What is a press release?

A press release is pseudo-news story, written in third person, that seeks to demonstrate to an editor or reporter the newsworthiness of a particular person, event, service or product.

How is a press release used?

Press releases are often sent alone, by e-mail, fax or snail mail. They can also be part of a full press kit, or may be accompanied by a pitch letter.

What is the proper press release format?

Here's a sample press release template you can use to format your press release correctly:

Note: The three #'s mark the end of the press release.

What should I put in my press release?

Let's stick with the theme presented in that report: you run an vitamin web site specializing in weight-loss products. Through the process described in the report, you've nailed down a nice, newsworthy topic – teenagers and how they deal with issues of weight. But that's a broad topic, not a story.

In the report, we provided a number of ideas for potential stories. Let's pick the first one and craft a press release.

The story: What do kids think about a "thin is in" society?

As you sift through your message boards looking for quotes, you see a trend appearing. There are lots of messages criticizing Hollywood actresses and pop singers for being too thin. Many girls are saying that seeing these women make them feel bad about their own bodies. A number of the boys are pointing out that they don't find ultra-thin women appealing.

Now you've got your angle -- your hook that will grab a reporter's attention:

Teenagers think that a "thin is in" society pretty much stinks.

Now let's get writing.

Press Release Headline

Before you write a word, remember this:

The reporter isn't interested in helping you make money or driving visitors to your site. He's looking for a story that will be interesting to his readers and pleasing to his editor. He could care less about your great selection, super customer service and commitment to quality. He wants to know only the info that will help him craft a good story about teens and their weight.

Take your ego out of it. Take your natural inclination to sell, sell, sell out of it. Look at your story with a cold, objective eye.

OK, let's get to our press release headline.

State your most exciting news, finding or announcement in as few words as possible. Emulate the headlines you see in the newspaper every day.

Bad Press Release Headline:
NEW WEBSITE THAT OFFERS HERBAL WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS LETS TEENS SPEAK OUT ABOUT WEIGHT ISSUES

Good Press Release Headline:
TEENS: ULTRA-THIN MOVIE, POP STARS SET BAD EXAMPLE

Don't worry, you'll get to plug your website soon enough. In the meantime, you've just thrown a meaty hook at the reporter.

The Press Release Subhead

Subheads are remarkably useful tools, yet usually overlooked by press release writers. Basically, the press release subhead gives you the opportunity to flesh out your angle and further hook the reporter, without stepping on the drama of the press release headline.

Here's a headline/subhead combo I might use for this press release:

TEENS: ULTRA-THIN MOVIE, POP STARS SET BAD EXAMPLE

Website Forumgoers Weigh In: Teens Don't Find Ultra-Thin Celebs Attractive;
Girls Say Negative Self-Images Reinforced by Hollywood's Super-Skinny

The Press Release Lead

It's Journalism 101 -- the lead paragraph includes the who, what, when, where and how of the story. If the reporter were only to read the lead of a good press release, he'd have everything he needed to get started.

There's no room for BS, hype or sell. Just the facts.

Bad Press Release Lead
Recently on theplace4vitamins.com, an online store dedicated to selling the best herbal products, teenagers had the chance to say what they thought about weight loss and whether a society that pressures young people to be thin is a good thing or a bad thing.

Good Press Release Lead
America's teenagers are angry at Hollywood for glamorizing ultra-thin bodies, and many girls say they feel too self-conscious about their bodies as a result of watching TV, movies and music videos. The findings are gleaned from more than six months of ongoing discussion and debate at the website theplace4vitamins.com. According to theplace4vitamins.com President John Smith, anger and resentment toward the Hollywood ultra-thin runs deep, particularly among teenage girls.

The Rest of the Press Release

The balance of the press release serves to back up whatever claims were made in the lead and headline. In this case, you'd pull some quotes from the message boards (an aside here: if you really were to pull quotes in this fashion, you should only use the poster's name or identifying information with his or her permission. Otherwise, simply say "a 14 year old boy said..." or "a 16 year old Midwestern girl added..." Also, if this technique appeals to you, be certain that a disclaimer appears on your message boards notifying posters that all posts become your property and copyright). Use enough supporting material to make your case, and to demonstrate that, whatever angle you're promoting, it wasn't something you slapped together carelessly.

Next, a quote will help put in some perspective:

"I was surprised by the level of anger expressed in these messages," Smith said. "Teenagers are far more clued into this issue than most people would imagine."

Or, you might ask an expert for a quote:

"This demonstrates once again the need to teach young girls and boys about how to develop a positive self-image," said Jane Doe, author of "I Like My Body Just As It Is". "theplace4vitamins.com has done a true service by bringing these attitudes to the public's attention."

Finally, spend a sentence or two describing your company and what you do:

theplace4vitamins.com was founded in 1997 to provide consumers with a wide choice of vitamins, supplements and herbal products. The site offers a range of articles, research materials and message forums for the health conscious consumer.

This paragraph is known as the "boilerplate" -- an old newspaper term meaning a block of standard text that's used over and over again (e.g. the explanation of symbols on the stock price page). In this case, it's text that you might use at the bottom of all your releases.

Place your boilerplate right above the # # #'s.

One more trick: below the ###'s, add a line that says something like:

If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with John Smith, please call Pat Brown at 555/555-2222 or e-mail Pat at pr@theplace4vitamins.com

Some Key Things to Remember

• Stay away from hype-bloated phrases like "breakthrough", "unique", "state-of-the-art", etc.

• Always write it from a journalist's perspective. Never use "I" or "we" unless it's in a quote.

• Read lots of good newspaper writing, such as the New York Times or the Washington Post to get a feel for the style.

• Shorter is better. If you can say it in two pages, great. If you can say it in one page, better.

RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document, which is called a "feed", "web feed", or "channel", contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually.

RSS content can be read using software called a "feed reader" or an "aggregator." The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds.

The initials "RSS" are used to refer to the following formats:

·                         Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)

·                         RDF Site Summary (RSS 1.0 and RSS 0.90)

·                         Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91)

RSS formats are specified using XML, a generic specification for the creation of data formats.

Examples

RSS 1.0

The following is an example of an RSS 1.0 file.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
 
<rdf:RDF
 xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
 xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/">
 
 <channel rdf:about="http://www.xml.com/xml/news.rss">
   <title>XML.com</title>
   <link>http://xml.com/pub</link>
   <description>
     XML.com features a rich mix of information and services
     for the XML community.
   </description>
   <image rdf:resource="http://xml.com/universal/images/xml_tiny.gif" />
   <items>
     <rdf:Seq>
       <rdf:li rdf:resource="http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/xslt/xslt.html" />
       <rdf:li rdf:resource="http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/rdfdb/index.html" />
     </rdf:Seq>
   </items>
   <textinput rdf:resource="http://search.xml.com" />
 </channel>
 
 <image rdf:about="http://xml.com/universal/images/xml_tiny.gif">
   <title>XML.com</title>
   <link>http://www.xml.com</link>
   <url>http://xml.com/universal/images/xml_tiny.gif</url>
 </image>
 
 <item rdf:about="http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/xslt/xslt.html">
   <title>Processing Inclusions with XSLT</title>
   <link>http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/xslt/xslt.html</link>
   <description>
    Processing document inclusions with general XML tools can be
    problematic. This article proposes a way of preserving inclusion
    information through SAX-based processing.
   </description>
 </item>
 
 <item rdf:about="http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/rdfdb/index.html">
   <title>Putting RDF to Work</title>
   <link>http://xml.com/pub/2000/08/09/rdfdb/index.html</link>
   <description>
    Tool and API support for the Resource Description Framework
    is slowly coming of age. Edd Dumbill takes a look at RDFDB,
    one of the most exciting new RDF toolkits.
   </description>
 </item>
 
 <textinput rdf:about="http://search.xml.com">
   <title>Search XML.com</title>
   <description>Search XML.com's XML collection</description>
   <name>s</name>
   <link>http://search.xml.com</link>
 </textinput>
</rdf:RDF>

RSS 2.0

The following is an example of an RSS 2.0 file.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>Liftoff News</title>
    <link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/</link>
    <description>Liftoff to Space Exploration.</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2003 04:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2003 09:41:01 GMT</lastBuildDate>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <generator>Weblog Editor 2.0</generator>
    <managingEditor>editor@example.com</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>webmaster@example.com</webMaster>
 
    <item>
      <title>Star City</title>
      <link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2003/news-starcity.asp</link>
      <description>How do Americans get ready to work with Russians aboard the
        International Space Station? They take a crash course in culture, language
        and protocol at Russia's Star City.</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 03 Jun 2003 09:39:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/06/03.html#item573</guid>
    </item>
 
    <item>
      <title>Space Exploration</title>
      <link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/</link>
      <description>Sky watchers in Europe, Asia, and parts of Alaska and Canada
        will experience a partial eclipse of the Sun on Saturday, May 31st.</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2003 11:06:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/05/30.html#item572</guid>
    </item>
 
    <item>
      <title>The Engine That Does More</title>
      <link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2003/news-VASIMR.asp</link>
      <description>Before man travels to Mars, NASA hopes to design new engines
        that will let us fly through the Solar System more quickly.  The proposed
        VASIMR engine would do that.</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 27 May 2003 08:37:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/05/27.html#item571</guid>
    </item>
 
    <item>
      <title>Astronauts' Dirty Laundry</title>
      <link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2003/news-laundry.asp</link>
      <description>Compared to earlier spacecraft, the International Space
        Station has many luxuries, but laundry facilities are not one of them.
        Instead, astronauts have other options.</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 20 May 2003 08:56:02 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/05/20.html#item570</guid>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Example of an Atom 1.0 Feed

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
 
 <title>Example Feed</title>
 <subtitle>A subtitle.</subtitle>
 <link href="http://example.org/feed/" rel="self"/>
 <link href="http://example.org/"/>
 <updated>2003-12-13T18:30:02Z</updated>
 <author>
   <name>John Doe</name>
   <email>johndoe@example.com</email>
 </author>
 <id>urn:uuid:60a76c80-d399-11d9-b91C-0003939e0af6</id>
 
 <entry>
   <title>Atom-Powered Robots Run Amok</title>
   <link href="http://example.org/2003/12/13/atom03"/>
   <id>urn:uuid:1225c695-cfb8-4ebb-aaaa-80da344efa6a</id>
   <updated>2003-12-13T18:30:02Z</updated>
   <summary>Some text.</summary>
 </entry>
 
</feed> 

首先，新建个文本文件，输入下面这些：（直接复制到记事本就行）

ON ERROR RESUME NEXT

Dim VOL_PROD_KEY
if Wscript.arguments.count<1 then
VOL_PROD_KEY=InputBox("Powered By www.cnbeta.com"&vbCr&vbCr&" 本程序将自动替换你当前 Windows 的序列号,通过微软验证完全正版。"&vbCr&vbCr&"序列号(OEM版无效,默认版本为 XP VLK)：","Windows XP序列号自动更换器","MRX3F-47B9T-2487J-KWKMF-RPWBY")
if VOL_PROD_KEY="" then
Wscript.quit
end if
else
VOL_PROD_KEY = Wscript.arguments.Item(0)
end if

VOL_PROD_KEY = Replace(VOL_PROD_KEY,"-","") 'remove hyphens if any

for each Obj in GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}").InstancesOf ("win32_WindowsProductActivation")

result = Obj.SetProductKey (VOL_PROD_KEY)

if err = 0 then
Wscript.echo "OK！去微软验证吧！"
end if

if err <> 0 then
Wscript.echo "替换失败！输入的 CD-KEY 与当前的版本不匹配。"
Err.Clear
end if

Next

然后将以上文本保存为key.vbs 双击执行即可 通过XP验证顺利安装 windows media player 11

Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a term coined in the late 1990s to describe a system of computers networked together across the Internet that cooperate transparently to deliver content (especially large media content) to end users. The first web content based CDN's were Sandpiper and Skycache followed by Akamai and Digital Island. The first video based CDN was iBEAM Broadcasting [citation needed].
CDN nodes are deployed in multiple locations, often over multiple backbones. These nodes cooperate with each other to satisfy requests for content by end users, transparently moving content behind the scenes to optimize the delivery process. Optimization can take the form of reducing bandwidth costs, improving end-user performance, or both.
The number of nodes and servers making up a CDN varies, depending on the architecture, some reaching thousands of nodes with tens of thousands of servers.
Requests for content are intelligently directed to nodes that are optimal in some way. When optimizing for performance, locations that can serve content quickly to the user may be chosen. This may be measured by choosing locations that are the fewest hops or fewest number of network seconds away from the requestor, so as to optimize delivery across local networks. When optimizing for cost, locations that are less expensive to serve from may be chosen instead. Often these two goals tend to align, as servers that are close to the end user sometimes have an advantage in serving costs, perhaps because they are located within the same network as the end user.

Co DeeN [132.239.17.225: 3128]

CoDeeN is an academic testbed Content Distribution Network (CDN) built on top of PlanetLab by the Network Systems Group at Princeton University. This testbed CDN consists of a network of high-performance proxy servers. Currently, proxy servers have been deployed on many PlanetLab nodes. These proxy servers behave both as  request redirectors  and server surrogates. They cooperate with each other and collectively provide a fast and robust web content delivery service to CoDeeN  users. A number of projects are related to CoDeeN, including the following:

    * CoBlitz, a scalable Web-based distribution service for large files.
    * CoDeploy, an efficient synchronization tool for PlanetLab slices.
    * CoDNS, a fast and reliable name lookup service.
    * CoTop, a command-line activity monitoring tool for PlanetLab.
    * CoMon, a Web-based general node/slice monitor that monitors most PlanetLab nodes.
    * CoTest, a login debugging tool that tries to be human-friendly.
    * CoViz, a visualization tool graphically displaying PlanetLab activity.