The following is a list of archived major news changes to our  web, with the most recent changes listed first:

January 2, 2001

Free Internet Services Are Beginning to Disappear

A 1999 and 2000 trend by search engines and ISP's of giving away free ISP and Web hosting services is beginning to decline and/or incur costs.  A January 2, 2000 e-mail from Lycos to its affiliates states, "Due to our Free Internet Access provider, 1stUp Corporation, a CMGi company, closing operations December 10, 2000, we are no longer able to offer Lycos Free Internet Access.  As a result, we request that those of you who have a Lycos Free ISP content box on your site to remove it.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  Please  feel free to replace the Free ISP boxes with any of the other Lycos Network content boxes."  At one point, 1stUp provided free ISP service for companies like Excite@Home, AltaVista, Lycos, and Gay.com.

AltaVista quietly announced, "AltaVista Free Internet Access, We regret to inform you that AltaVista's Free Internet Access is no longer accepting new users and will terminate service on December 10th. AltaVista has been forced to discontinue this offering because the company who provided the service and telecommunications infrastructure for it, 1stUp Corp., is going out of business. This change will not affect the availability of our search services at AltaVista.com."

NetZero, formerly a champion of free Internet service,  "announced today (December 21, 2000) the launch of "NetZero Professional," a new service plan aimed at small business, professional and other members whose household usage exceeds 40 hours in a single calendar month. Beginning in January 2001, households and businesses that exceed the 40-hour threshold will have the option to pay $9.95 to allow them unlimited usage for the remainder of the calendar month."

Update: Feb. 20, 2001
Driveway.com has announced that operations for the company which supports the Private Label Storage (PLS) service and Driveway’s free consumer storage service will be phased out. The resulting restructuring included lay offs of employees associated with the former business model.

Backup Buddy was reportedly affected by the announcement since Backup Buddy uses driveway.com for storage.

Update: Mar 14, 2001
Long-time free Web host Bizland has announced that is no longer providing free Web hosting and is deactivating free sites on March 28th.

Unfortunately, there is still no "free lunch."

December 16, 2000

Consultwebs.com Provides Two Day FrontPage Class for New Mexico National Guard

Consultwebs.com has completed a two-day Web design training course for the New Mexico National Guard.   The session provided hands-on training for 18 National Guard staff members with the goal of teaching the students to maintain segments of the in-house Web site.

A FrontPage training curriculum, course overview and photos can be viewed at our Web Instructors site.

November 16, 2000

Yahoo Joins MSN In Charging for New Commercial Listings

Yahoo is about to join MSN.com in charging for new listings:

Yahoo plans to require sites to pay $199 payment for expedited review to become mandatory for commercial sites seeking listing in directory.

For the first time in its history, Yahoo is charging a mandatory fee for commercial directory listings. The move is an expansion of Yahoo’s Business Express service launched last year.

Google http://www.google.com now sells ads that appear to the right of search results on a page. The ads are non-obtrusive in our opinion.  LookSmart has been charging for listings for several months.

We have observed that established sites continue to do well in the search engines even though they have not paid a fee.

November 16, 2000

ICANN Approves 7 New Domain Suffixes

ICANN, the agency that controls the Internet address system on Thursday carved out more real estate in cyberspace by adopting seven new domain name suffixes that reach beyond the current approved list that includes ".com."

The names are ".biz," ".aero," ".name," ".coop" and ".info" to add to the pool of Net names. The others are ".pro" for professional Web sites and ".museum." The new names will be available early to mid-2001.  See ICANN for more detail on the names and the registrars.  

Avoid purchasing domain names from companies claiming to be able to pre-register names.

See CNET for the initial story.  It is doubtful that the domain names will help the typical Web owner.  It appears that ICANN has restricted the number of registrars, opening the door for the potential of high pricing and restrictive distribution. It is rumored that Neulevel is planning to charge $2,000 for .biz suffixes and $150 per year.  This compares to $15 initially and $15 per year for .com names that are distributed through several registrars.   See BBC News for their interpretation of the situation.  

October 24, 2000

Consultwebs.com develops ASP database for Poyner & Spruill L.L.P.

Consultwebs.com has completed a Web site search feature, driven by Active Server Pages (ASP), for Poyner Spruill L.L.P.  Poyner Spruill L.L.P. is a leading East Coast law firm, with three North Carolina offices and approximately 95 attorneys.  The search feature allows users to conduct a "general search" of all attorneys or an "advanced search" that allows individual or combination searches on -- office location, practice areas, attorney and/or law school against their Access database, via their Web site using Active Server Pages (ASP) technology.  Results are also generated by the server (using Active Server Pages technology) according to the search terms used in the search.

Consultwebs.com has also developed a similar capability for use on Poyner & Spruill's Intranet, using the same database but containing different search criteria and results.

October 3, 2000

Consultwebs.com develops new Web site for Putting Greens Direct

Consultwebs.com has completed a full renovation of the Web site of Putting Greens Direct of Orlando, Florida. Putting Greens Direct is a leading supplier and installer of synthetic putting green technology and manufacturing. Putting Greens Direct putting greens are featured in hotels, restaurants, homes, driving ranges and many other commercial establishments.

The state-of-the-art Web site provides illustrations and information on various types of putting greens and compares natural and synthetic greens. Ordering and distributor information are available. The site features custom designed graphics, sophisticated JavaScripting, intuitive navigation & custom forms.

October 2, 2000

Consultwebs.com provides programming support and enhancements for the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers

Consultwebs.com has completed a series of Web updates and consulting for the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers of Raleigh, North Carolina.

October 1, 2000

Consultwebs.com performs Web updates for Smith Debnam

Consultwebs.com has performed a series of Web updates and assisted in the development of marketing programs for Smith Debnam Narron Wyche Story & Myers of Raleigh, North Carolina.  Smith Debnam is one the 15 largest law firms in North Carolina and offers assistance in virtually every area of law.

 

September 18, 2000

Consultwebs.com opens http://www.images4webs.com Web images site

Consultwebs.com has opened a new Web images site. The http://www.images4webs.com site consists of North Carolina photos, custom and stock Web art prepared by Consultwebs.com Web artists and graphics such as banners and buttons.  Please see the press release for more detail

September 9, 2000

Consultwebs.com completes Web promotion consulting engagement for Rudolf, Mayer, Widenhouse and Fialko

Consultwebs.com has completed a Web promotion consulting engagement for Rudolf, Mayer, Widenhouse and Fialko. Rudolf, Mayer, Widenhouse and Fialko is a specialized litigation firm with offices in Charlotte and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Consultwebs.com collaborated with attorney David Rudolf to a develop a Web marketing strategy.

 

September 8, 2000

Dale Tincher invited to join ABA Atlanta LegalTech Faculty

Dale Tincher has been invited to join the faculty of LegalTech Atlanta, an American Bar Association show which will take place on November 30 and December 1 at the Atlanta, Georgia Hilton.

Dale will join three Internet oriented panels.

September 8, 2000

Consultwebs.com develops Web site for Tharrington Smith

Consultwebs.com has completed a Web site for Tharrington Smith, LLP, Raleigh, North Carolina. Tharrington Smith, LLP, is a downtown Raleigh firm of 20+ lawyers with a statewide practice and national reputation. The areas of practice for which Tharrington Smith is best known are criminal defense, school law, family law, civil litigation and appeals of both civil and criminal cases, however it takes on cases in a variety of other areas of practice.

 

August 18, 2000

March Six Communications (aka Triangle Entrepreneur) Launches 9 Additional City Web Sites and Gains National and Local Coverage

Bill Turner, CEO of March Six Communications has launched 9 additional major city Web sites. The sites include Atlanta, Baltimore, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Orlando." Consultwebs.com provided the consulting and Web design for the Web sites.

The sites have recieved front page coverage with Top Story press releases from dBusiness.com and others. Articles are being carried in The Raleigh News & Observer, Dallas News and other launch cities.

August 14, 2000

Consultwebs.com completes Web site for Mortgage North Carolina

Consultwebs.com has completed a Web site for Mortgage North Carolina of Cary, North Carolina. The organizations principals include attorney Sam Bridges, Tim Nerhood (also an attorney) and banking specialist Anthony J. Alizieri. Mortgage North Carolina is a mortgage broker organized in the State of North Carolina and licensed by the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks. The site features current rates, rate calculators, helpful links and a variety of mortgage information.

August 1, 2000

Consultwebs.com completes Web site makeover for Legal Nurse Consulting of Mississippi, Inc.

Consultwebs.com has completed a Web site makeover for Legal Nurse Consulting of Brandon, Missippi Legal Nurse Consulting of Missippi is an is an association of Registered Nurses whose services include (not all inclusive): screen cases for merit, summarize and translate medical records, define applicable Standards of Care, Chronological reports with identification of adherences to or deviations from the Standards of Care, medical literature research, brief or comprehensive summary reports, coordinate with life care planners and economists and serve as liaison to the attorney.

July 13, 2000

 

Old Media 2000: Beginning of the End

ZDNet AnchorDesk reports that television, newspapers and magazines viewers will continue to shift their attention more to the Internet and away from traditional media. Consider the trend outlined in a recent study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

• More than 30% of Americans go online for news at least once a week. Only 20% did in 1998

• 15% get daily reports off the Web

• 40% of college graduates now get their news online, up from 24% in 1998

• 28% of college graduates now tune into network news, down from 40% in 1998
  On top of that, Forrester Research predicts that by 2004, roughly half of all Internet ad spending will come from the pockets of the traditional media, and newspapers will be the biggest losers.

July 12, 2000 

Comprehensive Entrepreneurial Web portal Launched by Triangle, North Carolina Entrepreneur. 

10:00 a.m. July 12, 2000 PDT

Consultwebs.com has completed the design of a new Web portal for Bill Turner, a Triangle, North Carolina entrepreneur.

Bill Turner, stated that, "the Triangle Entrepreneur.com site offers a full spectrum of information for the entrepreneur, including how to start a business and how to run one. “You’ll find everything that you need to know and more for starting a business and staying successful."

Other features of the site include a quick search, links to other sites and business resources located in cites around the country. Turner added that he has teamed up with numerous companies including Bloomberg.com Radio to give visitors access to more broad categories. Each site had streaming national, local and entrepreneurial news, as well as many resources to run your daily business operations.

The Triangle Entrepreneur site is receiving considerable media attention, with Top Story press releases from Triangle PR and others. Consultwebs.com is working with Mr. Turner to design 9 additional portals for a July release with another 34 being launched in the near future.

June 30, 2000

 

It's An IE World (Wide Web)

by Declan McCullagh

4:30 p.m. Jun. 26, 2000 PDT

Microsoft has won the browser war. Over 86 percent of computers with Web browsers have Internet Explorer installed, according to the latest figures from research firm WebSideStory Inc. Netscape's once-dominant browser has slipped to an all-time low of just under 14 percent as of June 18, WebSideStory says.

A remarkable jump of 20 percent in the last two months has cemented IE's position as market leader, and relegated the firm that popularized the Web browser and the Internet to a potential footnote in computing history.

See Wired News for the remainder of the article.

June 28, 2000

 

Hard Sell for Commerce Sites

by Joanna Glasner

4:20 p.m. Jun. 26, 2000 PDT

(Excerpts from Wired News)

The already costly business of building an e-commerce website is becoming more expensive. But, at the same time, the services for building sites aren't getting much better, according to Forrester Research.

In a report released Monday, Forrester reported widespread weaknesses among companies involved in designing and rolling out sales sites for dot coms and established firms -- a business it says is expected to approach $20 billion this year.

Companies that with a budget of a few hundred thousand dollars for developing a site, he said, have often had trouble convincing major firms to take on their projects: "We have heard that they do not consider anything under $2.5 million."

For the remainder of the article, see Wired News.

June 24, 2000

 

Consultwebs.com Completes New Website for Product Identification, Inc.

Consultwebs.com has completed a Web site for Product Identification, Inc., of Durham, North Carolina. Product Identification also has offices in Marion, Massachusetts and Zapopan, Mexico. Product Identification is a major U.S. designer and manufacturer of product labels, overlay panels, shielding and nameplates. Product Identification, Inc.'s, capabilities include artwork, color separations, artwork, color separations, EDI Internet orders, consecutive numbering, consecutive barcoding and more. Consultwebs.com developed animated product displays and descriptions, quote forms, maps and performed a Premium Level search engine optimization on the site.

June 20, 2000

 

E-SIGN (Electronic Signatures) Passes Senate, What does this mean for bank customers?

June 16, 2000, About.com

The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN) was passed by the House on June 15 and the Senate on June 16. President Clinton has indicated he will sign the legislation. Along with providing us with another acronym, this paves the way for completely paperless transactions using the Internet.

Quite simply, a digital signature is to be considered as legally binding as a written signature in nearly all situations. The Act does not specify what technology must be used to ensure privacy and security. This will be left to the various industries and their regulators to determine.

See About.com for the remainder of the article. See MBC for full text and the current text and links.

June 13, 2000

 

More Americans Go Online For News

June 11, 2000, MSNBC

Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings watch out. Key segments of the nation’s news audience, particularly younger and better-educated Americans, are turning increasingly to the Internet, says a new poll on media trends.

June 1, 2000

 

First Flight Centennial Foundation of Raleigh, North Carolina was named the "Netscape Cool Siting" for June 1, 2000.
The site was given a perfect score of "10." As a result of the honor, more than 7,000 individuals visited the site June 1st and 2nd.

The First Flight Centennial Web site was developed to celebrate the upcoming centennial of the Wright Brothers first flight and exploring the countless ways in which aviation has changed our world.

See our Portfolio section for more on the First Flight Centennial web site design
 

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