I just installed Snap Preview Anywhere from snap.com. This thing works just like the binocuars do on Ask.com, only you can put it on your own site! Your visitors get the same preview functionality when they hover over off-site links. Try it out on these links below:

Wired News

UseIt.com

Pretty cool I think, and very web 2.0! (See my previous post)

It seems you can’t open a web browser these days or visit a marketing industry blog with out running quickly into Web 2.0. The more I see term used, the more I get confused about what it really is, such is the signature of any truly great buzzword I suppose!

That being said I set out to get to the bottom of this whole web 2.0 thing for once and all. Here are 6 things that I have come up with (before I got board with the idea, and started feeling guilty about not doing something more useful) to help me try and understand:

I guess I should have attended the Web 2.0 Conference if I really wanted to know.

If it’s in the Wikipedia then Web 2.0 must be real!

Who else but Oreilly could have coined such a phrase?

Wondering if your website is Web 2.0 valid? Check the Web 2.0 Validator!
http://web2.0validator.com/
(I love the URL, even if it is really just link bait, it’s so…. well… Web 2.0)

If it’s not in the Complete Web 2.0 directory, then it’s not Web 2.0!
(this site crashed Firefox for me!)

After all that I have learned that maybe I should forget all about this Web 2.0 mumbo jumbo and move on to Web 3.0 if I really want to get a jump on the competition.

http://www.google.com/search?q=web+3.0
(as of 11/26/06 the query web 3.0 already has 172,000,000 results in Google. WOW!)

Web 4.0 anyone? Who’s in?

I certainly hope everyone had a great Turkey day. Incase you haven’t gotten out to shop yet, don’t forget that today is Black Friday, traditionally the largest shopping day of the year and the official kick off to the holiday shopping season.  Interestingly though, the  preceeding Monday has been dubbed Cyber Monday. It’s alleged to be the largest online shopping day of the year however this has not been the case.

Monday’s tend to be the highest best performing day of the week for most online stores for any given week, but the best day of the year is largely dictated by the the restrictions places on shoppers by shipping deadlines that stores can offer in conjuction with their shipping partners like UPS and FedEx.

An example for a particular online store might go something like this: December 15th, last day for standard ground shipping for guarranteed delivery before Christmas. December 20th, last day for 2nd day air. December 21st, last day for next day air. Based on these restrictions it’s likely that the highest one day sales for this online store would be between Monday December 11th and  Thursday the 14th. Check with your favorite store for their specific deadlines.

If you do plan to shop online this holiday season it’s always good to remember that shopping sooner is better, and not just for shipping reasons. With the ecommerce industry still rapidly growing, forcasting product inventory is not exactly wrinkle free just yet so the longer you wait to order the more risk you run that the item you want may no longer be available. Happy Shopping!

See Also: http://www.cybermonday.com/