies by revenue, carried out by UPS between September and November 2005. Countries in the survey were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the UK. The results were published at the end of February.

The survey reports wide-ranging findings on the business climate across Europe and economic and employment forecasts for European companies, as well as global economic and political concerns.

It includes some very interesting results related to how European business leaders find and consume news and information, and their awareness levels and usage of social media like blogs.

Newspapers are still the primary source of information for Europe’s business leaders, the survey says, although fewer now bury their heads in the papers to get business information than the last time executives were asked, in 1999. Almost equal numbers in the UK power-up their computers and browse online as read the papers, while executives in Germany and Italy still rely heavily on the printed word. Few senior executives turn on their televisions or radios to learn about business:

However, the survey shows, no matter where business leaders are looking to get informed, very few have got up to speed with blogging. Many of Europe’s boardroom members are in the dark about blogging, the survey says, and even those who are aware have still not caught the wave:

This graph reveals some highly signficant data about the average overall awareness and usage levels of blogs by senior executives across Europe:

• Heard of blogs but I don’t read or contribute to them: 42%
• Not something I’m aware of: 37%
• I read blogs: 11%
• We monitor blogs about our company: 7%
• Useful source of information about our business: 7%
• I write blogs: 2%

There are some surprising variances between different countries.

For instance, anecdotal evidence says that France is at the forefront of business blogging in Europe yet this survey doesn’t entirely reflect that view – only 3% of French executives see blogs as a useful source of information about their business compared to 11% in the UK and Spain.

On the other hand, only 16% of French executives said they weren’t aware of blogs compared to 31% in the UK, 48% in Belgium and 57% in Germany.

Clearly there are still big hills to climb in Europe in raising awareness of blogs among the senior executive audience and illustrating their relevance and benefits from the business perspective.

(Via Reputation Watch)

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Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

On one hand, the first post was amusing. It said stuff that most of us were thinking anyway, but someone put out there. In the end, did it matter? Of course not. It’s a blog.

Thinking it through, I began to wonder if this was just a bad April Fool’s Joke gone badly awry. Launched a week early – it smelled immediately, just from the first email – to string along PR people, then expose us for something or other.

But, then it blew up. It blew up badly, and I doubt Connolly (if it is him) understood the nature of blogs or the blogosphere. And, well, it also showed that the person(s) involved do not fully understand the scrutiny nature of the blogosphere.

He did call me up after I posted a comment on Krempasky. One little lesson – unless the blogger is a friend, start most conversations with “this is NFB (not for blogging)” or “this is off the record” – that will save you from a post like this. And, nicely, I always watch what I say unless I don’t care. And, don’t call me at my office – email me. That’s why I have those links on my blog.

Connolly didn’t like that I called his response knee-jerk. I explained that the sane thing to do is walk away, rethink the response, and then hit post when you deem it fine. Amazingly so, I do that with most of my posts on my blog, and comments on other blogs. Wrap your mind around that – my original comments and posts are more acidic.

So, he starts talking, and I’m half listening because … well I am at work trying to work. But one thing gets me to notice his babbling … “you are Strumpette. Tom Biro is Strumpette. Or, well, you guys could be.”

Um, no I am not. Neither is Biro.

And that was so fucking offensive, it still sickens me. I have nothing to do with that shit (nor does Biro), but here is Connolly – if it is him – trying to deflect attention and make it a group effort.

It gets worse (of course). By him dropping a friend’s name, Tom Biro, I immediately IM Biro. In the wonderful world of IM, I contact Tom to ask what this shit is about. With me, Connolly went for the “it would be fun, it would be a group effort” type pitch. With Biro, he went with the “we can make money, I already got an offer to buy it” pitch. Um, he’s the Hungarian, I’m the Jew – switch those pitches, and it makes more sense.

Connolly goes on some more – I don’t listen, again because I am trying to work – but gives me his contact info (redacted contact info) in case I am interested. I’m not, trust me.

Beyond the offensive nature of trying to tie me to that blog – and, well, the people out there know that if I write something, it’s not going to be done anonymously – it is just an offensive, sexist blog (particularly if the guess work is right, and it’s written by an old white man?). In the end, that does matter. It matters a lot.

It matters because the generation of next PR people are mainly women – we are a female-heavy industry, and always have been. It matters because last night I am sitting at PRSSA National Assembly dinner, listening to the next generation of PR practitioners (and some new entrants into the work force) talk about PR and online communications, people like Sarah Yeaney and Barbara Tate. It matters because I work with and respect the Auburn students like Erin Caldwell and Emily Melton, the SMU students like Casey Westlake and care about my own interns, Ashely Finch and Gine Weakley. They are what matter, not some crap blog.

Who’d have thunk it that I am a feminist – hey, philosophical issues in feminism and got an A, and helped launch the breast cancer stamp – but this crap tires me. Yes, I have that smirk sometimes, but it is not easy to be in a profession that judges looks just as highly (if not moreso) than talent. At the end of the day, if Strumpette is a female, that’s sad. If it’s a male, I feel bad for his female employees because it is obvious he has no respect for them (nor his Mother or sisters or daughters).

Let’s end talk of that blog. It’s tired, it’s tripe … it smells.

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Jeremy Pepper is the CEO and founder of POP! Public Relations, a public relations firm based in Arizona, USA.

He authors the popular Musings from POP! Public Relations blog which offers Jeremy’s opinions and views – on public relations, publicity and other things.

Google has $8 billion in cash, and Amazon’s market cap is “just” $15 billion. An outright buyout is not out of the question, with the right financial wrangling, and certainly Google could become the controlling shareholder with all that cash to spend.

The reasoning: Unlike most companies Google could buy, Amazon is the real deal. They’re a cornerstone of the internet economy, great profits, huge traffic and sales, an incredible brand, and an enormous customer base. Amazon is good at the one thing Google is not: selling product. Google could immediately diversify and strengthen its business, and guarantee longer-term stability.

Google and Amazon may both be net powerhouses, but they deal in completely different arenas, so the two combined could erase vulnerabilities and maximize the successes they already have. Amazon has technology and patents Google could take advantage of, and their recommendation system could be used all along the Google product line.

If Google’s serious about beating both Yahoo and eBay, this could be the way to go. I’m not saying its gonna happen, but talk about food for thought. If you’re biting, read the article, it has a lot more.

Now’s probably a good time to watch Epic again.

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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

Visit the InsideGoogle blog.