Speaker 1: You know that feeling when you're using a website, you
Speaker 1: visit constantly, maybe for years, and then you stumble upon
Speaker 1: a feature or a specific way to use it that
Speaker 1: you never knew was there.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like finding a hidden passage in a place
Speaker 1: you thought you knew inside out.
Speaker 2: It happens more often than we realize. I think we
Speaker 2: tend to stick to the familiar paths online, you know,
Speaker 2: just sort of navigating the surface, missing the deeper layers
Speaker 2: of functionality the creators designed exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and sometimes the most insightful way to understand the
Speaker 1: digital tools we rely on today is to well rewind
Speaker 1: the clock to see what the internet landscape looked like
Speaker 1: in a different era and what clever ideas were being
Speaker 1: built into these platforms back then.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it provides incredible context. It shows us the specific
Speaker 2: user problems developers were tackling, the strategy sites used to
Speaker 2: attract and keep users, and how core functionalities that we
Speaker 2: now take for granted first took shape.
Speaker 1: Which is precisely what we're doing in this deep dive.
Speaker 1: We're exploring a specific source from a very particular moment
Speaker 1: in Internet history. A book published back in two thousand
Speaker 1: and four called five oh one Website Secrets by Michael Miller.
Speaker 2: That title really sets the stage perfectly, doesn't it. This
Speaker 2: book was all about revealing the lesser known capabilities of
Speaker 2: the major websites thriving just over twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: And what a time that was for the web. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're talking about the era of the mighty Internet portals,
Speaker 1: the fierce competition between search engines, and the rapid growth
Speaker 1: of online services like auctions, digital music, travel booking. The
Speaker 1: Internet felt both like vast and also like it was
Speaker 1: just figuring itself out.
Speaker 2: There was definitely an air of exploration, both for users
Speaker 2: and for the companies building these sites. They were experiment
Speaker 2: and constantly embedding features that were sometimes hard to find
Speaker 2: unless you knew where to look.
Speaker 1: So our mission here is to take this two thousand
Speaker 1: and four book, this snapshot in time, and extract some
Speaker 1: of the most surprising, perhaps so useful, or just plain
Speaker 1: fascinating secrets and insights Michael Miller uncovered back then. Think
Speaker 1: of this as a guided tour through the clever, sometimes
Speaker 1: hidden functionalities of the Web circa two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: seen through the eyes of someone trying to empower users.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's dive in see what we can find in
Speaker 2: this digital time capsule. Where does the book begin its exploration.
Speaker 1: It starts, appropriately enough for the time, with the dominant
Speaker 1: forces the Internet portals, and you absolutely have to kick
Speaker 1: off that discussion with Yahoo.
Speaker 2: Yahoo right, which the book reminds us famously started as
Speaker 2: just a simple hobby list of favorite websites compiled by
Speaker 2: David Filo and Jerry Yang when they were at Stanford.
Speaker 1: Just organizing what they found useful online. Pretty much a
Speaker 1: hobby that turned into yet another hierarchical, officious oracle if
Speaker 1: you go by their chosen acronym. It's amazing to think
Speaker 1: how quickly it ballooned from a curated list to this
Speaker 1: sprawling digital city.
Speaker 2: And the book highlights a key distinction central to Yahoo's
Speaker 2: early identity, the difference between its original, human edited Yahoo
Speaker 2: directory and its Yahoo web search.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the directory was known for its quality, that curated feel,
Speaker 1: but it could never keep up with the sheer volume
Speaker 1: of the web, so the web search became essential. And interestingly,
Speaker 1: in two thousand and four, that search was actually powered
Speaker 1: by Google technology under the hood.
Speaker 2: Right, a major competitor powering their core search results. It's
Speaker 2: kind of wild. The book even points out a specific
Speaker 2: page search dot Yahoo dot com, intended as a central
Speaker 2: hub to access all of Yahoo's different search types, web
Speaker 2: directory and others.
Speaker 1: Portal life in two thousand and four was also heavily
Speaker 1: centered around personalization. My Yahoo was their big play here,
Speaker 1: allowing you to build your own homepage dashboard. You could
Speaker 1: add modules for news, weather, stocks, whatever else you wanted
Speaker 1: to track.
Speaker 2: That was pretty revolutionary for many users than controlling your
Speaker 2: own information stream rather than just seeing a static homepage.
Speaker 2: The book also details their early focus on safety features
Speaker 2: like a mature content filter, right stricter moderate family accounts
Speaker 2: with age based restrictions, and the completely set brit Kid
Speaker 2: friendly Yaholigan's.
Speaker 1: Directory Yeahooligans, I remember that, a truly curated, safer space
Speaker 1: for younger users separate from the main web. The book
Speaker 1: also shows Yahoo's global reach, mentioning world yahoos, offering localized
Speaker 1: versions for like Argentina, France, China.
Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of countries. Beyond just content, Yahoo built tools
Speaker 2: for common online tasks. The book covers Yahoo People Search,
Speaker 2: which could find publicly listed street addresses or fun numbers
Speaker 2: in the US, and.
Speaker 1: For businesses, Yahoo Yellow pages that you search by category
Speaker 1: or specific name, using your location to find relevant listings nearby.
Speaker 2: Communication was another core pillar of these portals. Yahoo Chat
Speaker 2: hosted like thousands of topic specific rooms and allowed private messages, and.
Speaker 1: Yahoo Messenger that was a heavyweight in the early instant
Speaker 1: messaging wars right Yeah, rivaling Aim and MSN Messenger.
Speaker 2: Totally free, real time communication essential.
Speaker 1: Back then, those im clients were crucial to how people
Speaker 1: connected online daily. The book also mentions community features like
Speaker 1: Yahoo message boards on well countless topic and Yahoo groups.
Speaker 2: Those are basically online clubs where members could share messages, photos,
Speaker 2: file stuff like that.
Speaker 1: An early form of online community building definitely.
Speaker 2: The book points out that their stock message boards were
Speaker 2: particularly popular, though maybe take the inside or insight with
Speaker 2: a grain of salt.
Speaker 1: Huh, cautious note from the source. Yeah. They also offered
Speaker 1: web based organization tools that felt quite advanced for the time,
Speaker 1: Yahoo Counter and Yahoo address Book accessible from any computer.
Speaker 2: That web based access, plus the ability to sync with
Speaker 2: desktop programs or you know, PDAs. That was a big
Speaker 2: step towards today's cloud.
Speaker 1: Tools and content content content Yahoo News, sports, movies, and
Speaker 1: Yahoo Finance described as one of the best personal finance
Speaker 1: sites back.
Speaker 2: Then offering stock quotes, charts, links to other financial tools.
Speaker 2: You could integrate your portfolio right into your my Yahoo page.
Speaker 1: They really were trying to be the single destination for
Speaker 1: well everything. This extended to commerce with Yahoo Shopping, classifieds
Speaker 1: and autos.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the book makes a point that with Yahoo Shopping,
Speaker 2: while you used their directory and maybe a shared cart,
Speaker 2: you were still purchasing from the individual merchants, right.
Speaker 1: So any problems went through them, not Yahoo.
Speaker 2: An important distinction about their role as a platform, not
Speaker 2: always a direct retailer. Utilities like Yahoo Maps were there.
Speaker 1: Too, and interestingly Yahoo Music. The book notes it wasn't
Speaker 1: a major force for paid downloads like Napster or iTunes.
Speaker 2: Yet more focused on news, videos and internet radio via
Speaker 2: their La andch site.
Speaker 1: Gotcha. Finally, the book reveals Yahoo GeoCities, a major platform
Speaker 1: for creating free personal web pages.
Speaker 2: Ooh.
Speaker 1: GeoCities huge, offering easy tools and templates. It felt enormous
Speaker 1: at the time, a place where anyone could stake their
Speaker 1: claim on the web. The book calls it the world's
Speaker 1: largest collection of personal pages.
Speaker 2: A true snapshot of grassroots web creation back then.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's the sprawling world of Yahoo. Let's look
Speaker 1: at their big rival portal for Microsoft MSN.
Speaker 2: Right. MSN's entry point was often Microsoft Passport, which later
Speaker 2: became dot Net Passport, a single sign in system intended
Speaker 2: to unify access across all Microsoft sites, including MSN, the.
Speaker 1: Early push for a universal digital identity.
Speaker 2: It was free, often just using your email, and they
Speaker 2: offered kids Passport accounts as well for safety.
Speaker 1: Like Yahoo, MSN offered my MSN for personalized start pages
Speaker 1: build your own.
Speaker 2: Dashboard, and MSN Search had this unique layout the book
Speaker 2: describes it presented four types of results on one page,
Speaker 2: popular topics, featured sites, web directory sites okay, and the
Speaker 2: main web pages results, which at that point were powered
Speaker 2: by ink.
Speaker 1: To my four distinct result types on one page, trying
Speaker 1: to help users make sense of the results in different ways.
Speaker 2: I guess yeah, And the book details MSN searches support
Speaker 2: for boolean operators like or not, T and plus minus
Speaker 2: noting and was the default for multiple words.
Speaker 1: Pretty standard search logic it.
Speaker 2: Meant, and they automatically searched for word variations too. The
Speaker 2: book then lists various specialized MSN channels like MSN Autos,
Speaker 2: Digital Photos, Shopping, and MSN Money.
Speaker 1: MSN money sounds like it was quite comprehensive, described as
Speaker 1: a full service financial site.
Speaker 2: Yeah, with CNBC News, stock quotes and tools for planning
Speaker 2: and portfolios. They also had channels for fitness and recreation,
Speaker 2: MSN Games via Zone dot com, Zone dot com right,
Speaker 2: and MSN Kids with its own kids safe Search, continuing
Speaker 2: that theme of curating content for younger users.
Speaker 1: Okay, shifting gears slightly, let's talk about AOL dot Com.
Speaker 1: The book reveals a key secret that felt like well
Speaker 1: and escape patch for many users back then, which was
Speaker 1: you didn't have to use the proprietary AOL software. You
Speaker 1: could access AOL from any web browser by simply going
Speaker 1: to AOL dot com.
Speaker 2: That was a huge deal for users who had their
Speaker 2: own ISP or broadband and didn't want to be tied
Speaker 2: to the AOL client interface like at all.
Speaker 1: It related to that was there Bring your Own Access plan,
Speaker 1: the BYOA plan, allowing users with their own Internet connection
Speaker 1: to pay a reduced fee like fourteen dollars and ninety
Speaker 1: five cents instead of the full twenty three dollars and
Speaker 1: ninety centent dial up price just for access to the
Speaker 1: AOL services via the web.
Speaker 2: Recognizing the changing Internet landscape. Yeah, The book lists which
Speaker 2: AOL services were available via the web, mail, AM search, shopping, chats, groups,
Speaker 2: message boards, basically the core stuff.
Speaker 1: And here's where it gets really interesting from a historical perspective.
Speaker 1: The book mentions the Netscape network site netscape dot com,
Speaker 1: which seemingly offered free access to many AOL features without
Speaker 1: needing a paid AOL subscription.
Speaker 2: Whoa really fascinating. It was like a backdoor into some
Speaker 2: of AOL's features through their acquisition of Netscape. Shows the
Speaker 2: strategic complexities and weird partnerships of the era, definitely.
Speaker 1: The book moves on to Excite, described as a portal
Speaker 1: known for its metasearch capabilities.
Speaker 2: Metasearch meaning it searched multiple search engines simultaneously pulled results together.
Speaker 1: The book's visual description is kind of bland visually, but
Speaker 1: it did highlight specific content, like its entertainment page and
Speaker 1: its celebrity gossip section that aggregated sources like the National
Speaker 1: Inquirer Online and Star Online.
Speaker 2: Sure an early aggregator of tabloid news. It also offered
Speaker 2: a light version for less visual clutter. Apparently.
Speaker 1: Finally, in the portal section Licos, the book places it
Speaker 1: within the larger Tara Micos network, owning sister sites like
Speaker 1: angel Fire for personal.
Speaker 3: Pages, angel Fire Yeah in Gamesville. It also notes the
Speaker 3: complex ownership structure Yeah Tara. Leko's own search engines like
Speaker 3: all the Web and Alta Vista used Overture for paid
Speaker 3: search results.
Speaker 2: While Lecos's main search results were powered by Inktomei, which
Speaker 2: was owned by Yahoo. It's like layers within layers.
Speaker 1: It really highlights how interconnected and frankly confusing the web
Speaker 1: business was becoming even then. The Lecos directory, the book explains,
Speaker 1: used the human Edited Open Directory project okay, and Licos
Speaker 1: offered quite a few advanced search filters, accessible directly from
Speaker 1: the homepage or an advanced search page.
Speaker 2: These filters allowed users to refine searches by including or
Speaker 2: excluding words, limiting to specific sites or domains, filtering by language,
Speaker 2: or using content filters more control.
Speaker 1: They even had search Guard technology designed to filter objectionable
Speaker 1: content by deleting keywords from the search.
Speaker 2: Query, itself, an interesting technical approach to filtering. The book
Speaker 2: also calls out Licos's first rate MP three search engine
Speaker 2: and general audio search for formats like lovev and MIDI.
Speaker 1: But it clarifies Licos just linked to files didn't.
Speaker 2: Host them right, and it does mention Rhapsody as a
Speaker 2: separate subscription music service linked to locos somehow, and.
Speaker 1: For kids, Licozone offered curated content, games, homework help including
Speaker 1: how stuff.
Speaker 2: Works, how stuff works, great site.
Speaker 1: And reference materials.
Speaker 2: So the portals were these vast integrated ecosystems trying to
Speaker 2: keep you within their walls. Basically, now, let's look at
Speaker 2: sites that were more focused specifically on the exploding problem
Speaker 2: of finding information, the dedicated to search engines.
Speaker 1: And there's really only one place to start that conversation.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and four, even in a book about web.
Speaker 2: Secrets, Google absolutely The book gives us the numbers for
Speaker 2: two thousand and four, over seventy three point five million
Speaker 2: unique users monthly, over two hundred million searches a day,
Speaker 2: indexing billions of pages, just massive scale for the time, and.
Speaker 1: The book emphasizes Google's core different from the portals, a
Speaker 1: laser focus purely on search, no email, no personalization on
Speaker 1: the main page, none of that portal.
Speaker 2: Clutter, simplicity on the surface, immense power underneath. The book
Speaker 2: lists the variety of searches available then basic web, advanced
Speaker 2: web directory images, news, Usenet, people, stocks, catalogs, even government
Speaker 2: and university specific searches.
Speaker 1: The homepage is called a marvel of simplicity, which it was,
Speaker 1: but the engine's power, as the book explains, came from PageRank.
Speaker 2: PageRank was foundational. Yeah, it didn't just count how many
Speaker 2: links pointed to a page. It weighted those links based
Speaker 2: on the importance of the PageRank of the linking page itself.
Speaker 2: It was a quality based approach to real events, which
Speaker 2: was pretty groundbreaking.
Speaker 1: The book details the search operators that gave users more control,
Speaker 1: the implied A and D between words the explicit or
Speaker 1: R for either searches, and excluding words with the minus
Speaker 1: minus bean sign it notes stop words were usually included.
Speaker 2: And key advanced options highlighted are file a type to
Speaker 2: find documents like PDFs or word docs, super useful in
Speaker 2: site to search only within a specific website or domain.
Speaker 2: These are still incredibly useful today, obviously.
Speaker 1: And here's a secret from the book that was like
Speaker 1: a digital archaeology tool, the cash operator type in cash
Speaker 1: before a URL that you see Google's stored copy of
Speaker 1: a page.
Speaker 2: Right even if the live version was down or had
Speaker 2: changed significantly.
Speaker 1: A lifesaver for researchers or anyone needing to access historical
Speaker 1: web content. The book lists many other operators too, like infolink,
Speaker 1: related Dot entitled dot Neural, Lots of ways to slice
Speaker 1: and dice, so.
Speaker 2: Much power embedded right in that simple search bar. Google
Speaker 2: also integrated features into the results display, like showing related
Speaker 2: news headlines or suggesting related pages via something called Google Scout.
Speaker 1: Google preferences allowed customization too, results per page, language filtering,
Speaker 1: and importantly safe search for filtering out offensive content.
Speaker 2: They also made it easy to search from anywhere with
Speaker 2: Google browser buttons and the dedicated Google toolbar, which offered
Speaker 2: even more integrated features right in your browser.
Speaker 1: Beyond the core web search, the book explores Google specific
Speaker 1: services available, then, Google image search with advanced filters, nails Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Google Groups for accessing and searching Usenet newsgroups using
Speaker 1: the grouped operator use.
Speaker 2: Net Wow, and Google phone Book, a feature for searching
Speaker 2: publicly listed phone numbers and addresses in the US, even
Speaker 2: a reverse look up using the phone book operator.
Speaker 1: Again, the book cautions this only finds listed numbers, can't
Speaker 1: find unlisted ones.
Speaker 2: Of course, Google News is also highlighted, aggregating headlines from
Speaker 2: thousands of sources, with category browsing and the ability to
Speaker 2: bookmark search results pages to get updated news feeds on
Speaker 2: a topic.
Speaker 1: That bookmarking trick was a clever way to stay current
Speaker 1: on a topic before RSS feeds were really mainstream.
Speaker 2: Definitely, Google stocks, Google Products, which was called frugal back then,
Speaker 2: for shopping comparisons, Google and Google catalogs for browsing merchant
Speaker 2: catalogs online are also covered.
Speaker 1: They even offered dictionary lookup using dictionary dot com and
Speaker 1: the Google calculator Yeah, which was pretty powerful math unit conversions. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The book notes it could even handle nonsense like feet
Speaker 1: in smoots.
Speaker 2: And answering philosophical questions.
Speaker 1: Yes, the classic answer to life, the Universe, and everything.
Speaker 1: Forty two had to be there.
Speaker 2: The book rounds out the Google section by listing other
Speaker 2: goodies like language tools for translation, the Google desk bar,
Speaker 2: Google glossary, keyboard, shortcuts, search by location, just a ton
Speaker 2: of stuff.
Speaker 1: The book summary emphasizes that despite the minimal interface, Google
Speaker 1: in two thousand and four offered tremendous power to informed
Speaker 1: users willing to dig just a little bit deeper.
Speaker 2: Okay, moving to another search engine mentored all the Web.
Speaker 2: The book notes its ownership by Overture alongside AltaVista.
Speaker 1: Right part of that Overture portfolio.
Speaker 2: All the Web differentiated itself with specific indexes for different
Speaker 2: types of content accessible using syntax shortcuts like web images,
Speaker 2: dot news, audio, video, and even FTP FTP search.
Speaker 1: Interesting. It also had a range of operators like site, oral,
Speaker 1: dot link, domain, file size and file type plus date
Speaker 1: range searching.
Speaker 2: The book calls out its advanced news search, picture search
Speaker 2: with thumbnails, and particularly its advanced FTP file search.
Speaker 1: Well special about that.
Speaker 2: It offered really granular options to find downloadable files, including
Speaker 2: filtering by domain paths, size, date, and even excluding certain
Speaker 2: file types. Pretty specialized.
Speaker 1: Next, a search engine with a very distinct approach, Ask Jeeves.
Speaker 1: The book leads with its signature feature the ability to
Speaker 1: respond to plain English questions, not just keywords.
Speaker 2: Yes, you could phrase your query naturally, like you were
Speaker 2: asking a person why is the sky blue? Or something
Speaker 2: like that. The book provides examples showing how you could
Speaker 2: ask full questions.
Speaker 1: The result page structure after they integrated the Tioma index,
Speaker 1: included standard web results, sponsored web results those are the
Speaker 1: paid ads, and a refine your Search section offering links
Speaker 1: to related searches or questions suggested by Jeeves himself.
Speaker 2: That refined section carried the spirit of the original Butler concept,
Speaker 2: trying to guide you to better results. The book lists
Speaker 2: specific smart features it handled directly, definitions, conversions, exchange rates, images,
Speaker 2: local info, maps, movie showtimes, stock quotes, quite a lot.
Speaker 1: And like others, an asked G's toolbar was available for
Speaker 1: Internet Explorer, providing a search box and quick access buttons
Speaker 1: for news, pictures, etc.
Speaker 2: Trying to integrate that natural language approach directly into the
Speaker 2: browser experience.
Speaker 1: Another Overture owned engine discussed is Alta Vista. Remember Alta Vista,
Speaker 1: Oh Yeah.
Speaker 2: A big name. Early on, the book lists its search methods,
Speaker 2: web images, MP three's video, news and notes, its directory
Speaker 2: used look smart and the open Directory project.
Speaker 1: Alta Vista was known for its powerful search operators, the
Speaker 1: plus and minus science quotes for exact phrases, near for proximity,
Speaker 1: and the.
Speaker 2: Boolean and or not, but the book specifically highlights its
Speaker 2: advanced web search page as a key feature. It allowed
Speaker 2: users to construct really complex queries with boolean logic, customize
Speaker 2: the result display, and filter by domain, site or date range.
Speaker 2: Very powerful for the time.
Speaker 1: It also offered language translation tools for text and entire pages,
Speaker 1: and Menca's Webmaster search and the AltaVista.
Speaker 2: Toolbar, keeping up with the toolbar trend.
Speaker 1: Finally, in the search engine discussion Hotbot, the book clarifies
Speaker 1: its ownership by Tara Lekos navigating that complex web we.
Speaker 2: Saw earlier the ownership tangle, again.
Speaker 1: Noting Hotpot's main search was powered by Inktomi, which was
Speaker 1: owned by Yahoo.
Speaker 2: Right. Hotbot's main selling point, the book notes, was its
Speaker 2: ability to search across multiple search sites simultaneous, Google, Ink
Speaker 2: to my Fast, Tioma looked, Smart, open directory all at once.
Speaker 1: A true meta search engine, it says hot box own
Speaker 1: into my Search index was pretty good and comparable in
Speaker 1: size to others at around three billion pages, and.
Speaker 2: The book highlights the ability to filter searches directly from
Speaker 2: the homepage using custom web filters and a preferences page.
Speaker 1: These filters offered granular control over things like words, domains,
Speaker 1: content types, though the book cautioned that not all the
Speaker 1: underlying search sites supported all the filters equally.
Speaker 2: Right a limitation of meta search. An advanced search page
Speaker 2: offered even more fine tuning.
Speaker 1: What's fascinating about looking back at these search engines is
Speaker 1: how they approached the same fundamental problem finding information on
Speaker 1: the web with such different philosophies.
Speaker 2: Totally from Google's algorithmic simplicity and PageRank to ask jeeves
Speaker 2: natural language focus and hotbot's meta search approach.
Speaker 1: It shows the intense innovation happening as the web scaled
Speaker 1: up so quickly, everyone was trying to build the best
Speaker 1: tool for navigating and increasingly complex information space.
Speaker 2: Absolutely okay. Let's shift gears from search specifically to sites
Speaker 2: focused on content and specific services that were prominent back
Speaker 2: in two thousand and four. The book covers online news
Speaker 2: and information sites, starting with CNN dot com right.
Speaker 1: The book highlights that CNN dot Com offered much more
Speaker 1: depth than just the headlines on the homepage. It mentioned
Speaker 1: subscription services like CNN Newspasts and a web only newscast, CNN.
Speaker 2: Quickcast, noting that not everything was free even then. Digital
Speaker 2: paywalls aren't just a recent thing.
Speaker 1: A useful secret noted is the ability to search the
Speaker 1: EXTENSIVECNN dot com news archive for older stories.
Speaker 2: That's valuable definitely, and the book points out their global presence,
Speaker 2: with CNN dot com international and localized foreign language sites
Speaker 2: designed for relevance to local audiences.
Speaker 1: You can even find CNN'STV schedule online apparently. The book
Speaker 1: lists other major news sites of the era like Bbcnews,
Speaker 1: Reuter's cntnews dot com, MSNBC, and Google News.
Speaker 2: Of course, so includes the Drudge Report, with the source
Speaker 2: noting its political bias but also its strength in highlighting
Speaker 2: headlines and breaking stories quickly.
Speaker 1: From news to sports, the book dives into espn dot com,
Speaker 1: described as the essential destination for major league and college.
Speaker 2: Sports coverage and for action sports fans ESPN ESPN's sister site,
Speaker 2: focusing on extreme sports like snowboarding, skateboarding, motocross.
Speaker 1: A particularly cool feature highlighted is ESPN gamecasts remember those.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, providing real time text based play by play
Speaker 2: for games when you couldn't watch them live on TV.
Speaker 1: A crucial feature in the pre smartphone era for sports
Speaker 1: fans stuck at a computer or just wanting updates totally.
Speaker 2: The book also mentions ESPN Fantasy Sports already big then,
Speaker 2: and the bottom Line ticker tool bar for scores and headlines.
Speaker 1: For financial information, CBS MarketWatch is singled out as a
Speaker 1: great financial site, and notably, the book emphasizes it was free, which.
Speaker 2: Was a big draw. It covered both stocks and personal finance,
Speaker 2: offering a library of articles and a glossary of financial tools.
Speaker 1: Included a market overview, snapshot, industry performance tracking, best warse sectors,
Speaker 1: and the ability to look up individual stock or fun tickers.
Speaker 2: It's my Portfolios tool was apparently a standout. It allowed
Speaker 2: users to build and track portfolios from simple lists of
Speaker 2: stock symbols to more detailed records including cash positions and
Speaker 2: purchase details, and.
Speaker 1: It offered various views like analyzer allocation news related to
Speaker 1: your holdings.
Speaker 2: There was even a separate portfolio tracker window for real
Speaker 2: time quotes, plus interactive charts for stock analysis.
Speaker 1: The book also covers their newsletters and research section, featuring
Speaker 1: analysis from contributors like Mike Ashbah and.
Speaker 2: Here's a valuable secret from the book regarding newsletters. While
Speaker 2: premium investment newsletters could be really expensive, right MarketWatch offered
Speaker 2: a Guruz corner for free insights and crucially a list
Speaker 2: of the top performing newsletters over the past year.
Speaker 1: Ah so you could see track records before you decided
Speaker 1: to subscribe to a pricey.
Speaker 2: One exactly use the free resources to inform decisions about
Speaker 2: the paid ones. The book also provided a directory with
Speaker 2: pricing info for those newsletters, and it lists other financial
Speaker 2: sites too, like Bloomberg, Forbes dot com, Motley Fool, next.
Speaker 1: Up weather dot com highlighted for its truly global reach,
Speaker 1: covering over eighty thousand locations worldwide. Even back then.
Speaker 2: The site map is mentioned is a good way to
Speaker 2: find the depth of content because there was a lot.
Speaker 2: Key features included getting local forecasts with current conditions, Doppler
Speaker 2: radar images, a detailed forecasts.
Speaker 1: And crucially an hourly forecast for specific planning like should
Speaker 1: I go for a run at.
Speaker 2: Three pm exactly? The site would remember your location for
Speaker 2: quick access. They also provided severe weather advisories.
Speaker 1: Of course, gravel features were a major focus too, determining
Speaker 1: where to go, checking weather at your destination, monitoring airport
Speaker 1: weather and.
Speaker 2: Delays, and even tracking specific flight status with free email
Speaker 2: or text message alerts. That was pretty advanced for two
Speaker 2: thousand and four. Finding driving conditions was also available.
Speaker 1: A fun, slightly serious feature noted is weather magnets. Remember
Speaker 1: those little widgets vaguely an easy and freeway to add
Speaker 1: local weather forecasts to your own website or blog.
Speaker 2: Ah right, and yeah, you could actually buy weather gear,
Speaker 2: including proper meteorological instruments on the site. Plus they mentioned
Speaker 2: premium services like weather dot com.
Speaker 1: Gold moving to Microsoft dot Com. The book places it
Speaker 1: as one of hundreds of Microsoft sites distinct from MSN
Speaker 1: or expedia. It's main purpose consumer oriented technical support and
Speaker 1: downloading updates.
Speaker 2: And the most critical secret the book points out, expressing
Speaker 2: some surprise not everyone utilized it was using Microsoft dot
Speaker 2: Com to keep Windows operating systems updated and secure.
Speaker 1: Right via Microsoft Update in the download center. Absolutely essential
Speaker 1: in an era plagued by viruses and worms like NIMDA
Speaker 1: and code read.
Speaker 2: The book acknowledges the pain of large downloads on dial
Speaker 2: up connections, though that was a real barrier.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Technical support was largely handled to the Microsoft
Speaker 1: Knowledge Base or KB.
Speaker 2: The book described searching it by product or problem using
Speaker 2: filters and boolean operators, but notes the challenge of navigating
Speaker 2: the often very technical language.
Speaker 1: You had to learn to search using the precise error
Speaker 1: message or the terms tech support would use. It wasn't
Speaker 1: always intuitive. The book briefly mentions Microsoft Game studios as.
Speaker 2: Well, and it reveals what it calls a hidden entertainment
Speaker 2: portal Windowsmedia dot Com hidden well maybe less prominent than MSN,
Speaker 2: described as a full featured site for music downloads, streaming,
Speaker 2: audio and video, movie trailers, internet radio news, all built
Speaker 2: around the Windows Media player.
Speaker 1: Ah okay, a whole media hub living under the main
Speaker 1: Microsoft umbrella. The book lists other related Microsoft sites too
Speaker 1: for developers, it pros international users.
Speaker 2: Now let's look at the giants of online commerce and services,
Speaker 2: starting with the behemoth eBay. The book identifies it flat
Speaker 2: out as the Internet's largest online auction site.
Speaker 1: No argument there. It mentions the Sellers and Buyers checklists
Speaker 1: as good and starting points for newbies.
Speaker 2: And highlights my eBay as the central hub for managing
Speaker 2: all your activity, tracking bids, watching items, saving searches, managing
Speaker 2: your account details, viewing and leaving feedback, setting preferences everything.
Speaker 1: Finding items involved search naturally, including searching by item number,
Speaker 1: by specific seller or buyer, searching within eBay stores for
Speaker 1: fixed price items.
Speaker 2: And searching completed auctions. Really useful for gauging prices. The
Speaker 2: book lists search operators specific to eBay's platform.
Speaker 1: Saving your favorite searches and easily repeating them from my
Speaker 1: eBay was pointed out as a valuable time saver if
Speaker 1: you were looking for something specific.
Speaker 2: The book explains bidding, including proxy bidding where eBay automatically
Speaker 2: bids incrementally for you up to your set maximum amount, and.
Speaker 1: A core bonus secret here is simple but crucial advice
Speaker 1: don't spend more than you want to set your maximum
Speaker 1: bid based on what you're truly willing to pay, not just.
Speaker 2: What you think the item is worth to others, or
Speaker 2: getting caught in a bidding war and no one to.
Speaker 1: Wise advice then and now. Definitely for selling, the book
Speaker 1: covers setting a reserve price so your item doesn't sell
Speaker 1: too low.
Speaker 2: Offering by it now for a fixed price option.
Speaker 1: Adding pictures noting the costs beyond the first free photo,
Speaker 1: and mentioning picture pack options, also revising listings after they're live,
Speaker 1: relisting unsold items, and the process for filing a non
Speaker 1: paying bidder alert.
Speaker 2: Seller tools like Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro are
Speaker 2: listed for high volume sellers, also eBay stores and third
Speaker 2: party Emay assistance.
Speaker 1: Turbolister is described as a key secret tool for serious
Speaker 1: seller software for creating and managing auction listings offline and
Speaker 1: then uploading them in bulk.
Speaker 2: And a major secret for sellers wanting to accept credit
Speaker 2: cards without being a full blown merchant using PayPal, which
Speaker 2: eBay owned by then right exactly, using PayPal as a
Speaker 2: middleman service to process payments easily. That was huge for
Speaker 2: small sellers.
Speaker 1: The book also mentions other third party seller tools like
Speaker 1: channel Advisor and hammer Tap, and highlights eBay motors specifically
Speaker 1: for buying and selling vehicles, cars, motorcycles, even aircraft.
Speaker 2: Wow Aircraft, and the eBay toolbar is noted for tracking
Speaker 2: bidding activity directly from your browser, very handy for active bidders.
Speaker 1: Okay, Moving to the other e commerce giant, Amazon dot Com,
Speaker 1: which even in two thousand and four boast of the
Speaker 1: slogan Earth's biggest selection, having long expanded way beyond just books.
Speaker 2: And the book explains a key concept that's still relevant.
Speaker 2: You weren't always buying directly from Amazon itself.
Speaker 1: Right, Merchandise came from different sources. Yeah, there was Amazon's
Speaker 1: own inventory ship from their warehouses.
Speaker 2: Than major partner retailers like Orders, Target, Toys r US
Speaker 2: who fulfilled orders through Amazon's platform.
Speaker 1: And also smaller Amazon merchants third party sellers found in
Speaker 1: sections like more Buying Choices. It even mentions a specific
Speaker 1: partnership with segwe at the time.
Speaker 2: Segways on Amazon in two thousand and four. Finding bargains
Speaker 2: included looking for used merchandise offered by third party sellers
Speaker 2: and checking the Amazon Outlet store for closeouts and overstock deals.
Speaker 1: Convenient ordering features included one click ordering still around, various
Speaker 1: payment options beyond just.
Speaker 2: Credit cards, and the ability to pick up your order
Speaker 2: in person at certain retail partner locations using in store pickup.
Speaker 1: Interesting gift features were extensive designating items as gifts during checkout,
Speaker 1: adding gift wrap and personalized notes, usually.
Speaker 2: For a fee, shipping directly to another address, sending gift
Speaker 2: certificates either by email or physical mail.
Speaker 1: And creating or browsing public wish lists or gift registries.
Speaker 1: The book even mentions a gift Wheezard tool to help
Speaker 1: you choose gifts.
Speaker 2: Personalization and community were key aspects too. The site offered
Speaker 2: a personalized start page with recommendations based on your past
Speaker 2: purchases and browsing history, and.
Speaker 1: You could actively influence those recommendations by rating items you
Speaker 1: owned or indicating things you weren't interested in Via improve your.
Speaker 2: Recommendations, You could also recommend items to others, create and
Speaker 2: browse listmania lists, user curated lists on specific topics and.
Speaker 1: So you'd like to guides which were similar user created
Speaker 1: guides building that community aspect.
Speaker 2: Staying updated included browsing coming soon lists for upcoming products
Speaker 2: and getting email alerts for new releases or when out
Speaker 2: of stock items became available again.
Speaker 1: For selling your own stuff, Amazon offered the Amazon Marketplace
Speaker 1: for US items, pro merchants for volume sellers, z shops
Speaker 1: their version of storefronts, and even Amazon auctions to compete
Speaker 1: with eBay.
Speaker 2: Communication and interaction included chat features and discussion boards related
Speaker 2: to products or topics.
Speaker 1: Browsing and searching involved navigating product categories using power search operators.
Speaker 1: The book mentions things like not t and sorting search
Speaker 1: results by various criteria. The book even mentions accessing products
Speaker 1: directly via URLs if you knew them.
Speaker 2: Content features included listening to music samples online, reading books online,
Speaker 2: either excerpts or via partners.
Speaker 1: Tracking the Amazon sales rank for products, and seeing overall
Speaker 1: sales trends via top sellers.
Speaker 2: Lists, and mentioning news, weather, sports, movies, finance, even restaurant
Speaker 2: info provided by other partner sites integrated into Amazon. There
Speaker 2: was a movie showtimes page, and special occasion reminders like birthdays.
Speaker 1: It's really fascinating to see how many of these core
Speaker 1: features and strategies were already in place at Amazon back
Speaker 1: in two thousand and four, laying the groundwork for the
Speaker 1: behemoth we know today.
Speaker 2: Truly. Next up digital music with Napster two point zero.
Speaker 1: Right. This is after the original free and legally dubious
Speaker 1: file sharing Napster was shut down exactly.
Speaker 2: Napster two point zero in two thousand and four was
Speaker 2: a subscription music service requiring a software download. Basic membership
Speaker 2: was free for browsing, but actually purchasing or downloading music
Speaker 2: cost money. A legitimate pad model.
Speaker 1: A major pivot. You could browse and search for music,
Speaker 1: buy individual tracks or whole albums using by track or
Speaker 1: buy album.
Speaker 2: Buttons, and purchase tracks were added to your personal library
Speaker 2: and downloaded in the background by the.
Speaker 1: Software managing music centered around the library page. Within the
Speaker 1: Napster software, you could build playlists of your favorite.
Speaker 2: Tracks and listen to and create mixtapes, which the book
Speaker 2: describes as collections of songs you could stream or potentially
Speaker 2: burn to a CD. Later.
Speaker 1: Listening options included using Napster's built in music player for
Speaker 1: real time streaming of tracks you owned or maybe subscription content.
Speaker 2: Listening to curated Napster radio stations, and.
Speaker 1: For premium members. The book mentions being able to listen
Speaker 1: to the entire Napster library while surfing the web full
Speaker 1: streaming access.
Speaker 2: They also had features for sharing songs via email, likely
Speaker 2: links not the files themselves, and accessing Napster's own message
Speaker 2: boards for community discussion.
Speaker 1: The book lists the competitive landscape for legal digital music
Speaker 1: back then Apple's iTunes music store was a big one.
Speaker 2: Buy music dot Com music match downloads eMusic and Rhapsody,
Speaker 2: noting Rhapsody's connection back to Lycos again.
Speaker 1: It also mentions the ability to import your own existing
Speaker 1: local audio files like threes you already had into the
Speaker 1: Napster library to manage everything in one place.
Speaker 2: This really shows the early diverse field of legal digital
Speaker 2: music services trying to figure out the business model and
Speaker 2: user experience after the original Napster completely shook up the
Speaker 2: music industry.
Speaker 1: Lefting a transitional period okay shifting to online travel now
Speaker 1: with Expedia described as a popular one stop online travel agency.
Speaker 2: Or Ota had its origins at Microsoft but was owned
Speaker 2: by Iacenteractivecore by two thousand and four. Its big strength
Speaker 2: was packaging flights, hotels, and rental cars together easily.
Speaker 1: The book shares some useful nuances, though not all airlines
Speaker 1: were always listed on Expedia, especially some budget carriers.
Speaker 2: But you could restrict your search filters to only show
Speaker 2: flights from specific airlines you preferred, and you could book
Speaker 2: complex multi leg trips not just simple round trips.
Speaker 1: It highlights search flexibility too, like the option to display
Speaker 1: flights based on preferred departure or rival time instead of
Speaker 1: just sorting strictly by the lowest price, useful if your
Speaker 1: schedule wasn't flexible.
Speaker 2: Mentioned finding cheap flights was obviously a key goal. Other
Speaker 2: booking types included vacation packages, flight plus hotel deals, searching
Speaker 2: specifically for hotels, and finding rental cars.
Speaker 1: You could look for last minute travel deals specifically and
Speaker 1: sign up for travel deals via email alerts to get
Speaker 1: notified about sales.
Speaker 2: A neat feature mentioned for undecided travelers was let Expedia
Speaker 2: help you determine where you want to go, some kind
Speaker 2: of destination suggestion tool based on your interests or budget. Perhaps.
Speaker 1: They also offered integrated maps and driving direction services common
Speaker 1: for travel sites.
Speaker 2: And Reassuringly, the book notes that even though you booked online,
Speaker 2: you could still call them if you encountered problems. It
Speaker 2: actually lists their phone numbers eight hundred Expedia and a
Speaker 2: direct line.
Speaker 1: Good to know there was still a human safety net
Speaker 1: easily accessible. Finally, map quest, the book starts by emphasizing
Speaker 1: it's more than just a website for maps.
Speaker 2: It details the variety of inputs you could use to
Speaker 2: find a map. A specific street address, just a city
Speaker 2: or zip code, an area code, latitude and longitude, coordinates,
Speaker 2: or even an airport code.
Speaker 1: A practical pit from the book spell out city names fully,
Speaker 1: like New York City, not just NYC for best results.
Speaker 2: The interactive map features included zooming in and out, recentering
Speaker 2: the map on a point, and panning using directional aero
Speaker 2: controls standard stuff now that key.
Speaker 1: Then you could customize the map display using a customized
Speaker 1: map page, adding landmarks, maybe traffic info if available.
Speaker 2: And adding a second location marker to a map, maybe
Speaker 2: to see two points relative to each other. Saving maps
Speaker 2: for later Reference was also a.
Speaker 1: Feature for finding places on the map. You could search
Speaker 1: using Yellow Pages categories like pizza or banks, or search
Speaker 1: for a specific business name. This could also help find
Speaker 1: street addresses if you didn't know.
Speaker 2: Them, and getting driving directions was of course a core function.
Speaker 2: It provided text based turn by turn instructions by default.
Speaker 1: Or you could fine tune using routing options to get
Speaker 1: turned by turns with tech showing mini maps for each
Speaker 1: step alongside the instructions, And.
Speaker 2: The book reveals a final secret. Map Quest apparently had
Speaker 2: an online world Atless feature available somewhere on the site
Speaker 2: beyond just the roadmaps.
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay. Looking back through this two thousand and four book,
Speaker 1: you really see the web grappling with organizing vast amounts
Speaker 1: of information, connecting people, facilitating commerce, and providing essential daily services, all.
Speaker 2: Through interfaces that, as the book shows, often hid surprising
Speaker 2: depth and clever functionality beneath the surface.
Speaker 1: It truly is a fascinating snapshot. Extracting these secrets from
Speaker 1: a book published over twenty years ago shows not just
Speaker 1: how far we've come technologically.
Speaker 2: But also the foundational ideas and user focused solutions that
Speaker 2: were being developed way back then. The portal's trying to
Speaker 2: be everything, the search engines, specializing in finding things, the
Speaker 2: service sites, building focused tools for specific tasks.
Speaker 1: It gives you those aha moments seeing the early versions
Speaker 1: of things we use every single day now and realizing
Speaker 1: how much thought went into designing functionality for users, even
Speaker 1: if it wasn't always immediately obvious or easy to find.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really reinforces that idea that even the most
Speaker 2: familiar digital tools often have layers of capability waiting to
Speaker 2: be discovered if you just you know, know where or
Speaker 2: how to look or what question to ask.
Speaker 1: It makes you wonder what's still hidden in plain sight
Speaker 1: on the websites and apps we use constantly today all
Speaker 1: the time. Exactly how many features go unused because people
Speaker 1: just don't know they're there?
Speaker 2: Right So, here's the thought to leave you with after
Speaker 2: this deep dive into two thousand and four's web secrets.
Speaker 2: If a single book from back then could uncover literally
Speaker 2: hundreds of less known features on the major websites of
Speaker 2: that era, how many secrets? How much untapped power do
Speaker 2: you think is lying undiscovered within the digital tools you
Speaker 2: interact with constantly every single day? Right now? What might
Speaker 2: you find if you stop just navigating the surface and
Speaker 2: started intentionally exploring the deeper layers