Absent express permission, repeated attempts to copy this page into a cache, into memory or onto a disk will result in legal action. He has been involved in online news services since 1990. The number is 5.46893. I'd divulge the formula, which involves dozens of variables including the speed of light, a divining rod and the weight of one meter of fiber-optic cable, but unless you are highly gifted in doing differential equations and in writing haiku, you wouldn't understand anyway. So just trust me while I attempt to get to the point.
Time flies on the Net.
Some 164 Internet years have passed since the fledgling Net began operating in 1969, and 27.34465 Internet years have passed since the first media companies started creating Web sites just over five calendar years ago. That's a long-short time, and through all of it, it's been an almost universally accepted fact that consumers will not pay for content online, unless it's pornography. In early 1998, the click-through rate averaged 1.35 percent, according to NetRatings Inc., a California company that tracks such things. The current rate is estimated at something below 0.5 percent, says Tim Meadows, an analyst at NetRatings. Whatever the reasons for this startling trend, it could make advertisers begin to question whether it's worth it to support general news Web sites, and that could have major implications for online media.