时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:2012年VOA慢速英语(六)月


英语课

 



Technology Report - Some Websites Judge You by the Kind of Computer You Use


This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.


Last week, the Wall Street Journal had a report about the online travel company Orbitz. The newspaper said Orbitz shows Mac users higher-priced travel choices at the top of search results than users of Windows. The company began doing this after research suggested that people who use Mac computers spend up to thirty percent more for hotels than people with PCs.


Cameron Yuill is chief executive of a digital media and technology company called AdGent. He is also a former employee of Orbitz. He says this kind of marketing 1 is just another example of how the Internet is influencing the way companies target consumers.


CAMERON YUILL: "Mac users tend to be more affluent 2 than PC users, so why not target them with the messages that are going to resonate with them?"


This kind of price discrimination is also known as dynamic pricing. Mr. Yuill says it is a very common marketing tool, especially in the travel industry.


CAMERON YUILL: "Next time you’re on a flight, ask the person next to you what they paid for their ticket. And I guarantee it is not the same, the same dollars that you paid for yours. If you’re traveling at a certain period of time, or you’re a business traveler or you bought your ticket last minute, you will always get charged more."


Companies have always gathered information about their customers. But now they have a lot more ways to do it. Eric Martin is a partner at Boost Partners, a management consulting company. He says the Internet has increased the amount of data that companies can collect.


ERIC MARTIN: "Technology is creating an environment where your searches, your online behavior, leads the seller to know much more about you than would, for instance, a retailer 3 when you walked into their store."


A salesperson 4 in a store can only assume certain things about you based on your appearance. Online sellers, however, have far more information to work with. Eric Martin says this includes information about which website directed you to them.


ERIC MARTIN: "Which has a bearing on how they view you as a customer and what your buying habits might be. The people that you deal with you online can’t see you at all physically 5. But they know that, for instance, when you came to Orbitz you may have been directed there by Kayak, which is itself a comparison site, which then may lead Orbitz to believe that you’re searching for deals."


Information about the referring site is only one of the things that a site like Orbitz will consider. Is the person a return visitor? Which hotels has this person viewed in the past? Websites collect this kind of information by placing small files known as cookies on a person's computer.


In the case of Orbitz, Mac and PC users were actually given the same choices. However, they appeared in different orders. For Mac users, the higher-priced hotels showed up higher in the search results. Orbitz says ninety percent of its users book a hotel that appears on the first page, and mostly in the top five listings.


And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms. I'm Steve Ember.




1 marketing
n.行销,在市场的买卖,买东西
  • They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
  • He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。
2 affluent
adj.富裕的,富有的,丰富的,富饶的
  • He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
  • His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。
3 retailer
n.零售商(人)
  • What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢?
  • The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。
4 salesperson
n.售货员,营业员,店员
  • A salesperson works in a shop.售货员在商店工作。
  • Vanessa is a salesperson in a woman's wear department.凡妮莎是女装部的售货员。
5 physically
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律
  • He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服,心绪也很乱。
  • Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。
学英语单词
air chilling cabinet
airpocket
airstones
anastrophyllum japonicum steph.
angular point
atreuss
avulsion fracture of tibial tubercle
aydan
band curve
boethetic
bottom-mounted current meter
calal
cat's claw
certified manifest
chrome alumina red
clematis uncinata okinawensis
code compare
common-mode rejection factor
control pillar
convocations
coolcard ad
crosscurrent operation
crown conformation
Cytoleichus
darkening rate
DEC
deflbrinated blood
demixing area
Dendrocalamopsis grandis
descriptive null hypothesis
destructivist
DFMC
distance between wells
edge view method
embolise
ethylene-propylene-diene-terpolymer rubber
eysencks
floor reflection
Fridaythorpe
genus Cordaites
glyptotermes satsumensis
Great Western
halloweens
Hespérange
high ductile alloy
high throughput interconnection structure
Holothuridae
homology group of simplicial complex
husses
HWSR (heavy-water suspension breeder reactor)
istdc
joint stock insurance company
klor
Liliales
long-er
mass storage control system
meeting to adjust shortages and surpluses
mesopleurite
Microdesmis
model panel
moonlight flitter
multilayer aggregate
mumps vaccine
Mvengué
nephrotyphoid
niobian
non-cellulosic fibre
numbrous
oil of ginger
over the sea s
Parent-Teacher Associations
pregnancy dysphonia
previous record
pulse duration ratio
radar sight
rayners
regulating well
resistivity sounding configuration
sea guard
self-depreciatory
squirehood
srdjans
steam quality by mass
suniums
super loop
suspension of treaty
the current of time
third heart sound
tip-car
trabeculitis
trull grasp
type metal
typical module
unblasted
up-graded
vibrotaction
wegee
white-topped asters
whiteoil
winch for electric logging
Xnty.
Yahaba