Inaugural Syndicate Conference Marks ''Coming Out Party for RSS,'' Next Event Scheduled for December in San Francisco.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- NY Times, Google, Yahoo! and more announce new products and reveal strategies around RSS, blogging and related syndication technologies

IDG World Expo, the leading producer of world-class tradeshows, conferences and events for technology markets, and FuelDog Events, a developer of tradeshow concepts and technology, announced the successful completion of Syndicate(TM), held May 17-18, 2005 at New York City's Marriott Marquis. Due to the success of this inaugural event focused on the business implications of RSS and blogging, it was also announced that Syndicate will be expanded to include a West Coast version of the conference. The West Coast event is scheduled to take place December 12-14, 2005 at the Argent Hotel in San Francisco.

"We're extremely pleased by the success of this first-time event, and we're excited to bring a West Coast flavor of Syndicate to San Francisco in December," said Shelley Ballarino, event director, IDG World Expo. "The phrase heard several times during the conference was that this event was the "coming out party for RSS." The keynotes were packed with standing-room-only crowds, there were entertaining and frank discussions during the conference sessions and the networking opportunities were abundant. We completely surpassed our overall attendance expectations."

Syndicate was marked by two high-profile keynote addresses. A day after the New York Times announced plans to charge $49.95 a year for non-print subscribers to have online access to the Op-Ed columns as well as access to the Times' online archives, Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president of digital operations at the New York Times Company, discarded his prepared keynote speech and instead revealed some of the Times' still-in-development plans to support the online site's new financial model. He then opened the floor to a lively question/answer session.

Nisenholtz also said RSS feeds drove just under 6 million page views to NYTimes.com in March - up 342 percent year over year, and a 39 percent jump over February's numbers. He said RSS will be an integral component of NYTimes.com's new monetization strategy. "It's the fastest growing distribution channel that we have. We've deliberately and very methodically gotten RSS out there," Nisenholtz said during his speech.

In the second-day keynote, MSN's director of global business and product management, Phil Holden, said that Microsoft's Internet division is taking RSS seriously and will integrate the technology across even more of MSN`s online services throughout the year. Holden said MSN is investing "ubiquitously" in these technologies and sees the need to both understand the various consumer needs in this space and build new products accordingly. He said the key to MSN's strategy is their MSN Spaces product, which offers blogging and community functionality to mainstream users.

Several new product introductions occurred during the conference from companies such as Yahoo!, Google and MSN.

-- Google launched its public beta of AdSense for Feeds;

-- MSN launched services that build syndication feeds into the messaging alerts, a Windows screen saver and Web search;

-- Yahoo! announced Media RSS 1.0, an enhanced version of RSS for video and audio files;

-- PubSub announced its Structured Blogging initiative;

-- Topix.net announced that it will carry streaming video content from Reuters;

-- Bloglines announced that it will now offer weather forecasts;

-- Five Across announced the shipping of Bubbler - instant blog and web publishing;

-- NewsGator Technologies, Inc. announced that it has acquired Bradbury Software whose primary products are FeedDemon and TopStyle;

-- Pheedo announced that they will partner with a Japenese marketing firm, Transcosmos, and their Tokyo - based subsidiary, AD2. Pheedo will license its RSS ad-serving technology to Transcosmos.

Speakers at Syndicate included the who's who of the publishing and corporate marketing industries. Among the 72 speakers who participated in the keynotes, feature presentations and conference sessions, there were C-level's, president's, senior VP's and founders from organizations such as Google, Reuters, Yahoo!, MSN, Bloglines by Ask Jeeves, Forbes.com, Burson-Marsteller, Hearst Interactive Media, Associate Press, CNN.com, Edelman, Amazon.com's A9.com, About.com, Washingtonpost Newsweek Interactive, Microsoft, Billboard Magazine, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Sun Microsystems, PR Newswire, CNET, the John Kerry campaign and many others.

Sponsors and exhibitors at the event included: Gold sponsor Pheedo; Silver sponsors Yahoo! and Nooked; Bronze sponsors Google, NewsGator, Pluck, PubSub, Socialtext and Topix.net.; Associate sponsors Feedster, Five Across, Free Range Communications, KnowNow, SimpleFeed and Technorati; Media sponsors B2B Magazine, B2B Media Business, BusinessWire, EContent, MarketingProfs.com and Silicon Valley Watcher; and Association sponsors American Business Media and the American Advertising Foundation.

For more information about Syndicate, please visit www.syndicateconference.com.

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About Syndicate

As the premier event for content syndication trends, Syndicate(TM) (www.syndicateconference.com) is a B2B Conference providing awareness, clarity, education, deal making and strategic business opportunities surrounding the emergence of online media syndication. This program will focus on emerging technologies such as RSS (Really Simple Syndication), for content owners and producers, new media executives, marketers, advertisers and public relations professionals.

About IDG World Expo

IDG World Expo (www.idgworldexpo.com) produces technology-focused tradeshows, conferences and events for professionals seeking world-class education, peer-to-peer networking and one-stop comparison shopping. As the leading technology event management company, IDG World Expo leverages its experience and knowledge of technology-focused events and conferences, enabling technology companies to capture the attention and loyalty of influential buyers. IDG World Expo's portfolio of conferences and events includes Macworld Conference & Expo(R), LinuxWorld Conference & Expo(R), Bio-IT World Conference + Expo(R), Wireless Sensing Solutions(R), Syndicate(TM), RoboBusiness and RoboNexus. IDG World Expo is a business unit of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research and event company.

About FuelDog Events

Part of the FuelDog family of media solutions and services, FuelDog Events works with tradeshow industry partners and clients to develop new event concepts and solutions. FDE has worked with major business media companies across the industry, and has helped bring to market a range of innovative event concepts and technology solutions.

About IDG

International Data Group (IDG) is the world's leading technology media, research, and event company. A privately-held company, IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers including Bio-IT World, CIO, CSO, Computerworld, GamePro, InfoWorld, Network World, and PC World. The company features the largest network of technology-specific Web sites with more than 400 around the world. IDG is also a leading producer of more than 170 computer-related events worldwide including LinuxWorld Conference & Expo(R), MacworldConference & Expo(R), DEMO(R), and IDC Directions. IDC provides global market research and advice through offices in 50 countries. Company information is available at http://www.idg.com.