Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Academia's quest for the ultimate search tool | CNET News.com:
"Published: August 15, 2005, 4:00 AM PDT - By Stefanie Olsen - Staff Writer, CNET News.com
The University of California at Berkeley is creating an interdisciplinary center for advanced search technologies and is in talks with search giants including Google to join the project, CNET News.com has learned.
The project is one of many efforts at U.S. universities designed to address the explosive growth of Internet search and the complex issues that have arisen in the field..."
"Published: August 15, 2005, 4:00 AM PDT - By Stefanie Olsen - Staff Writer, CNET News.com
The University of California at Berkeley is creating an interdisciplinary center for advanced search technologies and is in talks with search giants including Google to join the project, CNET News.com has learned.
The project is one of many efforts at U.S. universities designed to address the explosive growth of Internet search and the complex issues that have arisen in the field..."
Keeping the Customer Satisfied:
"Published: August 30, 2005
(After September 07, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Google and Yahoo! led the pack in a new study of consumer satisfaction with online portals, search engines and news sites. The study's sponsor drew a link between customer satisfaction and revenues.
According to the latest University of Michigan 'American Customer Satisfaction Index' report on e-business, Google scored 82 out of a possible 100 in the index, while Yahoo! rose from 78 last year to 80, only two points behind.
Survey sponsor Foresee Results, commenting on the latest data, drew a link between customer satisfaction and revenues. 'Google and Yahoo, the leaders in customer satisfaction among the content facilitators, both experienced revenue growth that more than doubled from 2003 to 2004,' Foresee said.
'The research shows that those that provide the highest levels of customer satisfaction will prosper the most financially,' said Larry Freed, president and CEO of Foresee.
Customer satisfaction with search engines, portals and news and information sites rose 4.7% this year, reaching an overall score of 75.9. This narrows the gap with the ACSI e-commerce category (which includes online retail, travel, auctions and brokerage sites), which scored a 78.6 in its last measurement.
'The lines between e-business companies are being drawn more in terms of content facilitators and content providers,' said Mr. Freed. 'Google and Yahoo! lead the way, with MSN, AOL and Ask Jeeves trailing, but closing the gap.'
Among portals, Yahoo! was followed by MSN, with a score of 75, and AOL, with a score of 71. Although AOL's customer satisfaction score was lower, it registered the fastest growth over the previous year, improving by 6%. Among search engines, Ask Jeeves rated a score of 72.
In the news and information category, a variety of sites scored close together, with ABCNews.com ahead by a nose with a score of 74, followed by MSNBC.com at 73. CNN.com, USAToday.com and NYTimes.com each scored 72.
"There is no clear winner in the news and information space, as all of the sites have difficulty in differentiating themselves from the pack and leveraging their unique personalities that exist in their traditional channels," said Mr. Freed.
For information on this topic, read eMarketer's Portal Update: 2005."
"Published: August 30, 2005
(After September 07, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Google and Yahoo! led the pack in a new study of consumer satisfaction with online portals, search engines and news sites. The study's sponsor drew a link between customer satisfaction and revenues.
According to the latest University of Michigan 'American Customer Satisfaction Index' report on e-business, Google scored 82 out of a possible 100 in the index, while Yahoo! rose from 78 last year to 80, only two points behind.
Survey sponsor Foresee Results, commenting on the latest data, drew a link between customer satisfaction and revenues. 'Google and Yahoo, the leaders in customer satisfaction among the content facilitators, both experienced revenue growth that more than doubled from 2003 to 2004,' Foresee said.
'The research shows that those that provide the highest levels of customer satisfaction will prosper the most financially,' said Larry Freed, president and CEO of Foresee.
Customer satisfaction with search engines, portals and news and information sites rose 4.7% this year, reaching an overall score of 75.9. This narrows the gap with the ACSI e-commerce category (which includes online retail, travel, auctions and brokerage sites), which scored a 78.6 in its last measurement.
'The lines between e-business companies are being drawn more in terms of content facilitators and content providers,' said Mr. Freed. 'Google and Yahoo! lead the way, with MSN, AOL and Ask Jeeves trailing, but closing the gap.'
Among portals, Yahoo! was followed by MSN, with a score of 75, and AOL, with a score of 71. Although AOL's customer satisfaction score was lower, it registered the fastest growth over the previous year, improving by 6%. Among search engines, Ask Jeeves rated a score of 72.
In the news and information category, a variety of sites scored close together, with ABCNews.com ahead by a nose with a score of 74, followed by MSNBC.com at 73. CNN.com, USAToday.com and NYTimes.com each scored 72.
"There is no clear winner in the news and information space, as all of the sites have difficulty in differentiating themselves from the pack and leveraging their unique personalities that exist in their traditional channels," said Mr. Freed.
For information on this topic, read eMarketer's Portal Update: 2005."
Monday, August 29, 2005
FT.com: "Autonomy positions itself for content wars
Autonomy has been diligently working on a potentially breakthrough campaign that could pit the software group against the might of Yahoo and Google, the US search engine giants, and take it into partnership with the biggest movie houses in the world.
The small British challenger wants to position itself as a key technology provider for the media industry but the action is taking place a long way from Hollywood.
Its efforts are being led out of Beijing, where Autonomy has just signed a joint venture with China Netcom Broadband (CNCBB), one of China’s biggest internet companies with more than 110m subscribers.
The pair have agreed to create a service that will allow Chinese consumers to search for news and video clips from 25 local and national TV companies over the internet.
It will be the first time that Autonomy’s software is used on a truly large scale for searching media material.
Autonomy makes software that is used for searching and cataloguing data – particularly “unstructured” data such as e-mails, photos, and video footage. So far the technology has been chiefly used by companies to manage the ever-increasing load of documents stored on their computer systems.
But now, Autonomy is looking to expand beyond the corporate market. The same technology that can search through a company’s e-mail system looking for e-mails containing the words “sexual harassment”, could just as easily be used by the general public to search for a favourite movie scene or line of a song..."
Autonomy has been diligently working on a potentially breakthrough campaign that could pit the software group against the might of Yahoo and Google, the US search engine giants, and take it into partnership with the biggest movie houses in the world.
The small British challenger wants to position itself as a key technology provider for the media industry but the action is taking place a long way from Hollywood.
Its efforts are being led out of Beijing, where Autonomy has just signed a joint venture with China Netcom Broadband (CNCBB), one of China’s biggest internet companies with more than 110m subscribers.
The pair have agreed to create a service that will allow Chinese consumers to search for news and video clips from 25 local and national TV companies over the internet.
It will be the first time that Autonomy’s software is used on a truly large scale for searching media material.
Autonomy makes software that is used for searching and cataloguing data – particularly “unstructured” data such as e-mails, photos, and video footage. So far the technology has been chiefly used by companies to manage the ever-increasing load of documents stored on their computer systems.
But now, Autonomy is looking to expand beyond the corporate market. The same technology that can search through a company’s e-mail system looking for e-mails containing the words “sexual harassment”, could just as easily be used by the general public to search for a favourite movie scene or line of a song..."
Neowin.net - BigBlogZoo - Semantic Web Browser and Search Tool:
"GenerateScape is a small German software house that specializes in online media and document classification. We have chosen to concentrate on technologies that tame the chaotic nature of the web. These technologies are adding a layer of intelligence to the web. Currently web pages are very difficult to machine classify due to their lack of structural information. Markup languages like XML are creating this structure and helping to build a new semantic web. Today GenerateScape is happy to present the world's first commercial Semantic Web Browser, the BigBlogZoo.
The BigBlogZoo can be used to get content directly to you as soon as it is available thus saving time and effort. Furthermore this content is rigorously categorized. We present to the user the channel concept, much like a television, except for a browser.
The BigBlogZoo lets you
* Browse and Search over 70,000 categorized channels.
* Syndicate content from these channels.
* Save search results from popular search engines as channels.
* Syndicate content from these search results.
* Enhance HTML content so that you can find your search results.
* Manage your own collection of channels.
* Submit channels so that other users can share them.
The BigBlogZoo can be tried for free and is available for download."
"GenerateScape is a small German software house that specializes in online media and document classification. We have chosen to concentrate on technologies that tame the chaotic nature of the web. These technologies are adding a layer of intelligence to the web. Currently web pages are very difficult to machine classify due to their lack of structural information. Markup languages like XML are creating this structure and helping to build a new semantic web. Today GenerateScape is happy to present the world's first commercial Semantic Web Browser, the BigBlogZoo.
The BigBlogZoo can be used to get content directly to you as soon as it is available thus saving time and effort. Furthermore this content is rigorously categorized. We present to the user the channel concept, much like a television, except for a browser.
The BigBlogZoo lets you
* Browse and Search over 70,000 categorized channels.
* Syndicate content from these channels.
* Save search results from popular search engines as channels.
* Syndicate content from these search results.
* Enhance HTML content so that you can find your search results.
* Manage your own collection of channels.
* Submit channels so that other users can share them.
The BigBlogZoo can be tried for free and is available for download."
Google's Grand Ambitions:
"Its lips are sealed, but its moves rattle everyone from Microsoft to eBay
In years past, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) could freeze competitors and send investors scurrying just by uttering the name of a market it fancied. Today, Google Inc. (GOOG ) is the 800-pound octopus that is filling potential rivals with dread and envy.
In typical Google fashion, the company chose an unusual moment -- the sleepy doldrums of mid-August -- to shake up the tech world with a flurry of announcements. First, Google confirmed that it had quietly acquired mobile-phone software startup Android Inc. Then came the surprising news that it would add $4 billion to its cash war chest with a secondary stock offering. And then on Aug. 24, the search giant announced it was getting into the instant messaging and Internet telephony businesses. No wonder tech watchers from Silicon Valley to Bangalore are all wondering the same thing: What the heck is Google up to?"...
"Its lips are sealed, but its moves rattle everyone from Microsoft to eBay
In years past, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) could freeze competitors and send investors scurrying just by uttering the name of a market it fancied. Today, Google Inc. (GOOG ) is the 800-pound octopus that is filling potential rivals with dread and envy.
In typical Google fashion, the company chose an unusual moment -- the sleepy doldrums of mid-August -- to shake up the tech world with a flurry of announcements. First, Google confirmed that it had quietly acquired mobile-phone software startup Android Inc. Then came the surprising news that it would add $4 billion to its cash war chest with a secondary stock offering. And then on Aug. 24, the search giant announced it was getting into the instant messaging and Internet telephony businesses. No wonder tech watchers from Silicon Valley to Bangalore are all wondering the same thing: What the heck is Google up to?"...
TIME.com: On the Frontier of Search -- Sep. 05, 2005 -- Page 1:
"Get ready for a wave of new features--from 3-D satellite pics of your house to news tailored to your 'clickstream.' A guide to innovative engines...
...USER-GENERATED One of the fastest-growing search techniques is tagging, a grassroots phenomenon whereby users label websites with descriptive tags, building a network of knowledge dubbed folksonomy--a taxonomy of knowledge organized by ordinary folk. Yahoo! was quick to spot this trend, and in March bought Flickr, a photo website organized with a communal tagging model. Bradley Horowitz, Yahoo!'s technology director, says the company wants to apply search across all its user-created content. The tagline? "Better search through people."...
...PERSONALIZED One of the hottest and most controversial new areas is designing software that will get to know individuals' interests, mostly through their search history--the clickstream. Findory, a Seattle-based news-search site launched in January 2004, provides access to news stories and blogs. As you start searching for certain types of stories, the site gradually learns about your preferences, and the home page evolves to mirror your interests. Google includes a similar feature in its most recent desktop search tool, called Sidebar, which was released last week. The technology makes some consumers uneasy: How much do you want your computer to know about you?..."
"Get ready for a wave of new features--from 3-D satellite pics of your house to news tailored to your 'clickstream.' A guide to innovative engines...
...USER-GENERATED One of the fastest-growing search techniques is tagging, a grassroots phenomenon whereby users label websites with descriptive tags, building a network of knowledge dubbed folksonomy--a taxonomy of knowledge organized by ordinary folk. Yahoo! was quick to spot this trend, and in March bought Flickr, a photo website organized with a communal tagging model. Bradley Horowitz, Yahoo!'s technology director, says the company wants to apply search across all its user-created content. The tagline? "Better search through people."...
...PERSONALIZED One of the hottest and most controversial new areas is designing software that will get to know individuals' interests, mostly through their search history--the clickstream. Findory, a Seattle-based news-search site launched in January 2004, provides access to news stories and blogs. As you start searching for certain types of stories, the site gradually learns about your preferences, and the home page evolves to mirror your interests. Google includes a similar feature in its most recent desktop search tool, called Sidebar, which was released last week. The technology makes some consumers uneasy: How much do you want your computer to know about you?..."
New Scientist Premium- Your very own personal search engine - Breaking News:
"Is your search engine failing to serve up the pages you want? Do you wish it could understand your hobbies as well as you do? The solution may be on the horizon, in the shape of a search engine that automatically ranks results according to information about your personal interests it gathers from your PC.
Personalising searches has long been a challenge.
Search engine Vivisimo allows searchers to personalise pages manually by clustering the results of ambiguous searches. This allows subsequent searches for "jaguar", for example, to group pages into separate categories for cats and cars.
Now Jaime Teevan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is trying to get rid of the first, manual stage. Along with Susan Dumais and Eric Horvitz of Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, she has created a system that sits on a user's desktop, indexes the emails, documents, calendar items and web pages, and deduces their particular interests. It then automatically reorders results served up by a search engine according to the words it has found from its desktop search.
Teevan has tested the system against the unaltered results served up by MSN Search, with partial success. "Some queries personalise very well, and others do not," she says. More work is needed to identify which queries work best. The system was presented at an information retrieval conference in Salvador, Brazil, last week.
In future, the user's location could be taken into account if they were using a GPS-enabled laptop or phone."
"Is your search engine failing to serve up the pages you want? Do you wish it could understand your hobbies as well as you do? The solution may be on the horizon, in the shape of a search engine that automatically ranks results according to information about your personal interests it gathers from your PC.
Personalising searches has long been a challenge.
Search engine Vivisimo allows searchers to personalise pages manually by clustering the results of ambiguous searches. This allows subsequent searches for "jaguar", for example, to group pages into separate categories for cats and cars.
Now Jaime Teevan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is trying to get rid of the first, manual stage. Along with Susan Dumais and Eric Horvitz of Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, she has created a system that sits on a user's desktop, indexes the emails, documents, calendar items and web pages, and deduces their particular interests. It then automatically reorders results served up by a search engine according to the words it has found from its desktop search.
Teevan has tested the system against the unaltered results served up by MSN Search, with partial success. "Some queries personalise very well, and others do not," she says. More work is needed to identify which queries work best. The system was presented at an information retrieval conference in Salvador, Brazil, last week.
In future, the user's location could be taken into account if they were using a GPS-enabled laptop or phone."
SiliconRepublic.com: Ireland's technology news service providing Irish tech news & analysis:
"Irish firm in enterprise alliance with Google
29.08.2005 - Dublin-based PTools Software has forged an alliance with Google to integrate Google’s enterprise search appliance with its content management technology to allow users to browse intranet and extranet systems.
As well as providing Google’s enterprise search appliance directly with its software, PTools will customise the Google technology to integrate functionality within its content management software to develop specialised elements for customers around e-government, security and usability..."
"Irish firm in enterprise alliance with Google
29.08.2005 - Dublin-based PTools Software has forged an alliance with Google to integrate Google’s enterprise search appliance with its content management technology to allow users to browse intranet and extranet systems.
As well as providing Google’s enterprise search appliance directly with its software, PTools will customise the Google technology to integrate functionality within its content management software to develop specialised elements for customers around e-government, security and usability..."
GoogleOS? YahooOS? MozillaOS? WebOS? (kottke.org):
"Before we get going, here are some alternate titles for this post, just to give you an idea of what I'm trying to get at before I actually, you know, get at it:
* You're probably wondering why Yahoo bought Konfabulator
* An update on Google Browser, GooOS and Google Desktop
* A platform that everyone can stand on and why Apple, Microsoft, and, yes, even Google will have to change their ways to be a part of it
* The next killer app: desktop Web servers
* Does the Mozilla Foundation have the vision to make Firefox the most important piece of software of this decade?
* Web 3.0
* Finally, the end of Microsoft's operating system dominance
Now that your hyperbole meter has pegged a few times, hopefully the rest of this will seem tame in comparison. (And apologies for the length...I got rolling and, oops, 2500 words. But many of them are small so...)
Way back in October 2004, this idea of how the Web as a platform might play out popped into my head, and I've been trying to motivate myself into writing it down ever since. Two recent events, Yahoo's purchase of Konfabulator and Google's release of a new beta version of Google Desktop have finally spurred me into action. But back to October. At the Web 2.0 conference, Stewart pulled me aside and said something like, 'I think I know what Google is doing with Google Browser.' From a subsequent post on his site:.."
"Before we get going, here are some alternate titles for this post, just to give you an idea of what I'm trying to get at before I actually, you know, get at it:
* You're probably wondering why Yahoo bought Konfabulator
* An update on Google Browser, GooOS and Google Desktop
* A platform that everyone can stand on and why Apple, Microsoft, and, yes, even Google will have to change their ways to be a part of it
* The next killer app: desktop Web servers
* Does the Mozilla Foundation have the vision to make Firefox the most important piece of software of this decade?
* Web 3.0
* Finally, the end of Microsoft's operating system dominance
Now that your hyperbole meter has pegged a few times, hopefully the rest of this will seem tame in comparison. (And apologies for the length...I got rolling and, oops, 2500 words. But many of them are small so...)
Way back in October 2004, this idea of how the Web as a platform might play out popped into my head, and I've been trying to motivate myself into writing it down ever since. Two recent events, Yahoo's purchase of Konfabulator and Google's release of a new beta version of Google Desktop have finally spurred me into action. But back to October. At the Web 2.0 conference, Stewart pulled me aside and said something like, 'I think I know what Google is doing with Google Browser.' From a subsequent post on his site:.."
Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment: "Google's Windows-only world
Jason Kottke's intriguing review of the current status of the Web-as-platform question (are Web apps now good enough to threaten the primacy of a certain desktop operating system monopoly? will they ever be?) is only the latest in a long line of musings on this theme that stretch all the way back to Netscape's heyday. The dream of rendering individual users' choice of desktop operating system irrelevant by getting them to move all their significant work into the browser was what fueled all those death-march development cycles during the browser wars.
Microsoft cut off Netscape's air supply -- with plenty of help from its victim's own asphyxiating mistakes -- before the browser company could complete building all the parts of this new computing world. Java was supposed to be an alternate road to the same destination; it turned out to be good for some other things, but not for that.
So we lost a few years there.
More recently, the Web-app universe has come roaring back, as GMail, GoogleMaps, Flickr and other Ajax-based Web interfaces have provided users with something speedier and more interesting than the old, slow, click-and-wait world of Web computing. It is possible, today, to begin moving more and more of one's work and data into browser-accessible stores and programs. This is all great, and it's unfolding with a kind of inevitability..."
Jason Kottke's intriguing review of the current status of the Web-as-platform question (are Web apps now good enough to threaten the primacy of a certain desktop operating system monopoly? will they ever be?) is only the latest in a long line of musings on this theme that stretch all the way back to Netscape's heyday. The dream of rendering individual users' choice of desktop operating system irrelevant by getting them to move all their significant work into the browser was what fueled all those death-march development cycles during the browser wars.
Microsoft cut off Netscape's air supply -- with plenty of help from its victim's own asphyxiating mistakes -- before the browser company could complete building all the parts of this new computing world. Java was supposed to be an alternate road to the same destination; it turned out to be good for some other things, but not for that.
So we lost a few years there.
More recently, the Web-app universe has come roaring back, as GMail, GoogleMaps, Flickr and other Ajax-based Web interfaces have provided users with something speedier and more interesting than the old, slow, click-and-wait world of Web computing. It is possible, today, to begin moving more and more of one's work and data into browser-accessible stores and programs. This is all great, and it's unfolding with a kind of inevitability..."
Cutting through search-engine clutter - The Boston Globe:
"With over 8 billion Web pages on file, Google is the most comprehensive index of the Internet. Too bad.
Internet users don't need 8 billion pages, or 8 million. Even eight is usually too many. More often than not, we'd settle for just one page -- the one with the information we need.
Google understands this. Indeed, its early success was due to page ranking, a clever statistical technique that does a pretty good job of guessing what the searcher is looking for. But Google's best gimmicks still fall short, and we're often compelled to slosh through waist-high data to find the facts we seek. So despite Google's spectacular success, there's plenty of pent-up demand for something better, and many an entrepreneur hoping to satisfy it.
A couple of the latest entrants come from the other side of the pond, Britain and Israel, while a third hails from Pittsburgh. None of them are search engines in the traditional sense. Instead, these new entrants let others index the information, while they figure out better ways to pick out just the bits that matter..."
"With over 8 billion Web pages on file, Google is the most comprehensive index of the Internet. Too bad.
Internet users don't need 8 billion pages, or 8 million. Even eight is usually too many. More often than not, we'd settle for just one page -- the one with the information we need.
Google understands this. Indeed, its early success was due to page ranking, a clever statistical technique that does a pretty good job of guessing what the searcher is looking for. But Google's best gimmicks still fall short, and we're often compelled to slosh through waist-high data to find the facts we seek. So despite Google's spectacular success, there's plenty of pent-up demand for something better, and many an entrepreneur hoping to satisfy it.
A couple of the latest entrants come from the other side of the pond, Britain and Israel, while a third hails from Pittsburgh. None of them are search engines in the traditional sense. Instead, these new entrants let others index the information, while they figure out better ways to pick out just the bits that matter..."
� Average user conducted 36.2 search engine queries in June 2005, 37.6 queries in July 2005 | IT Facts — Your Daily Research Synopsis | ZDNet.com:
"Internet search engine users conducted on average 36.2 queries in June 2005, and 37.6 queries per user in July 2005. Google, Yahoo! and Netscape Search ranked the highest in July 2005 Nielsen//NetRatings ranking of top search engines by the number of queries per user..."
"Internet search engine users conducted on average 36.2 queries in June 2005, and 37.6 queries per user in July 2005. Google, Yahoo! and Netscape Search ranked the highest in July 2005 Nielsen//NetRatings ranking of top search engines by the number of queries per user..."
www.GovExec.com - Google satellite imaging software raises terrorism concerns (8/24/05):
"By Danielle Belopotosky, National Journal's Technology Daily
New Google software that lets users see aerial images of city streets, baseball fields and even Moscow's Red Square has some officials wondering whether freely available satellite images could help terrorists plot attacks.
Google Earth allows users to receive point-to-point directions, mapping their way from the best pizza parlor in Chicago to the Hoover Dam by using the longitude and latitude grid tool..."
"By Danielle Belopotosky, National Journal's Technology Daily
New Google software that lets users see aerial images of city streets, baseball fields and even Moscow's Red Square has some officials wondering whether freely available satellite images could help terrorists plot attacks.
Google Earth allows users to receive point-to-point directions, mapping their way from the best pizza parlor in Chicago to the Hoover Dam by using the longitude and latitude grid tool..."
Search Engine Journal - Former Ask Jeeves International Honcho Now InfoSearch Media CEO:
"InfoSearch Media (TrafficLogic - the company based around selling optimized content) has brought in former members of the Ask Jeeves senior management team to steer their controversial business model ship. George Lichter, former President of Ask Jeeves International, has agreed to join the Company as its Chief Executive Officer and to serve on the Company’s Board of Directors. Claudio Pinkus, former President of Ask Jeeves Business Solutions, and current member of the Company’s Board, has agreed to assume an operating role with the Company as Chairman of the Board.
Mr. Lichter will replace InfoSearch Media’s existing Chief Executive Officer, Steve Lazuka, and will replace departing Director Mike Rubin on the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Lazuka will remain with the Company as Chief Strategy Officer, providing management and strategic guidance regarding InfoSearch Media’s future products and technology, positioning within the industry, and business development efforts.
“Steve Lazuka’s vision and dedication has allowed InfoSearch Media to grow into a market leader,” said Mr. Pinkus. “He has built a strong foundation in the creation and delivery of high-quality content, as well as strong technology assets that will serve the company well in its next phase of growth. We look forward to working with him as the company strengthens our management capabilities.”"
"InfoSearch Media (TrafficLogic - the company based around selling optimized content) has brought in former members of the Ask Jeeves senior management team to steer their controversial business model ship. George Lichter, former President of Ask Jeeves International, has agreed to join the Company as its Chief Executive Officer and to serve on the Company’s Board of Directors. Claudio Pinkus, former President of Ask Jeeves Business Solutions, and current member of the Company’s Board, has agreed to assume an operating role with the Company as Chairman of the Board.
Mr. Lichter will replace InfoSearch Media’s existing Chief Executive Officer, Steve Lazuka, and will replace departing Director Mike Rubin on the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Lazuka will remain with the Company as Chief Strategy Officer, providing management and strategic guidance regarding InfoSearch Media’s future products and technology, positioning within the industry, and business development efforts.
“Steve Lazuka’s vision and dedication has allowed InfoSearch Media to grow into a market leader,” said Mr. Pinkus. “He has built a strong foundation in the creation and delivery of high-quality content, as well as strong technology assets that will serve the company well in its next phase of growth. We look forward to working with him as the company strengthens our management capabilities.”"
gVisit.com - Track visitors to your website using Google Maps:
"How it works...
1) Register your website using the form below. It is free and we don't collect any personal information - not even an email address.
2) Copy and paste a single line of JavaScript to your website. It is easy and doesn't change the way your website works or looks.
3) You will be given your own URL that lets you track the visitors to your website using Google Maps.
See an example...
gVisit.com's Visitor Log "
"How it works...
1) Register your website using the form below. It is free and we don't collect any personal information - not even an email address.
2) Copy and paste a single line of JavaScript to your website. It is easy and doesn't change the way your website works or looks.
3) You will be given your own URL that lets you track the visitors to your website using Google Maps.
See an example...
gVisit.com's Visitor Log "
Google Blog: The linguasphere at large:
"8/19/2005 03:40:00 PM - Posted by Enrique Mu�oz Torres, International Product Manager
Since part of our mission is making the world's information universally accessible and useful, we strive to offer our services in as many languages as we can.
Today we're happy to announce the launch of Google in Cambodian, Corsican, Kazakh, Lingala, Pashto, Quechua, Shona, Tajik, Tatar, Tonga, and Yoruba. This launch raises the count of Google languages to 116.
We would like to extend our thanks to the volunteers who have translated Google into these languages. If you can't find it yet in your own lingua franca (please note: we do already offer Swedish Chef, Hacker, and Klingon) consider becoming a volunteer translator through the Google in Your Language program."
"8/19/2005 03:40:00 PM - Posted by Enrique Mu�oz Torres, International Product Manager
Since part of our mission is making the world's information universally accessible and useful, we strive to offer our services in as many languages as we can.
Today we're happy to announce the launch of Google in Cambodian, Corsican, Kazakh, Lingala, Pashto, Quechua, Shona, Tajik, Tatar, Tonga, and Yoruba. This launch raises the count of Google languages to 116.
We would like to extend our thanks to the volunteers who have translated Google into these languages. If you can't find it yet in your own lingua franca (please note: we do already offer Swedish Chef, Hacker, and Klingon) consider becoming a volunteer translator through the Google in Your Language program."
Google calls in legal heavies for Microsoft fight - WebWatch - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com:
"Bruce Lees of litigation join ex-exec battle
By Ed Frauenheim - Published: Thursday 25 August 2005
In its fight with Microsoft over an executive's defection, Google has enlisted attorneys from a small but high-powered law firm.
Kekar & Van Nest, a 50-lawyer firm based in San Francisco, represented Grokster in its legal battle over file sharing, and also represented Wall Street banker Frank Quattrone and former Enron leader Andrew Fastow in criminal cases. The firm specialises in 'complex civil and criminal litigation', according to its website, and was judged 'litigation boutique of the year' earlier this year by The American Lawyer trade publication..."
"Bruce Lees of litigation join ex-exec battle
By Ed Frauenheim - Published: Thursday 25 August 2005
In its fight with Microsoft over an executive's defection, Google has enlisted attorneys from a small but high-powered law firm.
Kekar & Van Nest, a 50-lawyer firm based in San Francisco, represented Grokster in its legal battle over file sharing, and also represented Wall Street banker Frank Quattrone and former Enron leader Andrew Fastow in criminal cases. The firm specialises in 'complex civil and criminal litigation', according to its website, and was judged 'litigation boutique of the year' earlier this year by The American Lawyer trade publication..."
AOL News Joins the Big League of News Search Engines:
"AOL News has quietly and quickly sprinted into a leading news search engine, joining Yahoo News, Google News and Topix.net as a primary destination for online news.
When America Online launched of its new AOL.com portal back on June 21, the relaunch of AOL News went largely unnoticed. However, Nielsen//NetRatings has just disclosed its monthly data for July 2005 and it turns out that AOL News has a unique audience of 16.5 million.
While the unique audience of AOL News is about 29% smaller than Yahoo News, AOL News is more than 2.4 times larger than Google News and almost 6.8 times larger than Topix.net. This catapults AOL News into the big league of news search engines.
Brand / Domain Unique Audience (000)
Yahoo! News 23,210
AOL News 16,516
Google News 6,752
Topix.net 2,432
..."
"AOL News has quietly and quickly sprinted into a leading news search engine, joining Yahoo News, Google News and Topix.net as a primary destination for online news.
When America Online launched of its new AOL.com portal back on June 21, the relaunch of AOL News went largely unnoticed. However, Nielsen//NetRatings has just disclosed its monthly data for July 2005 and it turns out that AOL News has a unique audience of 16.5 million.
While the unique audience of AOL News is about 29% smaller than Yahoo News, AOL News is more than 2.4 times larger than Google News and almost 6.8 times larger than Topix.net. This catapults AOL News into the big league of news search engines.
Brand / Domain Unique Audience (000)
Yahoo! News 23,210
AOL News 16,516
Google News 6,752
Topix.net 2,432
..."
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Usurping Microsoft, Google becomes new 'evil empire' - Technology - International Herald Tribune:
"SAN FRANCISCO For years, Silicon Valley hungered for a company mighty enough to beat Microsoft. Now it has one such contender: the phenomenally successful Google.
But instead of embracing Google as one of their own, many in Silicon Valley are skittish about its size and power. They fret that the very strengths that made Google a search-engine phenomenon are distancing it from the entrepreneurial culture that produced it.
A year after the company went public, those inside Google are learning the hard way what it means to be the top dog in a culture accustomed to pulling for the underdog. And they are facing a hometown crowd that generally rebels against anything that smacks of corporate behavior.
Nowadays, when venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and technologists gather in Silicon Valley, they often find themselves grousing about Google, complaining about everything from a hoarding of top engineers to its treatment of partners and potential partners. The word 'arrogant' is frequently used...
...Google, Hoffman said, has caused "across the board a 25 to 50 percent salary inflation for engineers in Silicon Valley" - or at least those in a position to weigh competing offers. A sought-after computer programmer can now expect to make more than $150,000 a year...
...Google is also making it more difficult for some start-ups to raise funds. In the second half of the 1990s, entrepreneurs frequently complained that the specter of Microsoft hung over their every conversation with venture capitalists. Today, they say the same about Google.
"When I meet with venture capitalists, or if I'm engaged in a conversation about going into partnership with someone, inevitably the question is, 'Why couldn't Google do what you're doing?"' said Craig Donato, the founder and chief executive of Oodle, a site that allows users to search online classified listings more quickly.
"The answer is, 'They could, and they're probably thinking about it, but they can't do everything and do it well,"' Donato said. "Or at least I'm hoping they can't."...
..."Google is the new evil empire, because they're in such a powerful position in terms of control.
"They have potential monopolistic control over access to information.""
"SAN FRANCISCO For years, Silicon Valley hungered for a company mighty enough to beat Microsoft. Now it has one such contender: the phenomenally successful Google.
But instead of embracing Google as one of their own, many in Silicon Valley are skittish about its size and power. They fret that the very strengths that made Google a search-engine phenomenon are distancing it from the entrepreneurial culture that produced it.
A year after the company went public, those inside Google are learning the hard way what it means to be the top dog in a culture accustomed to pulling for the underdog. And they are facing a hometown crowd that generally rebels against anything that smacks of corporate behavior.
Nowadays, when venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and technologists gather in Silicon Valley, they often find themselves grousing about Google, complaining about everything from a hoarding of top engineers to its treatment of partners and potential partners. The word 'arrogant' is frequently used...
...Google, Hoffman said, has caused "across the board a 25 to 50 percent salary inflation for engineers in Silicon Valley" - or at least those in a position to weigh competing offers. A sought-after computer programmer can now expect to make more than $150,000 a year...
...Google is also making it more difficult for some start-ups to raise funds. In the second half of the 1990s, entrepreneurs frequently complained that the specter of Microsoft hung over their every conversation with venture capitalists. Today, they say the same about Google.
"When I meet with venture capitalists, or if I'm engaged in a conversation about going into partnership with someone, inevitably the question is, 'Why couldn't Google do what you're doing?"' said Craig Donato, the founder and chief executive of Oodle, a site that allows users to search online classified listings more quickly.
"The answer is, 'They could, and they're probably thinking about it, but they can't do everything and do it well,"' Donato said. "Or at least I'm hoping they can't."...
..."Google is the new evil empire, because they're in such a powerful position in terms of control.
"They have potential monopolistic control over access to information.""
Google Gets Better. What's Up With That? - New York Times:
"EVER heard the old joke about the two psychiatrists who pass in a hallway? One says, 'Hello there.' The other thinks, 'I wonder what he meant by that?'
In high-tech circles, that's pretty much what people are saying about Google these days. If you hadn't noticed, Google is no longer just an Internet search tool; it's now a full-blown software company. It develops elegant, efficient software programs - and then gives them away. In today's culture of cynicism, such generosity and software excellence seems highly suspicious; surely it's all a smokescreen for a darker, larger plot to suck us all in. What, exactly, is Google up to?
The mystery only intensified this week, as Google announced two more free software tools for Windows: a new version of Google Desktop Search and a free instant-messaging program called Google Talk..."
"EVER heard the old joke about the two psychiatrists who pass in a hallway? One says, 'Hello there.' The other thinks, 'I wonder what he meant by that?'
In high-tech circles, that's pretty much what people are saying about Google these days. If you hadn't noticed, Google is no longer just an Internet search tool; it's now a full-blown software company. It develops elegant, efficient software programs - and then gives them away. In today's culture of cynicism, such generosity and software excellence seems highly suspicious; surely it's all a smokescreen for a darker, larger plot to suck us all in. What, exactly, is Google up to?
The mystery only intensified this week, as Google announced two more free software tools for Windows: a new version of Google Desktop Search and a free instant-messaging program called Google Talk..."
Search Engine Journal � Google Developing Global Video Conferencing:
"Google is looking for a Sr. Video Conferencing Engineer to develop a digital video conferencing application for Google to roll out on a global scale according to a HotJobs posting. There has been much rumor centered around Google Video Conferencing being a major part of Google’s new communications direction after the launch of the new Google Talk messaging and VOIP application. By adding video conferencing to the mix, Google would bring a unique offering to the Instant Messaging table and also carve itself into the Microsoft competition pie..."
"Google is looking for a Sr. Video Conferencing Engineer to develop a digital video conferencing application for Google to roll out on a global scale according to a HotJobs posting. There has been much rumor centered around Google Video Conferencing being a major part of Google’s new communications direction after the launch of the new Google Talk messaging and VOIP application. By adding video conferencing to the mix, Google would bring a unique offering to the Instant Messaging table and also carve itself into the Microsoft competition pie..."
Search Engine Journal � Search For Singles Hotties Using Google Maps: "Talk about using the Google Maps API for the good of mankind. San Francisco software firm Frozenbear has combined the Google Mapping technology with the HotOrNot.com site to help Americans find hotties by zip code at “HotOrNot + Google Maps”. The ability to pinpoint the location of a hottie looking for a good fling is a bit freaky due to the amount of stalkers on the web, but these HotOrNot babes have already chosen the path of displaying themselves online, and locations are identified via Zip Code and not street addresses.
Looking for some hotties in your area, both male and female? 925.M figures that the ability to look for hot singles in your area via a Google Maps Mash is just the beginning.
From 925.M : “Combining Google Maps with the guilty pleasure “Hot-or-Not” service (a play-thing which lets you rate and date local hotties or notties; it also released its API to allow developers to build on the existing software) you can now enter your ZIP code, gender and sexual preference into the mash-up to see, via a plethora of balloons, where your neighboring hotties are located. Click on each balloon and a picture and link through to more info about dateables in your area pops up on the screen.”
Google and Yahoo Map Mashups are growing in popularity as developers find new uses of the application. Another recent Google Maps oriented tool is GVisit which lets webmasters track the location of visitors to their site on a Google Map interface."
Looking for some hotties in your area, both male and female? 925.M figures that the ability to look for hot singles in your area via a Google Maps Mash is just the beginning.
From 925.M : “Combining Google Maps with the guilty pleasure “Hot-or-Not” service (a play-thing which lets you rate and date local hotties or notties; it also released its API to allow developers to build on the existing software) you can now enter your ZIP code, gender and sexual preference into the mash-up to see, via a plethora of balloons, where your neighboring hotties are located. Click on each balloon and a picture and link through to more info about dateables in your area pops up on the screen.”
Google and Yahoo Map Mashups are growing in popularity as developers find new uses of the application. Another recent Google Maps oriented tool is GVisit which lets webmasters track the location of visitors to their site on a Google Map interface."
Google Desktop 2.0 (Beta) review by PC Magazine:
"...As a desktop search utility, Google Desktop generally stands almost level with Yahoo! Desktop. Both automatically index new and changed files and e-mail, and search Outlook contacts, tasks and notes. However, Yahoo! Desktop Search still benefits from its X1 roots, with support for over 300 file formats. Yet Google's no slouch. It can, for example, preview and index PDFs, which the other key competitor in this space, MSN Desktop Search, cannot do without a plug-in. Google Desktop also has wider support for search-while-you-type than MSN Search. It uses it in all the main locations—the Sidebar, the Deskbar, and the Floating Deskbar—while MSN can only search-while-you-type in its own Deskbar.
For purists, Yahoo! still offers a better desktop search tool, but Google Desktop 2.0's sidebar offers a compelling new way to navigate both your own computer and the Internet. It's a step closer to a tantalizing future ideal where the desktop interface would disappear entirely, and anything you wanted would be available immediately with a few keystrokes or mouse clicks. Google Desktop doesn't take you all the way there, but it makes finding things on your computer both faster and easier..."
"...As a desktop search utility, Google Desktop generally stands almost level with Yahoo! Desktop. Both automatically index new and changed files and e-mail, and search Outlook contacts, tasks and notes. However, Yahoo! Desktop Search still benefits from its X1 roots, with support for over 300 file formats. Yet Google's no slouch. It can, for example, preview and index PDFs, which the other key competitor in this space, MSN Desktop Search, cannot do without a plug-in. Google Desktop also has wider support for search-while-you-type than MSN Search. It uses it in all the main locations—the Sidebar, the Deskbar, and the Floating Deskbar—while MSN can only search-while-you-type in its own Deskbar.
For purists, Yahoo! still offers a better desktop search tool, but Google Desktop 2.0's sidebar offers a compelling new way to navigate both your own computer and the Internet. It's a step closer to a tantalizing future ideal where the desktop interface would disappear entirely, and anything you wanted would be available immediately with a few keystrokes or mouse clicks. Google Desktop doesn't take you all the way there, but it makes finding things on your computer both faster and easier..."
Adult-site publisher takes action against Google | Tech News on ZDNet:
"Adult magazine publisher Perfect 10 is seeking a preliminary injunction against Google to stop the search giant from allegedly displaying copyrighted images of its models.
Perfect 10, in a filing Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, asked the court to immediately halt Google from allegedly copying, displaying and distributing more than 3,000 Perfect 10 photos.
'Google is directly infringing on our copyrights. They are copying and showing our work on their Web site,' said Norm Zada, Perfect 10 founder. 'They are also placing ads on these Web sites that are infringing on our work.'
Perfect 10 first became aware of Google serving up text links to other Web sites that allegedly carried copyrighted images of Perfect 10 models back in 2001, Zada said in an interview Thursday. The company then sent notices to Google, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, asking the search giant to discontinue linking to the other sites.
Last year, Zada said, he learned Google was allegedly displaying photos of its copyrighted work on its Web site through its images feature that links to other Web sites. Perfect 10's request for an injunction is part of a copyright infringement lawsuit that it filed in November against Google.
Google did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Perfect 10's lawsuit against Google is similar to one it filed against Amazon.com in July. In that suit, Perfect 10 makes similar allegations against Amazon's A9 search engine.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the issue of copyright infringement. The court ruled that companies that are created with the intent of encouraging copyright infringement should be held liable for their customers' illegal actions.
Within days of the court's ruling, Google found that people had uploaded and watched copyright content such as the movie 'Matrix' via its new video search tool. The search company quickly removed much of the full-length studio and television content."
"Adult magazine publisher Perfect 10 is seeking a preliminary injunction against Google to stop the search giant from allegedly displaying copyrighted images of its models.
Perfect 10, in a filing Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, asked the court to immediately halt Google from allegedly copying, displaying and distributing more than 3,000 Perfect 10 photos.
'Google is directly infringing on our copyrights. They are copying and showing our work on their Web site,' said Norm Zada, Perfect 10 founder. 'They are also placing ads on these Web sites that are infringing on our work.'
Perfect 10 first became aware of Google serving up text links to other Web sites that allegedly carried copyrighted images of Perfect 10 models back in 2001, Zada said in an interview Thursday. The company then sent notices to Google, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, asking the search giant to discontinue linking to the other sites.
Last year, Zada said, he learned Google was allegedly displaying photos of its copyrighted work on its Web site through its images feature that links to other Web sites. Perfect 10's request for an injunction is part of a copyright infringement lawsuit that it filed in November against Google.
Google did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Perfect 10's lawsuit against Google is similar to one it filed against Amazon.com in July. In that suit, Perfect 10 makes similar allegations against Amazon's A9 search engine.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the issue of copyright infringement. The court ruled that companies that are created with the intent of encouraging copyright infringement should be held liable for their customers' illegal actions.
Within days of the court's ruling, Google found that people had uploaded and watched copyright content such as the movie 'Matrix' via its new video search tool. The search company quickly removed much of the full-length studio and television content."
Digital Media Europe: News - Viacom, Yahoo enter web search distribution deal:
"Media company Viacom has entered into a multi-year search marketing and Web search distribution agreement with internet company Yahoo. Yahoo is to provide multiple search marketing and web search services to Viacom’s online properties, including BET.com, CBSNews.com, CMT.com, MTV.com, NickJr.com, SHO.com (Showtime Online) and VH1.com..."
"Media company Viacom has entered into a multi-year search marketing and Web search distribution agreement with internet company Yahoo. Yahoo is to provide multiple search marketing and web search services to Viacom’s online properties, including BET.com, CBSNews.com, CMT.com, MTV.com, NickJr.com, SHO.com (Showtime Online) and VH1.com..."
Search giant may outgrow its fans - Technology - smh.com.au:
"Google sold itself on being anti-corporate but is becoming the opposite, report Owen Gibson and Richard Wray.
ASHRINKING world got considerably smaller this week. Google, a company spawned in a garage of two university students in California just seven years ago, announced a new service that will allow you to telephone your mother in New York free, as long as she too is a Google user.
That is just the start. The company, with a market capitalisation of $US78 billion ($103.2 billion), has ambitions to colonise the living room and to apply the phrase 'to Google' to every activity that occurs within it. In addition to the telecom move, it also launched an improved version of its desktop search software that helps users to organise all the files on their computer and suggests useful web links and documents pertinent to whatever you happen to be doing.
The rate of new launches has increased further since its high profile flotation last year. With each new service, Google and its student founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, encroach a little bit more on the territory of Bill Gates and software giant Microsoft.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
The question is whether the young upstarts who have built a hugely profitable business on Google's anti-corporate image are on the way to following Gates's path from bright young turk to monopolistic behemoth..."
"Google sold itself on being anti-corporate but is becoming the opposite, report Owen Gibson and Richard Wray.
ASHRINKING world got considerably smaller this week. Google, a company spawned in a garage of two university students in California just seven years ago, announced a new service that will allow you to telephone your mother in New York free, as long as she too is a Google user.
That is just the start. The company, with a market capitalisation of $US78 billion ($103.2 billion), has ambitions to colonise the living room and to apply the phrase 'to Google' to every activity that occurs within it. In addition to the telecom move, it also launched an improved version of its desktop search software that helps users to organise all the files on their computer and suggests useful web links and documents pertinent to whatever you happen to be doing.
The rate of new launches has increased further since its high profile flotation last year. With each new service, Google and its student founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, encroach a little bit more on the territory of Bill Gates and software giant Microsoft.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
The question is whether the young upstarts who have built a hugely profitable business on Google's anti-corporate image are on the way to following Gates's path from bright young turk to monopolistic behemoth..."
Turks.US Daily News - Skype aims to Steal Google's Thunder Daily News: "Thursday, August 25 2005 @ 12:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time
As a direct response to the launch of Google Talk, the search giant's break into Internet telephony, Skype, a Luxembourg based company, said Wednesday that it would make its Web software more widely available and easier to use.
Skype are the biggest operator in the in field of internet based messaging and voice communications and a new competitor joining MSN, Vonage, and Yahoo will be most unwelcome. Skype are making two news tools available - SkypeWeb and SkypeNet which will enable Web developers to build Skype voice and instant messaging communications into their sites.
'This is a basically a strategy to open up Skype more and more,' Janus Friis, co-founder said 'It is the latest phase of an initiative begun last year to provide third parties with access to Skype software. The more choices our users have, the more they're likely to use Skype.' The most likely users of the new codes would be developers, bloggers and portals - they'll be able to embed the Skype provided (free of charge) codes into their sites to give one click contact for users. Internet based communications to replace regular telephone voice services are in dynamic growth. Vonage in planning a public offering to raise $600 million for expansion and Google is set to raise $4 billion although that isn't necessarily connected to this project. Google has become the dominant brand on the Internet and, whilst it's new in this field, it's past record of catching and passing rivals will be worrying for the existing players - Skype's leading position will be seen as under serious threat. Vonage, the leading US Internet based 'phone company, had nothing to say about Google - it provides discounted local and long-distance phone services to about 800,000 households. Skype must continue to innovate, said Mark Main, an analyst with Ovum, and they need to convert more registered users into active customers... "
As a direct response to the launch of Google Talk, the search giant's break into Internet telephony, Skype, a Luxembourg based company, said Wednesday that it would make its Web software more widely available and easier to use.
Skype are the biggest operator in the in field of internet based messaging and voice communications and a new competitor joining MSN, Vonage, and Yahoo will be most unwelcome. Skype are making two news tools available - SkypeWeb and SkypeNet which will enable Web developers to build Skype voice and instant messaging communications into their sites.
'This is a basically a strategy to open up Skype more and more,' Janus Friis, co-founder said 'It is the latest phase of an initiative begun last year to provide third parties with access to Skype software. The more choices our users have, the more they're likely to use Skype.' The most likely users of the new codes would be developers, bloggers and portals - they'll be able to embed the Skype provided (free of charge) codes into their sites to give one click contact for users. Internet based communications to replace regular telephone voice services are in dynamic growth. Vonage in planning a public offering to raise $600 million for expansion and Google is set to raise $4 billion although that isn't necessarily connected to this project. Google has become the dominant brand on the Internet and, whilst it's new in this field, it's past record of catching and passing rivals will be worrying for the existing players - Skype's leading position will be seen as under serious threat. Vonage, the leading US Internet based 'phone company, had nothing to say about Google - it provides discounted local and long-distance phone services to about 800,000 households. Skype must continue to innovate, said Mark Main, an analyst with Ovum, and they need to convert more registered users into active customers... "
Consumers Waver on Personalization: "Published: August 18, 2005
(After August 26, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
A national survey finds that most consumers want an online experience that is highly personalized, but they are also worried that personalization may mean that their data is not secure.
A new survey published by ChoiceStream and conducted by Zoomerang found that 80% of consumers want a personalized online experience. However, 63% of those same consumers are concerned that their personal data might not be secure.
The pluses of personalization are evident. Retailers are leaving significant dollars on the table by not making it easier for consumers to find merchandise that interests them. A significant 37% of respondents said the last time they went shopping for DVDs/videos that they would have bought more if they had found more that they liked. The same was true of consumers shopping for music, with 34% indicating that they would have bought more if they had found additional titles that they liked.
'The survey shows a clear need for retailers to help consumers navigate through the torrent of options available to them,' says Steve Johnson, CEO of ChoiceStream. 'Too many retailers are losing out on commerce opportunities as consumers leave sites empty-handed simply because they can't find merchandise that interests them.'
Unfortunately, based on heightened fears of losing personal information, the survey found that fewer consumers are willing to provide personal preference and demographic information in exchange for personalized content. In 2005, 59% of respondents indicated a willingness to provide preference information, down from 64% last year, and only 46% are now willing to provide demographic data, down from 56% last year.
'Despite significant interest in personalization, there is growing concern among consumers about the security of their personal data — even with established, trusted brands,' says Mr. Johnson.
Not surprisingly, interest in personalization is slightly stronger among younger consumers, with 83% of 18-24 year olds expressing an interest in some type of personalized content compared to 73% of those over 50.
Consumers are even willing to spend a considerable amount of time answering questions about themselves in exchange for personalized content, with 60% of consumers indicating they would spend at least 2 minutes answering questions about themselves and their interests in order to receive personalized content, versus 56% in 2004. These results are divided along gender lines, with women more likely to spend time answering questions about their tastes and interests than men.
eMarketer's Cookie Report provides an in-depth look at consumer concerns about online privacy. Click here to order a copy."
(After August 26, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
A national survey finds that most consumers want an online experience that is highly personalized, but they are also worried that personalization may mean that their data is not secure.
A new survey published by ChoiceStream and conducted by Zoomerang found that 80% of consumers want a personalized online experience. However, 63% of those same consumers are concerned that their personal data might not be secure.
The pluses of personalization are evident. Retailers are leaving significant dollars on the table by not making it easier for consumers to find merchandise that interests them. A significant 37% of respondents said the last time they went shopping for DVDs/videos that they would have bought more if they had found more that they liked. The same was true of consumers shopping for music, with 34% indicating that they would have bought more if they had found additional titles that they liked.
'The survey shows a clear need for retailers to help consumers navigate through the torrent of options available to them,' says Steve Johnson, CEO of ChoiceStream. 'Too many retailers are losing out on commerce opportunities as consumers leave sites empty-handed simply because they can't find merchandise that interests them.'
Unfortunately, based on heightened fears of losing personal information, the survey found that fewer consumers are willing to provide personal preference and demographic information in exchange for personalized content. In 2005, 59% of respondents indicated a willingness to provide preference information, down from 64% last year, and only 46% are now willing to provide demographic data, down from 56% last year.
'Despite significant interest in personalization, there is growing concern among consumers about the security of their personal data — even with established, trusted brands,' says Mr. Johnson.
Not surprisingly, interest in personalization is slightly stronger among younger consumers, with 83% of 18-24 year olds expressing an interest in some type of personalized content compared to 73% of those over 50.
Consumers are even willing to spend a considerable amount of time answering questions about themselves in exchange for personalized content, with 60% of consumers indicating they would spend at least 2 minutes answering questions about themselves and their interests in order to receive personalized content, versus 56% in 2004. These results are divided along gender lines, with women more likely to spend time answering questions about their tastes and interests than men.
eMarketer's Cookie Report provides an in-depth look at consumer concerns about online privacy. Click here to order a copy."
Pharma Ads Moving Online: "Published: August 22, 2005
(After August 30, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Pharmaceutical companies are under pressure about direct-to-consumer advertising. But they are spending more of their ad dollars online.
Facing mounting criticism of direct-to-consumer drug ads, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, unveiled new guidelines for DTC marketing that stress education along with promotion.
'In a sign of the continuing controversy over consumer ads, the industry's average monthly spending on them fell this month for the first time in six years, from $358m to $351m,' the BBC reported recently.
Nevertheless, the industry is increasing its online spending. 'Online ads are relatively small portion of overall ad budgets in the pharmaceutical industry,' said Steve Butler, eMarketer Senior Analyst. 'But recent figures from Advertising Age show that the largest advertisers from the pharmaceutical industry are continuing to channel more money toward Internet advertising,'
Most pharma companies spent less than 1.5% of their entire advertising budgets online in 2004. AstraZeneca was the most committed online advertiser, devoting 5.7% of its ad dollars to the Internet.
'It's worthwhile to note that the top 11 pharma advertisers spent a combined $83 million on online advertising during 2003,' said Mr. Butler, 'while in 2004, the top 12 pharma companies spent a combined $187.5 million.
For more information on the industry's online ad focus, read eMarketer's Pharmaceutical Marketing Online report."
(After August 30, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Pharmaceutical companies are under pressure about direct-to-consumer advertising. But they are spending more of their ad dollars online.
Facing mounting criticism of direct-to-consumer drug ads, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, unveiled new guidelines for DTC marketing that stress education along with promotion.
'In a sign of the continuing controversy over consumer ads, the industry's average monthly spending on them fell this month for the first time in six years, from $358m to $351m,' the BBC reported recently.
Nevertheless, the industry is increasing its online spending. 'Online ads are relatively small portion of overall ad budgets in the pharmaceutical industry,' said Steve Butler, eMarketer Senior Analyst. 'But recent figures from Advertising Age show that the largest advertisers from the pharmaceutical industry are continuing to channel more money toward Internet advertising,'
Most pharma companies spent less than 1.5% of their entire advertising budgets online in 2004. AstraZeneca was the most committed online advertiser, devoting 5.7% of its ad dollars to the Internet.
'It's worthwhile to note that the top 11 pharma advertisers spent a combined $83 million on online advertising during 2003,' said Mr. Butler, 'while in 2004, the top 12 pharma companies spent a combined $187.5 million.
For more information on the industry's online ad focus, read eMarketer's Pharmaceutical Marketing Online report."
Blog Traffic Rises: "Published: August 22, 2005
(After August 30, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Two new studies report rapid traffic growth in the Blogosphere. comScore estimates that about 30% of US Internet users visited blogs in the first quarter. Nielsen//NetRatings says the top 50 blog sites, including blog hosts, draw about 20% of active Internet users.
comScore's blogging study, which was sponsored by Gawker Media and SixApart, estimates that 50 million US Internet users visited blogs in the first quarter of 2005, up from about 34 million a year earlier, and says blog visitation is up 31% from January 2005 through July 2005.
The top blog hosting services have grown significantly. ComScore reports that the number of unique visitors to six of the top 10 services grew by more than 100% from the first quarter of 2004 to the first quarter of 2005. Blogspot.com (better known as Blogger.com), continues to be the largest service.
About 39 million blog visitors in the first quarter of 2005 visited at least one blog residing on one of the major blog hosts. Some 28 million users visited at least one non-hosted, or standalone, blog.
Of standalone blogs, comScore found that over 40% focused on news or politics, including leading blogs like FreeRepublic, Dailykos and Wonkette. Blogs about business made up just 3% of the total.
The fastest-growing blog site, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, was MSN Spaces, which was only unveiled in December 2004. Standalone sites like Gawker and Daily Kos saw traffic rise sharply over the period. Nielsen//NetRatings said that the top 50 blog sites (a list that includes both blog hosts and individual blogs) were visited by about 29.3 million people in July, up 31% from the beginning of the year.
To learn more about blogging, read eMarketer's report, The Business of Blogging."
(After August 30, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Two new studies report rapid traffic growth in the Blogosphere. comScore estimates that about 30% of US Internet users visited blogs in the first quarter. Nielsen//NetRatings says the top 50 blog sites, including blog hosts, draw about 20% of active Internet users.
comScore's blogging study, which was sponsored by Gawker Media and SixApart, estimates that 50 million US Internet users visited blogs in the first quarter of 2005, up from about 34 million a year earlier, and says blog visitation is up 31% from January 2005 through July 2005.
The top blog hosting services have grown significantly. ComScore reports that the number of unique visitors to six of the top 10 services grew by more than 100% from the first quarter of 2004 to the first quarter of 2005. Blogspot.com (better known as Blogger.com), continues to be the largest service.
About 39 million blog visitors in the first quarter of 2005 visited at least one blog residing on one of the major blog hosts. Some 28 million users visited at least one non-hosted, or standalone, blog.
Of standalone blogs, comScore found that over 40% focused on news or politics, including leading blogs like FreeRepublic, Dailykos and Wonkette. Blogs about business made up just 3% of the total.
The fastest-growing blog site, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, was MSN Spaces, which was only unveiled in December 2004. Standalone sites like Gawker and Daily Kos saw traffic rise sharply over the period. Nielsen//NetRatings said that the top 50 blog sites (a list that includes both blog hosts and individual blogs) were visited by about 29.3 million people in July, up 31% from the beginning of the year.
To learn more about blogging, read eMarketer's report, The Business of Blogging."
Turning Off the TV:
"Published: August 24, 2005
(After September 01, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
'Click!' used to signify that, somewhere, someone was turning on a television set. Today, to more and more people, it means touching a mouse to hyperlink between Web pages.
According to Forrester Research's report, 'The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2005,' the adoption of consumer electronics and Internet access will continue to see significant growth through the end of the decade. By 2010, 62% of US households will have broadband access to the Internet, 53% will own a laptop and 37% will use a digital video recorder (DVR) to gain control over how and when they watch TV.
Forrester found that in 2004, 39.5 million US households shopped online — 3.5 million more than in 2003 — and broadband, laptop and home networking adoption will help drive online research and purchasing to more than 55 million households by 2010.
eMarketer projects that broadband penetration for all households (not just online households) will grow from 23.1% in 2003 to 56.3% in 2008.
The new technologies are already changing consumer behavior. And the better the technology, the faster the change.
The Forrester survey, of nearly 69,000 people in the US and Canada, found that broadband Internet users watch just 12 hours of TV per week, compared with 14 hours for those who are offline. Those using a dial-up connection watch 12.5 hours of TV.
The study concluded that in the competition for consumers' time, the biggest loser is television. While newspapers and magazines will also suffer somewhat from Internet competition, radio and video games will not.
For more information on broadband around the globe, consult one or all of eMarketer's five new broadband reports: Latin America Broadband, Asia/Pacific Broadband, Europe Broadband, North America Broadband and Broadband Usage & Demographics."
"Published: August 24, 2005
(After September 01, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
'Click!' used to signify that, somewhere, someone was turning on a television set. Today, to more and more people, it means touching a mouse to hyperlink between Web pages.
According to Forrester Research's report, 'The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2005,' the adoption of consumer electronics and Internet access will continue to see significant growth through the end of the decade. By 2010, 62% of US households will have broadband access to the Internet, 53% will own a laptop and 37% will use a digital video recorder (DVR) to gain control over how and when they watch TV.
Forrester found that in 2004, 39.5 million US households shopped online — 3.5 million more than in 2003 — and broadband, laptop and home networking adoption will help drive online research and purchasing to more than 55 million households by 2010.
eMarketer projects that broadband penetration for all households (not just online households) will grow from 23.1% in 2003 to 56.3% in 2008.
The new technologies are already changing consumer behavior. And the better the technology, the faster the change.
The Forrester survey, of nearly 69,000 people in the US and Canada, found that broadband Internet users watch just 12 hours of TV per week, compared with 14 hours for those who are offline. Those using a dial-up connection watch 12.5 hours of TV.
The study concluded that in the competition for consumers' time, the biggest loser is television. While newspapers and magazines will also suffer somewhat from Internet competition, radio and video games will not.
For more information on broadband around the globe, consult one or all of eMarketer's five new broadband reports: Latin America Broadband, Asia/Pacific Broadband, Europe Broadband, North America Broadband and Broadband Usage & Demographics."
Google, Google, Google!:
"Published: August 25, 2005
(After September 02, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Everywhere you turn these days, online and off, Google is there. David Hallerman, an eMarketer Senior Analyst, talks about where the company is going.
One thing no one has to search for is Google. Open a newspaper or business magazine, turn on your television or computer, and changes are within a few minutes you'll see something concerning the search giant. And it still is, first and foremost, even before all the things it is about to morph into, the search giant
In July's monthly qSearch analysis of activity across competitive search engines, released by comScore Media Metrix, Google maintained its market share lead in the US search market with 36.5% of all the searches submitted, followed by Yahoo! at 30.5% and MSN at 15.5%.
As reported in the Internet Retailer, the total volume of online searches conducted in the US reached more than 4.8 billion, up 22% from July 2004. The top six search engines, led by Google, continued to dominate the field, accounting for 99.4% of all searches, up from 98.5% in the year earlier.
Google is also in the news because of the introduction of its new Google Desktop Two, which branches out beyond pure search to manage e-mail, instant messages, news headlines and music, a move that will increase competition with portals and, eventually, Microsoft. In fact, Google is attempting to provide — and control — more of the users' complete experience, in much the same way as Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL currently do.
Even more intriguing was Google's surprise announcement that it plans to take advantage of a tripling in its stock price since the IPO of a year ago to sell $4 billion in shares. The move is yet another sign that Google intends to accelerate its expansion beyond the search, mapping and e-mail functions that have drawn users and vaulted it to the number one position in Internet advertising.
A key to Google's future, says eMarketer's David Hallerman, will be moving beyond paid search. "The power of paid search is enormous — it's the most popular, most common, and most used form of online advertising," says Mr. Hallerman, a senior analyst at eMarketer. "But they need to get a share of brand advertising, as more traditional advertisers move online."
International growth will be another key, says Mr. Hallerman. International revenue growth has outpaced domestic gains, reaching nearly 150% in the second quarter, compared to a "mere" 75% pace in the US."
"Published: August 25, 2005
(After September 02, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Everywhere you turn these days, online and off, Google is there. David Hallerman, an eMarketer Senior Analyst, talks about where the company is going.
One thing no one has to search for is Google. Open a newspaper or business magazine, turn on your television or computer, and changes are within a few minutes you'll see something concerning the search giant. And it still is, first and foremost, even before all the things it is about to morph into, the search giant
In July's monthly qSearch analysis of activity across competitive search engines, released by comScore Media Metrix, Google maintained its market share lead in the US search market with 36.5% of all the searches submitted, followed by Yahoo! at 30.5% and MSN at 15.5%.
As reported in the Internet Retailer, the total volume of online searches conducted in the US reached more than 4.8 billion, up 22% from July 2004. The top six search engines, led by Google, continued to dominate the field, accounting for 99.4% of all searches, up from 98.5% in the year earlier.
Google is also in the news because of the introduction of its new Google Desktop Two, which branches out beyond pure search to manage e-mail, instant messages, news headlines and music, a move that will increase competition with portals and, eventually, Microsoft. In fact, Google is attempting to provide — and control — more of the users' complete experience, in much the same way as Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL currently do.
Even more intriguing was Google's surprise announcement that it plans to take advantage of a tripling in its stock price since the IPO of a year ago to sell $4 billion in shares. The move is yet another sign that Google intends to accelerate its expansion beyond the search, mapping and e-mail functions that have drawn users and vaulted it to the number one position in Internet advertising.
A key to Google's future, says eMarketer's David Hallerman, will be moving beyond paid search. "The power of paid search is enormous — it's the most popular, most common, and most used form of online advertising," says Mr. Hallerman, a senior analyst at eMarketer. "But they need to get a share of brand advertising, as more traditional advertisers move online."
International growth will be another key, says Mr. Hallerman. International revenue growth has outpaced domestic gains, reaching nearly 150% in the second quarter, compared to a "mere" 75% pace in the US."
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Rupert Murdoch seeks dysfunctional search engine | The Register: "With a billion dollars to spend on his new Fox Interactive Unit, Rupert Murdoch is going shopping.
Last month he picked up web community Intermix Media for $580 million, and followed-up by adding insider sports news network Scout Media for $60 million.
This time search sites Technorati and Blinkx are in the frame - the LA Times reporting that News Corp. is in negotiations with the latter. But just as with the rumors about News Corp. buying Skype, it hardly rings true...
...However even in their infancy, both Blinkx and Technorati have struggled to cope with the basics of the task at hand. Technorati no longer performs minute-long searches which produce no results at all, a hallmark of its first two years - but it's had its clock cleaned by Bloglines (purchased by Barry Diller's empire earlier this year) and other search sites which find many weblogs Technorati can't see, or is confused by. While Technorati has struggled to scale, it's focussed on gimmicks such as 'tags' - this year's gift to spammers. The grown-ups, Google and Yahoo!, will soon collar this market and Yahoo! has already acknowledged that it's working on a weblog search engine with, we hope, new user interface ideas.
A similar cruftiness dogs Blinkx, which like Technorati, owed its early favorable write ups to nepotism, back-scratching and groupthink.
Blinkx prematurely dropped a desktop search gadget onto the web last summer, one of the buggiest pieces of software ever to hit a consumer PC. It doesn't like to mention it now, but this irate email to a national newspaper was typical of the feedback we received, too..."
Last month he picked up web community Intermix Media for $580 million, and followed-up by adding insider sports news network Scout Media for $60 million.
This time search sites Technorati and Blinkx are in the frame - the LA Times reporting that News Corp. is in negotiations with the latter. But just as with the rumors about News Corp. buying Skype, it hardly rings true...
...However even in their infancy, both Blinkx and Technorati have struggled to cope with the basics of the task at hand. Technorati no longer performs minute-long searches which produce no results at all, a hallmark of its first two years - but it's had its clock cleaned by Bloglines (purchased by Barry Diller's empire earlier this year) and other search sites which find many weblogs Technorati can't see, or is confused by. While Technorati has struggled to scale, it's focussed on gimmicks such as 'tags' - this year's gift to spammers. The grown-ups, Google and Yahoo!, will soon collar this market and Yahoo! has already acknowledged that it's working on a weblog search engine with, we hope, new user interface ideas.
A similar cruftiness dogs Blinkx, which like Technorati, owed its early favorable write ups to nepotism, back-scratching and groupthink.
Blinkx prematurely dropped a desktop search gadget onto the web last summer, one of the buggiest pieces of software ever to hit a consumer PC. It doesn't like to mention it now, but this irate email to a national newspaper was typical of the feedback we received, too..."
Google loses AdWords trade mark case in the US | The Register: "A US district court has ruled against Google in a trade mark action over the sale of the terms “Geico” and “Geico Direct” in AdWords, its keyword advertising service. The judge found that there was infringement where the terms were used in the text of sponsored ads.
Car insurance firm GEICO sued both Google and Yahoo! subsidiary Overture in May 2004 over the sale of its registered trade marks as sponsored search terms in the keyword advertising services of both search engines..."
Car insurance firm GEICO sued both Google and Yahoo! subsidiary Overture in May 2004 over the sale of its registered trade marks as sponsored search terms in the keyword advertising services of both search engines..."
SEOmoz | Google's Patent: Information Retrieval Based on Historical Data:
"This report has been prepared to help SEOs understand the concepts and practical applications contained in Google's US Patent Application #20050071741 - Information Retrieval Based on Historical Data. My own advice and interpretation is offered throughout this paper - please conduct your own research before acting on the recommendations..."
"This report has been prepared to help SEOs understand the concepts and practical applications contained in Google's US Patent Application #20050071741 - Information Retrieval Based on Historical Data. My own advice and interpretation is offered throughout this paper - please conduct your own research before acting on the recommendations..."
Business 2.0 :: Magazine Article :: What's Next :: Free Wi-Fi? Get Ready for GoogleNet.:
"What if Google (GOOG) wanted to give Wi-Fi access to everyone in America? And what if it had technology capable of targeting advertising to a user’s precise location? The gatekeeper of the world’s information could become one of the globe’s biggest Internet providers and one of its most powerful ad sellers, basically supplanting telecoms in one fell swoop. Sounds crazy, but how might Google go about it?
First it would build a national broadband network -- let's call it the GoogleNet -- massive enough to rival even the country's biggest Internet service providers. Business 2.0 has learned from telecom insiders that Google is already building such a network, though ostensibly for many reasons. For the past year, it has quietly been shopping for miles and miles of 'dark,' or unused, fiber-optic cable across the country from wholesalers such as New York’s AboveNet. It's also acquiring superfast connections from Cogent Communications and WilTel, among others, between East Coast cities including Atlanta, Miami, and New York. Such large-scale purchases are unprecedented for an Internet company, but Google's timing is impeccable. The rash of telecom bankruptcies has freed up a ton of bargain-priced capacity, which Google needs as it prepares to unleash a flood of new, bandwidth-hungry applications. These offerings could include everything from a digital-video database to on-demand television programming.
An even more compelling reason for Google to build its own network is that it could save the company millions of dollars a month. Here's why: Every time a user performs a search on Google, the data is transmitted over a network owned by an ISP -- say, Comcast (CMCSK) -- which links up with Google's servers via a wholesaler like AboveNet. When AboveNet bridges that gap between Google and Comcast, Google has to pay as much as $60 per megabit per second per month in IP transit fees. As Google adds bandwidth-intensive services, those costs will increase. Big networks owned by the likes of AT&T (T) get around transit fees by striking 'peering' arrangements, in which the networks swap traffic and no money is exchanged. By cutting out middlemen like AboveNet, Google could share traffic directly with ISPs to avoid fees..."
"What if Google (GOOG) wanted to give Wi-Fi access to everyone in America? And what if it had technology capable of targeting advertising to a user’s precise location? The gatekeeper of the world’s information could become one of the globe’s biggest Internet providers and one of its most powerful ad sellers, basically supplanting telecoms in one fell swoop. Sounds crazy, but how might Google go about it?
First it would build a national broadband network -- let's call it the GoogleNet -- massive enough to rival even the country's biggest Internet service providers. Business 2.0 has learned from telecom insiders that Google is already building such a network, though ostensibly for many reasons. For the past year, it has quietly been shopping for miles and miles of 'dark,' or unused, fiber-optic cable across the country from wholesalers such as New York’s AboveNet. It's also acquiring superfast connections from Cogent Communications and WilTel, among others, between East Coast cities including Atlanta, Miami, and New York. Such large-scale purchases are unprecedented for an Internet company, but Google's timing is impeccable. The rash of telecom bankruptcies has freed up a ton of bargain-priced capacity, which Google needs as it prepares to unleash a flood of new, bandwidth-hungry applications. These offerings could include everything from a digital-video database to on-demand television programming.
An even more compelling reason for Google to build its own network is that it could save the company millions of dollars a month. Here's why: Every time a user performs a search on Google, the data is transmitted over a network owned by an ISP -- say, Comcast (CMCSK) -- which links up with Google's servers via a wholesaler like AboveNet. When AboveNet bridges that gap between Google and Comcast, Google has to pay as much as $60 per megabit per second per month in IP transit fees. As Google adds bandwidth-intensive services, those costs will increase. Big networks owned by the likes of AT&T (T) get around transit fees by striking 'peering' arrangements, in which the networks swap traffic and no money is exchanged. By cutting out middlemen like AboveNet, Google could share traffic directly with ISPs to avoid fees..."
Netimperative - Murdoch in talks to buy Blinkx search engine:
"News Corporation, the media conglomerate owned by Rupert Murdoch, is considering buying search engine Blinkx, according to a news report.
Last week, Murdoch confirmed the company was in “advanced talks” to buy a controlling interest in an undisclosed Web search engine, and had set aside $2bn for investments and strategic acquisitions.
The Los Angeles Times has cited News Corp. sources close to the deal, saying Murdoch was in talks with Blinkx, but negotiations were 'not as far along' as he indicated last week.
Last month, the media giant launched a dedicated Internet division, Fox Interactive Media, to include all of News Corp.'s global Web properties, including The Sun and The Times news sites in the UK.
Launched last year, San Francisco- based Blinkx, was set up as a desktop search engine, and has since expanded into video and audio search services."
"News Corporation, the media conglomerate owned by Rupert Murdoch, is considering buying search engine Blinkx, according to a news report.
Last week, Murdoch confirmed the company was in “advanced talks” to buy a controlling interest in an undisclosed Web search engine, and had set aside $2bn for investments and strategic acquisitions.
The Los Angeles Times has cited News Corp. sources close to the deal, saying Murdoch was in talks with Blinkx, but negotiations were 'not as far along' as he indicated last week.
Last month, the media giant launched a dedicated Internet division, Fox Interactive Media, to include all of News Corp.'s global Web properties, including The Sun and The Times news sites in the UK.
Launched last year, San Francisco- based Blinkx, was set up as a desktop search engine, and has since expanded into video and audio search services."
WebFeat: WebFeat3:
"WebFeat, the original federated search engine, used by over 1,500 leading public, academic, government and Global 1000 libraries brings you WebFeat 3, the next frontier in federated search technology. WebFeat 3 brings users a suite of powerful products with remarkable features and benefits:..."
"WebFeat, the original federated search engine, used by over 1,500 leading public, academic, government and Global 1000 libraries brings you WebFeat 3, the next frontier in federated search technology. WebFeat 3 brings users a suite of powerful products with remarkable features and benefits:..."
Google Sitemaps (BETA) Help:
"About Google Sitemaps
Search engines such as Google discover information about your site by employing software known as 'spiders' to crawl the web. Once the spiders find a site, they follow links within the site to gather information about all the pages. The spiders periodically revisit sites to find new or changed content.
Google Sitemaps is an experiment in web crawling. By using Sitemaps to inform and direct our crawlers, we hope to expand our coverage of the web and speed up the discovery and addition of pages to our index.
If your site has dynamic content or pages that aren't easily discovered by following links, you can use a Sitemap file to provide information about the pages on your site. This helps the spiders know what URLs are available on your site and about how often they change..."
"About Google Sitemaps
Search engines such as Google discover information about your site by employing software known as 'spiders' to crawl the web. Once the spiders find a site, they follow links within the site to gather information about all the pages. The spiders periodically revisit sites to find new or changed content.
Google Sitemaps is an experiment in web crawling. By using Sitemaps to inform and direct our crawlers, we hope to expand our coverage of the web and speed up the discovery and addition of pages to our index.
If your site has dynamic content or pages that aren't easily discovered by following links, you can use a Sitemap file to provide information about the pages on your site. This helps the spiders know what URLs are available on your site and about how often they change..."
I4U News - Amazon A9 Launches Virtual Photo Maps:
"Amazon launched their own map service with an edge on their A9.com search engine.
The A9 map has currently 35 million photos of city streets available. The photos enable users to explore virtually streets and places in major US cities. This is quite cool. It feels a bit dot.com era, because the feature seems so expensive compared to the money they can make with it. It's a nice feature no doubt, but then how often will I use it. What I like especially is the navigation. You can turn around yourself virtually in one view and virtually walk the street up and down in the other views.
The photos are apparently made with trucks roaming the streets equipped with GPS and digital cameras.
Anyway worth to give it a spin. Try it here.
More details in this Amazon A9 press-release. "
"Amazon launched their own map service with an edge on their A9.com search engine.
The A9 map has currently 35 million photos of city streets available. The photos enable users to explore virtually streets and places in major US cities. This is quite cool. It feels a bit dot.com era, because the feature seems so expensive compared to the money they can make with it. It's a nice feature no doubt, but then how often will I use it. What I like especially is the navigation. You can turn around yourself virtually in one view and virtually walk the street up and down in the other views.
The photos are apparently made with trucks roaming the streets equipped with GPS and digital cameras.
Anyway worth to give it a spin. Try it here.
More details in this Amazon A9 press-release. "
Search Engine Journal � Blogger Blogs To Be Banned From Blog Search Engines Says Cuban: "Ice Rocket owner and self styled “Blog Maverick” Mark Cuban has warned bloggers using Googles free Blogger service under the Blogspot domain that the day that all blogspot.com blogs are excluded from Ice Rocket and other search engines is drawing closer due to the use of the service by blog spammers:
To quote Cuban: “If you are an individual blogger whose blog is hosted on blogspot.com, every day the chances of you being excluded from icerocket.com’s, and other search engines’ indexes increases. “
He also spends some extra time finger pointing at Google over the issue of spam blogs:
Blogger is by far the worst offender. Google seems to be working hard to adjust their relevancy indexes to exclude splog from having influence on search rankings, but they dont seem to be doing anything more than removing reported splogs (spam blogs). Kind of like going after the zombies one at a time with a shovel. Can we get some help on this Google ? (you can check out weblogs.com to get a feel for just how much splog we are talking about )."
To quote Cuban: “If you are an individual blogger whose blog is hosted on blogspot.com, every day the chances of you being excluded from icerocket.com’s, and other search engines’ indexes increases. “
He also spends some extra time finger pointing at Google over the issue of spam blogs:
Blogger is by far the worst offender. Google seems to be working hard to adjust their relevancy indexes to exclude splog from having influence on search rankings, but they dont seem to be doing anything more than removing reported splogs (spam blogs). Kind of like going after the zombies one at a time with a shovel. Can we get some help on this Google ? (you can check out weblogs.com to get a feel for just how much splog we are talking about )."
Google Halts Scanning of Copyrighted Books:
"By MICHAEL LIEDTKE - The Associated Press - Tuesday, August 16, 2005; 8:17 AM
SAN FRANCISCO -- Stung by a publishing industry backlash, Google Inc. has halted its efforts to scan copyrighted books from some of the nation's largest university libraries so the material can be indexed in its leading Internet search engine.
The company announced the suspension, effective until November, in a notice posted on its Web site just before midnight Thursday by Adam Smith, the manager of its ambitious program to convert millions of books into a digital format..."
"By MICHAEL LIEDTKE - The Associated Press - Tuesday, August 16, 2005; 8:17 AM
SAN FRANCISCO -- Stung by a publishing industry backlash, Google Inc. has halted its efforts to scan copyrighted books from some of the nation's largest university libraries so the material can be indexed in its leading Internet search engine.
The company announced the suspension, effective until November, in a notice posted on its Web site just before midnight Thursday by Adam Smith, the manager of its ambitious program to convert millions of books into a digital format..."
SearchViews: Legal Updates from the World of Search:
"Briefly, we give you some brief legal briefs:
Case closed on the Miva (formerly known as FindWhat.com) / Yahoo lawsuit. Miva has agreed to pay $8 million to Yahoo as settlement in a long-standing patent infringement suit over its paid listings technology. Miva will make the one-time payment in cash in exchange for a dismissal of all claims. Prior Miva coverage on SearchViews is here.
A US district court judge has ruled against Google in the Google/GEICO AdWords case. The dispute centered around the use of trademarked terms in the text of sponsored ads. The court has stayed the trial for 30 days to give both parties an opportunity to settle. America's favorite satire paper has more GEICO goodness."
"Briefly, we give you some brief legal briefs:
Case closed on the Miva (formerly known as FindWhat.com) / Yahoo lawsuit. Miva has agreed to pay $8 million to Yahoo as settlement in a long-standing patent infringement suit over its paid listings technology. Miva will make the one-time payment in cash in exchange for a dismissal of all claims. Prior Miva coverage on SearchViews is here.
A US district court judge has ruled against Google in the Google/GEICO AdWords case. The dispute centered around the use of trademarked terms in the text of sponsored ads. The court has stayed the trial for 30 days to give both parties an opportunity to settle. America's favorite satire paper has more GEICO goodness."
Bloggers: Google 'sandboxing' sites | News.blog | CNET News.com:
"Two recent blogs seem to put rumors to rest about whether Google uses a 'sandbox' on some new Web sites in an attempt to filter out sites that might be fake or spam. In a Threadwatch.org blog, DougS wrote on Sunday that a Google engineer acknowledged at the Search Engine Strategies conference last week in San Jose, Calif., that Google places some new Web sites, 'regardless of their merit, or lack thereof, in a sort of probationary category' for six months to a year to 'allow time to determine how users react to a new site, who links to it, etc.'..."
"Two recent blogs seem to put rumors to rest about whether Google uses a 'sandbox' on some new Web sites in an attempt to filter out sites that might be fake or spam. In a Threadwatch.org blog, DougS wrote on Sunday that a Google engineer acknowledged at the Search Engine Strategies conference last week in San Jose, Calif., that Google places some new Web sites, 'regardless of their merit, or lack thereof, in a sort of probationary category' for six months to a year to 'allow time to determine how users react to a new site, who links to it, etc.'..."
Netimperative - Football tops charts on new TV search engine: "TV Genius, a search engine for UK television, has released its first figures for the keywords searches following its launch last month..."
In Silicon Valley, a Debate Over the Size of the Web - New York Times:
"By JOHN MARKOFF - Published: August 15, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14 - How big is the World Wide Web? Many Internet engineers consider that query one of those imponderable philosophical questions, like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
But the question about the size of the Web came under intense debate last week after Yahoo announced at an Internet search engine conference in Santa Clara, Calif., that its search engine index - an accounting of the number of documents that can be located from its databases - had reached 19.2 billion.
Because the number was more than twice as large as the number of documents (8.1 billion) currently reported by Google, Yahoo's fierce competitor and Silicon Valley neighbor, the announcement - actually a brief mention in a Yahoo company Web log - set off a spat. Google questioned the way its rival was counting its numbers.
Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, suggested that the Yahoo index was inflated with duplicate entries in such a way as to cut its effectiveness despite its large size.
'The comprehensiveness of any search engine should be measured by real Web pages that can be returned in response to real search queries and verified to be unique,' he said on Friday. 'We report the total index size of Google based on this approach.'
But Yahoo executives stood by their earlier statement. 'The number of documents in our index is accurate,' Jeff Weiner, senior vice president of Yahoo's search and marketplace group, said on Saturday. 'We're proud of the accomplishments of our search engineers and scientists and look forward to continuing to satisfy our users by delivering the world's highest-quality search experience...'"
"By JOHN MARKOFF - Published: August 15, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14 - How big is the World Wide Web? Many Internet engineers consider that query one of those imponderable philosophical questions, like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
But the question about the size of the Web came under intense debate last week after Yahoo announced at an Internet search engine conference in Santa Clara, Calif., that its search engine index - an accounting of the number of documents that can be located from its databases - had reached 19.2 billion.
Because the number was more than twice as large as the number of documents (8.1 billion) currently reported by Google, Yahoo's fierce competitor and Silicon Valley neighbor, the announcement - actually a brief mention in a Yahoo company Web log - set off a spat. Google questioned the way its rival was counting its numbers.
Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, suggested that the Yahoo index was inflated with duplicate entries in such a way as to cut its effectiveness despite its large size.
'The comprehensiveness of any search engine should be measured by real Web pages that can be returned in response to real search queries and verified to be unique,' he said on Friday. 'We report the total index size of Google based on this approach.'
But Yahoo executives stood by their earlier statement. 'The number of documents in our index is accurate,' Jeff Weiner, senior vice president of Yahoo's search and marketplace group, said on Saturday. 'We're proud of the accomplishments of our search engineers and scientists and look forward to continuing to satisfy our users by delivering the world's highest-quality search experience...'"
John Battelle's Searchblog: In This Battle, Size Does Matter: Google Responds to Yahoo Index Claims:
"As I posted earlier, Yahoo's claim of indexing more than 20 billion items ruffled more than a few feathers across the web, and nowhere more distinctly than at Google. I spent an hour or so on the phone with a group of Google folks, and they shared a lot of information about how they measure index size, how they deal with issues of duplicate URLs and documents, and why they are baffled by Yahoo's claim.
I am still reporting this story, so a longer post is forthcoming, but an update at the end of the day is worth penning.
First of all, I agreed to review some of the Google information on background, agreeing not to disclose it save with permission. (I agreed to this only if I could tell you all that I did in fact agree to it). I am still digesting what Google had to say, and the information they sent me, but it did leave a distinct set of questions percolating in my mind, questions that I plan to speak to Yahoo about (Yahoo has agreed to talk as well, we just haven't had time yet).
In any case, the lead really is this: I asked Google to go on the record with their concerns about Yahoo's index and whether they believed the news was in fact accurate, and Google agreed. The quote, which I can only attribute at this point to a 'Google spokesperson,' is as follows:
'Our scientists are not seeing the increase claimed in the Yahoo! index. The data we have doesn't support the 19.2 (billion page) claim and we're confused by that.'..."
"As I posted earlier, Yahoo's claim of indexing more than 20 billion items ruffled more than a few feathers across the web, and nowhere more distinctly than at Google. I spent an hour or so on the phone with a group of Google folks, and they shared a lot of information about how they measure index size, how they deal with issues of duplicate URLs and documents, and why they are baffled by Yahoo's claim.
I am still reporting this story, so a longer post is forthcoming, but an update at the end of the day is worth penning.
First of all, I agreed to review some of the Google information on background, agreeing not to disclose it save with permission. (I agreed to this only if I could tell you all that I did in fact agree to it). I am still digesting what Google had to say, and the information they sent me, but it did leave a distinct set of questions percolating in my mind, questions that I plan to speak to Yahoo about (Yahoo has agreed to talk as well, we just haven't had time yet).
In any case, the lead really is this: I asked Google to go on the record with their concerns about Yahoo's index and whether they believed the news was in fact accurate, and Google agreed. The quote, which I can only attribute at this point to a 'Google spokesperson,' is as follows:
'Our scientists are not seeing the increase claimed in the Yahoo! index. The data we have doesn't support the 19.2 (billion page) claim and we're confused by that.'..."
SearchViews: Are Things Looking Up at LookSmart?: "It's about time we heard something upbeat about LookSmart, the beleaguered search engine marketer that's had a rough go of it this past year.
The Search Engine Journal has a story this week called LookSmart Back from the Brink in which author Greg Sterling recounts a meeting with LookSmart CEO David Hills.
Hills acknowledged some of the company's foibles and says that the company has essentially eliminated click fraud from its network and has plenty of money in the bank.
No comment on the LookSmart/Ask Jeeves rumor, though the company did recently roll out its first branded vertical search channel. It's called 'LookSmart Education' and consists of 10 sites in which advertisers can place ads across one cohesive channel. Sites include LookSmart Mom, LookSmart High School and the sounds-a-little-like-a-bodily-function Zinkle.com for kids.
Read the press release now.
Posted by Erin Bradley at August 11, 2005 10:58 AM"
The Search Engine Journal has a story this week called LookSmart Back from the Brink in which author Greg Sterling recounts a meeting with LookSmart CEO David Hills.
Hills acknowledged some of the company's foibles and says that the company has essentially eliminated click fraud from its network and has plenty of money in the bank.
No comment on the LookSmart/Ask Jeeves rumor, though the company did recently roll out its first branded vertical search channel. It's called 'LookSmart Education' and consists of 10 sites in which advertisers can place ads across one cohesive channel. Sites include LookSmart Mom, LookSmart High School and the sounds-a-little-like-a-bodily-function Zinkle.com for kids.
Read the press release now.
Posted by Erin Bradley at August 11, 2005 10:58 AM"
Google may need to diversify to keep growing - Aug. 11, 2005:
"It's been a year since Google went public. Business is great now but how long can it rely on search?
August 11, 2005: 1:16 PM EDT
By Paul R. La Monica, CNN/Money senior writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – The first anniversary of Google's initial public offering is rapidly approaching.
And to commemorate this occasion, it seems safe to paraphrase Frank Sinatra: For Google, it was a very good year.
Shares went public at $85 on Aug. 19, 2004 and now are trading at about $285. Sales are expected to increase by nearly 90 percent this year and profits are expected to more than double.
That's all well and good. But what's next for Google (Research)?...
..."Search is the fastest growing segment on the Internet so near-term it's not going to be an issue," said Clay Moran, an analyst with Stanford Group. "But over time this is something they'll have to address."..."
"It's been a year since Google went public. Business is great now but how long can it rely on search?
August 11, 2005: 1:16 PM EDT
By Paul R. La Monica, CNN/Money senior writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – The first anniversary of Google's initial public offering is rapidly approaching.
And to commemorate this occasion, it seems safe to paraphrase Frank Sinatra: For Google, it was a very good year.
Shares went public at $85 on Aug. 19, 2004 and now are trading at about $285. Sales are expected to increase by nearly 90 percent this year and profits are expected to more than double.
That's all well and good. But what's next for Google (Research)?...
..."Search is the fastest growing segment on the Internet so near-term it's not going to be an issue," said Clay Moran, an analyst with Stanford Group. "But over time this is something they'll have to address."..."
Globetechnology: SimonSays previews search engine with 'ears':
"Toronto-based SimonSays Voice Technologies has released a search engine that 'listens' to audio and video files and locates phrases.
The engine will allow users to search for a quote from a movie and being instantly taken to that scene in the film, and has the ability to scale so that it can search through every podcast, vidcast and vlog on the Net.
SimonSays is demonstrating its SimonSearch technology at radiophiles.org, a searchable archive of interviews conducted by Jennifer Leonard."
"Toronto-based SimonSays Voice Technologies has released a search engine that 'listens' to audio and video files and locates phrases.
The engine will allow users to search for a quote from a movie and being instantly taken to that scene in the film, and has the ability to scale so that it can search through every podcast, vidcast and vlog on the Net.
SimonSays is demonstrating its SimonSearch technology at radiophiles.org, a searchable archive of interviews conducted by Jennifer Leonard."
Bloomberg.com: Asia:
"News Corp. in Talks to Buy Control of Search Engine (Update2)
Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- News Corp., the fourth-largest media company, is in talks to buy a controlling interest in an Internet search engine as the company seeks to build advertising sales on the Web.
The investment would be in ``what we think is a wonderful search engine,'' News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, 74, said yesterday on a conference call with analysts after the company announced earnings. Murdoch said the price will be ``insignificant'' and declined to identify the business.
News Corp. has budgeted as much as $2 billion to acquire Internet assets, Murdoch said. So far this year, the company has spent more than $700 million investing in Web companies, he said. On July 15, the New York-based company formed a unit to hold Internet businesses as it joins other media companies tapping the growing market for online advertising..."
"News Corp. in Talks to Buy Control of Search Engine (Update2)
Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- News Corp., the fourth-largest media company, is in talks to buy a controlling interest in an Internet search engine as the company seeks to build advertising sales on the Web.
The investment would be in ``what we think is a wonderful search engine,'' News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, 74, said yesterday on a conference call with analysts after the company announced earnings. Murdoch said the price will be ``insignificant'' and declined to identify the business.
News Corp. has budgeted as much as $2 billion to acquire Internet assets, Murdoch said. So far this year, the company has spent more than $700 million investing in Web companies, he said. On July 15, the New York-based company formed a unit to hold Internet businesses as it joins other media companies tapping the growing market for online advertising..."
Search Engine Journal - Yahoo Site Explorer Announced at Search Engine Strategies:
"Yahoo’s Tim Mayer is at it again with using the Search Engine Strategies Conference as a platform for announcing new Yahoo products and search offerings. Yesterday at SES’s Q&A on Search Engines and Links, Tim let the crowd and present journalists in on Yahoo’s new webmaster tool, Yahoo Site Explorer. Search Engine Roundtable’s Barry Schwartz was on hand to cover Big Tim’s announcement.
“Tim announces a new product named Site Explorer, http://sitexplorer.search.yahoo.com/ where you can get your linkage data. It is a place for people to go to see which pages Yahoo indexed and to let Yahoo know about URLs Yahoo has not found as of yet (submit URL or URLs). He showed an example, you basically type in a URL into it (this is also supported via an API, good good), then you hit explore URl and it spits out the number of pages found in Yahoo Index and also shows you the number of inlinks. You can sort pages by “depth” how deep pages are and you can also submit URLs here. You can also quickly export the results to TSV format. Links have been very popular, he said Yahoo! has been moving towards the social community aspect and probably will go in that direction with link pop. He said, create natural links, make it look natural.”
Site Explorer is not live yet, but once it launches we’ll be sure to update this post. In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out Search Engine Roundtable’s coverage of the Search Engine Strategies San Jose conference, which ends today."
"Yahoo’s Tim Mayer is at it again with using the Search Engine Strategies Conference as a platform for announcing new Yahoo products and search offerings. Yesterday at SES’s Q&A on Search Engines and Links, Tim let the crowd and present journalists in on Yahoo’s new webmaster tool, Yahoo Site Explorer. Search Engine Roundtable’s Barry Schwartz was on hand to cover Big Tim’s announcement.
“Tim announces a new product named Site Explorer, http://sitexplorer.search.yahoo.com/ where you can get your linkage data. It is a place for people to go to see which pages Yahoo indexed and to let Yahoo know about URLs Yahoo has not found as of yet (submit URL or URLs). He showed an example, you basically type in a URL into it (this is also supported via an API, good good), then you hit explore URl and it spits out the number of pages found in Yahoo Index and also shows you the number of inlinks. You can sort pages by “depth” how deep pages are and you can also submit URLs here. You can also quickly export the results to TSV format. Links have been very popular, he said Yahoo! has been moving towards the social community aspect and probably will go in that direction with link pop. He said, create natural links, make it look natural.”
Site Explorer is not live yet, but once it launches we’ll be sure to update this post. In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out Search Engine Roundtable’s coverage of the Search Engine Strategies San Jose conference, which ends today."
Welcome to the Yahoo! Developer Network:
"Innovate.
You bring the skills. We bring the ingredients.
Welcome to the Yahoo! Developer Network. We help software developers integrate their Web sites and applications with Yahoo! using standard technologies such as XML and RSS. Click on a link at left to learn more about our products and how we can help you.
New! Create Comparison Shopping Applications with the Shopping API
Using the Yahoo! Shopping API, developers can create applications and Web sites that search Yahoo's comparison shopping database, which contains millions of offers from thousands of merchants. View documentation online.
Posted: July 25, 2005
New! Plot Your Content on Y! Maps
Maps Open Publishing API allows you to create your own co-branded interactive maps. Use this API to specify your own content, or plug in any existing GeoRSS feed. Learn how.
Posted: June 29, 2005
Search The Web With Search Web Services
You can use Search Web Services to search the internet, including images, news, video and more. Learn more about Search Web Services or view the documentation online..."
"Innovate.
You bring the skills. We bring the ingredients.
Welcome to the Yahoo! Developer Network. We help software developers integrate their Web sites and applications with Yahoo! using standard technologies such as XML and RSS. Click on a link at left to learn more about our products and how we can help you.
New! Create Comparison Shopping Applications with the Shopping API
Using the Yahoo! Shopping API, developers can create applications and Web sites that search Yahoo's comparison shopping database, which contains millions of offers from thousands of merchants. View documentation online.
Posted: July 25, 2005
New! Plot Your Content on Y! Maps
Maps Open Publishing API allows you to create your own co-branded interactive maps. Use this API to specify your own content, or plug in any existing GeoRSS feed. Learn how.
Posted: June 29, 2005
Search The Web With Search Web Services
You can use Search Web Services to search the internet, including images, news, video and more. Learn more about Search Web Services or view the documentation online..."
Y!Q Beta:
"Y!Q Beta - Search in context
An entirely new way to search - using context to add relevance
* Users search 'at the point of inspiration,' from the page they are reading
* Add it to your site to give users convenient, related searches
* Quick, easy and free!"
"Y!Q Beta - Search in context
An entirely new way to search - using context to add relevance
* Users search 'at the point of inspiration,' from the page they are reading
* Add it to your site to give users convenient, related searches
* Quick, easy and free!"
Yahoo! Search blog: Our Blog is Growing Up – And So Has Our Index:
"It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a year since we launched the Yahoo! Search Blog. On this anniversary I thought this would be a good time to update you on some of what we’ve been up to at Yahoo! Search. If you are a regular reader then you’ve seen lots of posts over the past year highlighting what we’ve been working on:
* Vertical search – Local, Video, Audio, Creative Commons, Subscriptions as well as ongoing updates to Image Search
* Personal & social search – My Web and My Web 2.0
* Flickr
* Y!Q our contextual search technology
* Our award winning Yahoo! Desktop Search
* Open search APIs across all our verticals via the Yahoo! Developer Network
But you will notice we haven’t talked much about plain old Web search. You know, the one that gets used billions of times a month by people all over the world. We don’t blog about it as often as our other products, but since it is the foundation for everything we do it’s always top of mind. Since our first post on the search blog was about Yahoo! Search, I thought I would give you an update on what’s been happening.
As those of you who follow this blog know, I recently posted a weather report alerting you to material changes to our index. Since that post, we've seen some discussion from webmasters who have noticed more of their documents in our index. As it turns out we have grown our index and just reached a significant milestone at Yahoo! Search – our index now provides access to over 20 billion items. While we typically don't disclose size (since we've always said that size is only one dimension of the quality of a search engine), for those who are curious this update includes just over 19.2 billion web documents, 1.6 billion images, and over 50 million audio and video files. Note that as with all index updates we are still tuning things so you’ll continue to see some fluctuation in ranking over the next few weeks..."
"It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a year since we launched the Yahoo! Search Blog. On this anniversary I thought this would be a good time to update you on some of what we’ve been up to at Yahoo! Search. If you are a regular reader then you’ve seen lots of posts over the past year highlighting what we’ve been working on:
* Vertical search – Local, Video, Audio, Creative Commons, Subscriptions as well as ongoing updates to Image Search
* Personal & social search – My Web and My Web 2.0
* Flickr
* Y!Q our contextual search technology
* Our award winning Yahoo! Desktop Search
* Open search APIs across all our verticals via the Yahoo! Developer Network
But you will notice we haven’t talked much about plain old Web search. You know, the one that gets used billions of times a month by people all over the world. We don’t blog about it as often as our other products, but since it is the foundation for everything we do it’s always top of mind. Since our first post on the search blog was about Yahoo! Search, I thought I would give you an update on what’s been happening.
As those of you who follow this blog know, I recently posted a weather report alerting you to material changes to our index. Since that post, we've seen some discussion from webmasters who have noticed more of their documents in our index. As it turns out we have grown our index and just reached a significant milestone at Yahoo! Search – our index now provides access to over 20 billion items. While we typically don't disclose size (since we've always said that size is only one dimension of the quality of a search engine), for those who are curious this update includes just over 19.2 billion web documents, 1.6 billion images, and over 50 million audio and video files. Note that as with all index updates we are still tuning things so you’ll continue to see some fluctuation in ranking over the next few weeks..."
News from the Search Engine War - Softpedia:
"Google is still the leader
Tekrati, a research and analysis company, has published a new report about the competition between search engines.
Tekrati’s analysis is based on data recorded by the Hitwise service, which is monitoring 250 million Internet users. According to this data, the Google, Yahoo, MSN triumvirate is the leader of the online searches, 93.5% of the American queries being done on one of these engines.
Google still has the lion’s share, with almost 60% of the searches (59.2%, to be more precise), a 14% increase compared to last year.
Yahoo gets 28.8% of the searches, while MSN Search is far behind the first two places, with 5.5%.
Tekrati analysts say that
Google’s results are even more impressive, considering that the search engine doesn’t have a portal that brings visitors, as Yahoo Search and MSN Search do. According to Hitwise, 71% of Yahoo Search’s traffic is coming from Yahoo.com, while 61% of MSN’s visitors are also doing a little bit of MSN Search.
Yahoo is also the leader at local searches, Yahoo Local (local.yahoo.com) being 4.4 times more accessed than Google Local (local.google.com).
It’s interesting to watch the evolution of this data, following Yahoo’s announcement related to the number of indexed pages and the launching of the Yahoo Audio Search service."
"Google is still the leader
Tekrati, a research and analysis company, has published a new report about the competition between search engines.
Tekrati’s analysis is based on data recorded by the Hitwise service, which is monitoring 250 million Internet users. According to this data, the Google, Yahoo, MSN triumvirate is the leader of the online searches, 93.5% of the American queries being done on one of these engines.
Google still has the lion’s share, with almost 60% of the searches (59.2%, to be more precise), a 14% increase compared to last year.
Yahoo gets 28.8% of the searches, while MSN Search is far behind the first two places, with 5.5%.
Tekrati analysts say that
Google’s results are even more impressive, considering that the search engine doesn’t have a portal that brings visitors, as Yahoo Search and MSN Search do. According to Hitwise, 71% of Yahoo Search’s traffic is coming from Yahoo.com, while 61% of MSN’s visitors are also doing a little bit of MSN Search.
Yahoo is also the leader at local searches, Yahoo Local (local.yahoo.com) being 4.4 times more accessed than Google Local (local.google.com).
It’s interesting to watch the evolution of this data, following Yahoo’s announcement related to the number of indexed pages and the launching of the Yahoo Audio Search service."
InfoSpace's WebFetch.com first in Europe to add MSN Search:
"InfoSpace Search & Directory Sign Deal with MSN Search - With addition of MSN Search, WebFetch.com Users Can Efficiently Find More of The Web's Most Relevant Search Results in One Place
Publication Date: 8/11/2005 10:31:48 AM
InfoSpace Search & Directory http://www.infospaceinc.com, a leading Web search and online directory services provider, today announce that search results from MSN Search are now available on its metasearch engine WebFetch http://www.webfetch.com for Europe.
By becoming the first in Europe to combine results from the four leading search engines - MSN, Google, Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves - WebFetch.com gives consumers the most comprehensive view of the web and helps them efficiently retrieve the most relevant results.
Dominic Trigg, Vice President of Search & Directory at InfoSpace Europe explains, 'With continued explosive growth of online search, MSN Search is a terrific addition to our metasearch capability. As the only provider to have relationships with all four of the most popular algorithms, we are able to offer a search solution uniquely designed to provide end users with the most relevant results and support our partners' business agendas.'
Most people believe search results across all four engines are the same, when, in fact, the vast majority of the results from each engine are different. A new study conducted by InfoSpace's Dogpile.com in the US, in conjunction with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State University evaluated 12,570 random queries run on MSN Search, Google, Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves. It found only 1.1% of first page results were the same across all four engines. The full results of the study can be found at http://CompareSearchEngines.dogpile.com/whitepaper.
Trigg continues, 'InfoSpace's metasearch product allows its private-label partners to deliver a differentiated search experience that their customers can't find at any single engine. By bringing together the top results in one place, InfoSpace's partners are able to deliver top quality results under their own brand and generate superior monetization.'
InfoSpace has built a tool that allows consumers to compare the results of the leading engines for themselves. The new comparison search tool can be found at http://missingpieces.webfetch.com/
InfoSpace's Dogpile.com, which primarily caters for the US search market, added MSN last week."
"InfoSpace Search & Directory Sign Deal with MSN Search - With addition of MSN Search, WebFetch.com Users Can Efficiently Find More of The Web's Most Relevant Search Results in One Place
Publication Date: 8/11/2005 10:31:48 AM
InfoSpace Search & Directory http://www.infospaceinc.com, a leading Web search and online directory services provider, today announce that search results from MSN Search are now available on its metasearch engine WebFetch http://www.webfetch.com for Europe.
By becoming the first in Europe to combine results from the four leading search engines - MSN, Google, Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves - WebFetch.com gives consumers the most comprehensive view of the web and helps them efficiently retrieve the most relevant results.
Dominic Trigg, Vice President of Search & Directory at InfoSpace Europe explains, 'With continued explosive growth of online search, MSN Search is a terrific addition to our metasearch capability. As the only provider to have relationships with all four of the most popular algorithms, we are able to offer a search solution uniquely designed to provide end users with the most relevant results and support our partners' business agendas.'
Most people believe search results across all four engines are the same, when, in fact, the vast majority of the results from each engine are different. A new study conducted by InfoSpace's Dogpile.com in the US, in conjunction with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State University evaluated 12,570 random queries run on MSN Search, Google, Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves. It found only 1.1% of first page results were the same across all four engines. The full results of the study can be found at http://CompareSearchEngines.dogpile.com/whitepaper.
Trigg continues, 'InfoSpace's metasearch product allows its private-label partners to deliver a differentiated search experience that their customers can't find at any single engine. By bringing together the top results in one place, InfoSpace's partners are able to deliver top quality results under their own brand and generate superior monetization.'
InfoSpace has built a tool that allows consumers to compare the results of the leading engines for themselves. The new comparison search tool can be found at http://missingpieces.webfetch.com/
InfoSpace's Dogpile.com, which primarily caters for the US search market, added MSN last week."
BetaNews | MS: Google Docs in Lee's Recycle Bin:
"By Ed Oswald, BetaNews - August 11, 2005, 12:10 PM
Call it electronic dumpster diving. According to papers filed by Microsoft in a Washington court, the company recovered one of the documents in its case against Google and former executive Kai-Fu Lee from the 'Recycle Bin' of one of his computers.
The document apparently says that Google acknowledged possible legal troubles in hiring Lee. If accepted into the case as evidence, it could play a crucial role in proving that Google was fully aware of his contractual obligation to Microsoft, and that the search giant told him to break that contract. As with other matters involving the case with Microsoft, Google declined to comment."
"By Ed Oswald, BetaNews - August 11, 2005, 12:10 PM
Call it electronic dumpster diving. According to papers filed by Microsoft in a Washington court, the company recovered one of the documents in its case against Google and former executive Kai-Fu Lee from the 'Recycle Bin' of one of his computers.
The document apparently says that Google acknowledged possible legal troubles in hiring Lee. If accepted into the case as evidence, it could play a crucial role in proving that Google was fully aware of his contractual obligation to Microsoft, and that the search giant told him to break that contract. As with other matters involving the case with Microsoft, Google declined to comment."
Monday, August 15, 2005
The Doctor Is Clicking:
"Published: August 10, 2005
(After August 18, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Few make house calls any longer, but physicians are increasingly going online to find critical pharmaceutical information and updates.
Traditionally, getting in to see physicians and medical practitioners has been one of the toughest jobs in marketing. Pharmaceutical companies have devoted vast amounts of time and effort on 'detailing,' trying to get their drug sales pitches and information on a doctor's desk.
But the Internet may be changing the old model. Doctors are increasingly visiting pharma sites on their own. The Internet allows them to choose the time, and the information they wish to see.
According to a new report from from Manhattan Research, physicians are utilizing a wide range of online resources from pharmaceutical and biotech companies — and using the sites more frequently due to constant improvements in the breadth, depth and quality of the online offerings.
Tracking the usage habits and online destinations of primary care physicians, Manhattan Research determined the leading corporate pharmaceutical websites.
The survey also looked at usage at the product level.
'Fueled by the dramatic growth in physician reliance on the Internet for pharmaceutical information overall over the past four years, utilization of sites offered by pharmaceutical and biotech companies continues to surge among US physicians,' said Manhattan Research."
"Published: August 10, 2005
(After August 18, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Few make house calls any longer, but physicians are increasingly going online to find critical pharmaceutical information and updates.
Traditionally, getting in to see physicians and medical practitioners has been one of the toughest jobs in marketing. Pharmaceutical companies have devoted vast amounts of time and effort on 'detailing,' trying to get their drug sales pitches and information on a doctor's desk.
But the Internet may be changing the old model. Doctors are increasingly visiting pharma sites on their own. The Internet allows them to choose the time, and the information they wish to see.
According to a new report from from Manhattan Research, physicians are utilizing a wide range of online resources from pharmaceutical and biotech companies — and using the sites more frequently due to constant improvements in the breadth, depth and quality of the online offerings.
Tracking the usage habits and online destinations of primary care physicians, Manhattan Research determined the leading corporate pharmaceutical websites.
The survey also looked at usage at the product level.
'Fueled by the dramatic growth in physician reliance on the Internet for pharmaceutical information overall over the past four years, utilization of sites offered by pharmaceutical and biotech companies continues to surge among US physicians,' said Manhattan Research."
Feeding on RSS:
"Published: August 11, 2005
(After August 19, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
RSS feeds are used by a small but info-hungry segment of the online population, according to a new report from Forrester Research.
Only 2% of online adults and 5% of online teens in North America use RSS, according to Forrester. By comparison, a survey released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 5% of US Internet users ages 18 and over access RSS feeds (including those who receive RSS feeds by default).
In the Forrester survey, adult users fit the classic early-adopter profile. They are more likely to be male and college educated than the general population, and a bit younger as well. They also tend to have been online for a longer time, and currently use the Net more than the average adult. A higher percentage of RSS users have broadband and use wireless services.
It's clear from the online activities of RSS users that they have an appetite for information. Higher percentages of adult RSS users access national news Web sites, research products online and use shopping comparison sites than non-RSS users. RSS users are also much more likely to access blogs — about one-quarter of adult RSS users and one-third of teen/young adult RSS users publish or maintain blogs, compared to 1% of adult non-RSS users and 7% of teen/young adult non-RSS users.
A survey by Blogads found that the percentage of US blog readers who always or often read blogs via RSS is only 11.6%.
There are also quite a few RSS users who are not aware they are RSS users, such as those who receive RSS feeds through MyYahoo! by default. Forrester excluded these people from its results, but they comprise a decent chunk of RSS users. In fact, according to a survey released by FeedBurner, MyYahoo! accounts for 59.02% of the feeds received through FeedBurner RSS readers. However, that percentage drops down to 6.68% when default feeds are removed. This indicates that many people may be using RSS already without realizing it, and should allow an easy transition for RSS into a more mainstream technology."
"Published: August 11, 2005
(After August 19, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
RSS feeds are used by a small but info-hungry segment of the online population, according to a new report from Forrester Research.
Only 2% of online adults and 5% of online teens in North America use RSS, according to Forrester. By comparison, a survey released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 5% of US Internet users ages 18 and over access RSS feeds (including those who receive RSS feeds by default).
In the Forrester survey, adult users fit the classic early-adopter profile. They are more likely to be male and college educated than the general population, and a bit younger as well. They also tend to have been online for a longer time, and currently use the Net more than the average adult. A higher percentage of RSS users have broadband and use wireless services.
It's clear from the online activities of RSS users that they have an appetite for information. Higher percentages of adult RSS users access national news Web sites, research products online and use shopping comparison sites than non-RSS users. RSS users are also much more likely to access blogs — about one-quarter of adult RSS users and one-third of teen/young adult RSS users publish or maintain blogs, compared to 1% of adult non-RSS users and 7% of teen/young adult non-RSS users.
A survey by Blogads found that the percentage of US blog readers who always or often read blogs via RSS is only 11.6%.
There are also quite a few RSS users who are not aware they are RSS users, such as those who receive RSS feeds through MyYahoo! by default. Forrester excluded these people from its results, but they comprise a decent chunk of RSS users. In fact, according to a survey released by FeedBurner, MyYahoo! accounts for 59.02% of the feeds received through FeedBurner RSS readers. However, that percentage drops down to 6.68% when default feeds are removed. This indicates that many people may be using RSS already without realizing it, and should allow an easy transition for RSS into a more mainstream technology."
Jupiter Projects Ad Growth:
"Published: August 12, 2005
(After August 20, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Online ad revenues will more than double from 2004 levels, spurred by the growth of search advertising, according to a new report by JupiterResearch.
'There is phenomenal momentum behind search engine advertising,' said JupiterResearch senior analyst Gary Stein. 'The number of advertisers using search to market products continues to grow, as does the overall efficiency of the market.'
As important as search engine marketing is, it is only one element driving overall growing online advertising market. Jupiter expects classified advertising to double between 2004 and 2010, and display advertising to increase 75% over the same period.
The new Jupiter numbers are considerably less bullish than Marketer's latest projections for the online advertising market. eMarketer projects that that online ad revenues will reach $22.3 billion in 2009.
'The difference is that we don't see the yearly growth rate slowing and dropping into single digits, as Jupiter does,' said eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman. 'In fact, we predict that the online advertising growth rate will continue in the low teens through the end of the decade.'"
"Published: August 12, 2005
(After August 20, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Online ad revenues will more than double from 2004 levels, spurred by the growth of search advertising, according to a new report by JupiterResearch.
'There is phenomenal momentum behind search engine advertising,' said JupiterResearch senior analyst Gary Stein. 'The number of advertisers using search to market products continues to grow, as does the overall efficiency of the market.'
As important as search engine marketing is, it is only one element driving overall growing online advertising market. Jupiter expects classified advertising to double between 2004 and 2010, and display advertising to increase 75% over the same period.
The new Jupiter numbers are considerably less bullish than Marketer's latest projections for the online advertising market. eMarketer projects that that online ad revenues will reach $22.3 billion in 2009.
'The difference is that we don't see the yearly growth rate slowing and dropping into single digits, as Jupiter does,' said eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman. 'In fact, we predict that the online advertising growth rate will continue in the low teens through the end of the decade.'"
Information Economy:
"Published: August 15, 2005
(After August 23, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
As of October 2003, 77 million people used a computer at work, accounting for 55.5% of America's total workforce, according to new statistics released by the US Department of Labor.
The workforce data provide new evidence that the Information Age has become a fact, transforming the way workers do their jobs and the way business is conducted.
Women were found to be more likely than men to use a computer. Computer-use rates for women and men were 61.8% and 49.9%, respectively.
The higher level of computer use among women reflects their occupational categories. For instance, two categories — 'management and professional' and 'sales and office' — account for nearly three-fourths of employed women. The computer-use rate for women in these two occupations combined was 74.8%.
In contrast, nearly two-fifths of men are employed in two general categories — 'natural resources, construction, and maintenance' and 'production, transportation, and material moving' — in which combined computer-use rates is only 26%.
The study found that approximately two of every five US workers are online on the job. In fact, the most commonly reported task for the 77 million workers who used a computer at work was accessing the Internet or using e-mail.
As with computer use, women were more likely than men to work online. The Internet-use rate for women was 45.1%, compared with 38.7% for men.
Other findings from the report include:
* Asians were more likely than other groups to use a computer and the Internet at work.
* The likelihood of computer and Internet use at work is greater for workers with more education.
* Slightly more than 1 in every 10 individuals in the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over reported that they had used the Internet between January and October 2003 to search for a job."
"Published: August 15, 2005
(After August 23, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
As of October 2003, 77 million people used a computer at work, accounting for 55.5% of America's total workforce, according to new statistics released by the US Department of Labor.
The workforce data provide new evidence that the Information Age has become a fact, transforming the way workers do their jobs and the way business is conducted.
Women were found to be more likely than men to use a computer. Computer-use rates for women and men were 61.8% and 49.9%, respectively.
The higher level of computer use among women reflects their occupational categories. For instance, two categories — 'management and professional' and 'sales and office' — account for nearly three-fourths of employed women. The computer-use rate for women in these two occupations combined was 74.8%.
In contrast, nearly two-fifths of men are employed in two general categories — 'natural resources, construction, and maintenance' and 'production, transportation, and material moving' — in which combined computer-use rates is only 26%.
The study found that approximately two of every five US workers are online on the job. In fact, the most commonly reported task for the 77 million workers who used a computer at work was accessing the Internet or using e-mail.
As with computer use, women were more likely than men to work online. The Internet-use rate for women was 45.1%, compared with 38.7% for men.
Other findings from the report include:
* Asians were more likely than other groups to use a computer and the Internet at work.
* The likelihood of computer and Internet use at work is greater for workers with more education.
* Slightly more than 1 in every 10 individuals in the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over reported that they had used the Internet between January and October 2003 to search for a job."
Monday, August 08, 2005
PC Rules!:
"Published: August 05, 2005
(After August 13, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
The personal computer is rapidly replacing other consumer electronics appliances as the primary at-home communications and entertainment device.
According to a BURST! Media survey of 13,000 Web users aged 14 and up, the old devices may soon become obsolete. Entertainment that used to be accessed on a number of separate appliances is increasingly being played on the computer.
In fact, two out of five (39.1%) users under 24 say the Internet is the primary way they listen to music — and another 9.3% say it will be in the future. One-third (31.2%) say the Internet is the primary way they play games, with 11.6% saying it will be in the future.
And younger users are more likely than all other age segments to use the Internet to play music and games.
They use the Internet more to watch movies and other video programming, too.
'Computers are displacing many household entertainment appliances. Along with VoIP and streaming video, this is just the beginning of a centralization of most communication and entertainment functions in the home into a single appliance,' says Chuck Moran of BURST! Media.
Beyond entertainment, the IPC is also becoming an increasingly important source of information. Four out of five (80.0%) respondents say they use the Internet to find information that will help them at home — such as health news and recipes. Fully, 45.9% say the Internet is the primary way they gather information at home — and another 13.9% believe it will be in the future.
The survey found that nearly one-half (47.3%) of respondents use the Internet to gather local, national or international news, and men are more likely than women (50.3% v. 44.3%) to use the Internet as a news gathering resource.
Finding significant differences in the responses of respondents who connect to the Internet through a broadband connection versus those who use a standard dial-up connection, the survey reported that broadband users are more likely than dial-up users to listen to music online (58.7% v. 40.2%), to play Internet games (53.4% v. 43.9%) and to watch movies and other video programs (31.7% v. 17.1%) on the Internet.
For more information on the impact broadband is having on consumers everywhere, consult one or all of eMarketer's five new broadband reports: Latin America Broadband, Asia/Pacific Broadband, Europe Broadband, North America Broadband and Broadband Usage & Demographics."
"Published: August 05, 2005
(After August 13, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
The personal computer is rapidly replacing other consumer electronics appliances as the primary at-home communications and entertainment device.
According to a BURST! Media survey of 13,000 Web users aged 14 and up, the old devices may soon become obsolete. Entertainment that used to be accessed on a number of separate appliances is increasingly being played on the computer.
In fact, two out of five (39.1%) users under 24 say the Internet is the primary way they listen to music — and another 9.3% say it will be in the future. One-third (31.2%) say the Internet is the primary way they play games, with 11.6% saying it will be in the future.
And younger users are more likely than all other age segments to use the Internet to play music and games.
They use the Internet more to watch movies and other video programming, too.
'Computers are displacing many household entertainment appliances. Along with VoIP and streaming video, this is just the beginning of a centralization of most communication and entertainment functions in the home into a single appliance,' says Chuck Moran of BURST! Media.
Beyond entertainment, the IPC is also becoming an increasingly important source of information. Four out of five (80.0%) respondents say they use the Internet to find information that will help them at home — such as health news and recipes. Fully, 45.9% say the Internet is the primary way they gather information at home — and another 13.9% believe it will be in the future.
The survey found that nearly one-half (47.3%) of respondents use the Internet to gather local, national or international news, and men are more likely than women (50.3% v. 44.3%) to use the Internet as a news gathering resource.
Finding significant differences in the responses of respondents who connect to the Internet through a broadband connection versus those who use a standard dial-up connection, the survey reported that broadband users are more likely than dial-up users to listen to music online (58.7% v. 40.2%), to play Internet games (53.4% v. 43.9%) and to watch movies and other video programs (31.7% v. 17.1%) on the Internet.
For more information on the impact broadband is having on consumers everywhere, consult one or all of eMarketer's five new broadband reports: Latin America Broadband, Asia/Pacific Broadband, Europe Broadband, North America Broadband and Broadband Usage & Demographics."
Wired News: You Say You Want a Web Revolution:
"By Ryan Singel | 02:00 AM Aug. 05, 2005 PT
The Netscape threat that led Microsoft to wage the browser war and cross swords with antitrust regulators around the world is -- at long last -- poised to become reality.
Software experts say recent innovations in web design are ushering in a new era for internet-based software applications, some of the best of which already rival desktop applications in power and efficiency. That’s giving software developers a wide open platform for creating new programs that have no relation to the underlying operating system that runs a PC..."
"By Ryan Singel | 02:00 AM Aug. 05, 2005 PT
The Netscape threat that led Microsoft to wage the browser war and cross swords with antitrust regulators around the world is -- at long last -- poised to become reality.
Software experts say recent innovations in web design are ushering in a new era for internet-based software applications, some of the best of which already rival desktop applications in power and efficiency. That’s giving software developers a wide open platform for creating new programs that have no relation to the underlying operating system that runs a PC..."
The Expanding Blogosphere:
"Published: August 08, 2005
(After August 16, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
With a new blog being created every second, the blogosphere has doubled in size in just the last five months, according to a new report from Technorati.
In its 'State of the Blogosphere' report, Technorati tabulates 14.2 million weblogs, with over 1.3 billion links. This is just about double the number of blogs Technorati was tracking five months ago.
And a new blog is being added to the list at the rate of one every second, which translates into roughly 80,000 new weblogs every day.
Technorati reports that 55% of all blogs are active — updated within the last 3 months. In addition, 13% of all weblogs (currently 1.8 million blogs) are updated at least weekly.
Roughly 25% of Internet users have read a blog, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Meanwhile, Pew reports that some 9% of Internet users say they have created a blog.
Technorati says the average rate of postings has grown steadily and by the end of July 2005 there were about 900,000 posts created each day. That's some 37,500 posts every hour, or 10.4 posts per second.
Technorati founder Dave Sifry reports that blog posting is becoming more sophisticated. Nearly one-third of all posts are 'tagged' by topic, long a practice of electronic publishers as a way to organize huge amounts of information in a taxonomy. Tagging by individuals without a universal categorization system creates a 'folksonomy,' a new way to find relevant posts and blogs by theme.
'With the right tag search and navigation, folksonomy may outperform more structured approaches to classification,' Sifry says.
For a look at the ramifications of blogging for businesses, read eMarketer's The Business of Blogging."
"Published: August 08, 2005
(After August 16, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
With a new blog being created every second, the blogosphere has doubled in size in just the last five months, according to a new report from Technorati.
In its 'State of the Blogosphere' report, Technorati tabulates 14.2 million weblogs, with over 1.3 billion links. This is just about double the number of blogs Technorati was tracking five months ago.
And a new blog is being added to the list at the rate of one every second, which translates into roughly 80,000 new weblogs every day.
Technorati reports that 55% of all blogs are active — updated within the last 3 months. In addition, 13% of all weblogs (currently 1.8 million blogs) are updated at least weekly.
Roughly 25% of Internet users have read a blog, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Meanwhile, Pew reports that some 9% of Internet users say they have created a blog.
Technorati says the average rate of postings has grown steadily and by the end of July 2005 there were about 900,000 posts created each day. That's some 37,500 posts every hour, or 10.4 posts per second.
Technorati founder Dave Sifry reports that blog posting is becoming more sophisticated. Nearly one-third of all posts are 'tagged' by topic, long a practice of electronic publishers as a way to organize huge amounts of information in a taxonomy. Tagging by individuals without a universal categorization system creates a 'folksonomy,' a new way to find relevant posts and blogs by theme.
'With the right tag search and navigation, folksonomy may outperform more structured approaches to classification,' Sifry says.
For a look at the ramifications of blogging for businesses, read eMarketer's The Business of Blogging."
Thursday, August 04, 2005
InformationWeek > Yahoo > Yahoo Buys Maker of 'Widget' Applications > July 25, 2005:
"Konfabulator makes tiny applications, called 'widgets,' for monitoring the weather, stock prices and other customized information without opening a Web browser.
By Michael Liedtke, The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Hoping to pave a new path to its popular Web site, Yahoo Inc. has acquired Konfabulator, a tiny software maker that provides a computer platform for monitoring the weather, stock prices and a wealth of other customized information without opening a Web browser.
The deal, finalized late last week for an undisclosed price, gives Yahoo access to a toolbox of mini-applications - known as widgets - that have built a cult following since Palo Alto-based Konfabulator first introduced them for Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh in 2002..."
"Konfabulator makes tiny applications, called 'widgets,' for monitoring the weather, stock prices and other customized information without opening a Web browser.
By Michael Liedtke, The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Hoping to pave a new path to its popular Web site, Yahoo Inc. has acquired Konfabulator, a tiny software maker that provides a computer platform for monitoring the weather, stock prices and a wealth of other customized information without opening a Web browser.
The deal, finalized late last week for an undisclosed price, gives Yahoo access to a toolbox of mini-applications - known as widgets - that have built a cult following since Palo Alto-based Konfabulator first introduced them for Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh in 2002..."
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Competition for AdSense: Yahoo Publisher Network Now Available to Small Publishers:
"The rumors are true, Yahoo has just announced that they're extending the Yahoo Publisher Network for use by small- and medium-sized publishers.
Initially available in the U.S. through an invitation-only beta, the Yahoo Publisher Network self-serve platform will allow webmasters to sign up online for Yahoo advertising products...
The first advertising product Yahoo will be offering through the beta is its Content Match(tm) contextual listings. Content Match enables publishers to place Yahoo's contextually-relevant listings on their sites and receive a share of the revenue generated by them.
Yahoo plans to offer additional features in the near future to enable publishers to enhance their visitor experience including 'Save to My Web' and Web search.
After completing the initial beta period, Yahoo aims to expand its self-serve beta program before the end of the year."
"The rumors are true, Yahoo has just announced that they're extending the Yahoo Publisher Network for use by small- and medium-sized publishers.
Initially available in the U.S. through an invitation-only beta, the Yahoo Publisher Network self-serve platform will allow webmasters to sign up online for Yahoo advertising products...
The first advertising product Yahoo will be offering through the beta is its Content Match(tm) contextual listings. Content Match enables publishers to place Yahoo's contextually-relevant listings on their sites and receive a share of the revenue generated by them.
Yahoo plans to offer additional features in the near future to enable publishers to enhance their visitor experience including 'Save to My Web' and Web search.
After completing the initial beta period, Yahoo aims to expand its self-serve beta program before the end of the year."
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Yahoo! Search blog: Interestingness and Clustering:
"Over on the FlickrBlog, I just posted about some cool new features which help you surf through the giant waves of photos that are getting uploaded to Flickr: 'interestingness', a way of discovering what Flickr users are paying attention to -- and therefore, because our users have such good taste, what's good :) -- and 'clustering' a way of delving deeper into tags you're interested in. It's easier to show than to tell, so here are some examples: love, terror, nose, bush, cameraphone.
Both interestingness and clustering rely a lot on what people are doing, whether it's with the photos they like, or the tags they are using. You can think about it as people-powered searching. Check it out on Flickr's new explore page (or read more on the Flickr blog).
Stewart Butterfield"
"Over on the FlickrBlog, I just posted about some cool new features which help you surf through the giant waves of photos that are getting uploaded to Flickr: 'interestingness', a way of discovering what Flickr users are paying attention to -- and therefore, because our users have such good taste, what's good :) -- and 'clustering' a way of delving deeper into tags you're interested in. It's easier to show than to tell, so here are some examples: love, terror, nose, bush, cameraphone.
Both interestingness and clustering rely a lot on what people are doing, whether it's with the photos they like, or the tags they are using. You can think about it as people-powered searching. Check it out on Flickr's new explore page (or read more on the Flickr blog).
Stewart Butterfield"
ASIS&T Bulletin June/July 2005: Steve Sawyer:
"Social Informatics: Overview, Principles and Opportunities
by Steve Sawyer
Social informatics is the term that I and others use to represent the trans-disciplinary study of the design, deployment and uses of information and communication technologies (ICT) that account for their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts, including organizations and society. This research is done by scholars in fields such as library and information science, information technology, education, communications, organizational studies, sociology, information systems and computer science. Those pursuing social informatics engage a diverse set of topics and employ a variety of approaches.
Social informatics has been characterized by many names including the social analysis of computing, human-centered computing, social studies of information technology and the sociology of computing. No matter the label, social informatics provides insights on computing that alternative approaches do not. For example, the rapid growth of socialware networking applications such as Friendster and Linkedin cannot be understood solely as computational artifacts, mediated communication tools, useful and useable interfaces or as electronic exchange markets. Rather, the variations in engaging and using these socialware networking applications reflect a complex interaction of technological and social factors, including social communication norms, group communication expectations, perceived cost and value of communication and the presence or absence of other communication tools. This more complex, situated, multi-level, multi-effect and socio-technical perspective is the added value of social informatics..."
"Social Informatics: Overview, Principles and Opportunities
by Steve Sawyer
Social informatics is the term that I and others use to represent the trans-disciplinary study of the design, deployment and uses of information and communication technologies (ICT) that account for their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts, including organizations and society. This research is done by scholars in fields such as library and information science, information technology, education, communications, organizational studies, sociology, information systems and computer science. Those pursuing social informatics engage a diverse set of topics and employ a variety of approaches.
Social informatics has been characterized by many names including the social analysis of computing, human-centered computing, social studies of information technology and the sociology of computing. No matter the label, social informatics provides insights on computing that alternative approaches do not. For example, the rapid growth of socialware networking applications such as Friendster and Linkedin cannot be understood solely as computational artifacts, mediated communication tools, useful and useable interfaces or as electronic exchange markets. Rather, the variations in engaging and using these socialware networking applications reflect a complex interaction of technological and social factors, including social communication norms, group communication expectations, perceived cost and value of communication and the presence or absence of other communication tools. This more complex, situated, multi-level, multi-effect and socio-technical perspective is the added value of social informatics..."
A Brain Trust in Bangalore:
"Sarnoff and other big tech names are setting up research operations in India -- and not just because of the cheap labor...
...'HIGHEST EXPECTATIONS.' Sarnoff is one of many Western tech research outfits that have turned to India for its combination of low labor costs, big brains, and English speakers the likes of which are available nowhere else in the world. Notables including Microsoft (MSFT ), Google (GOOG ), and IBM (IBM ) face plenty of challenges, but they're convinced that their investments in Indian research will pay off handsomely in the end..."
"Sarnoff and other big tech names are setting up research operations in India -- and not just because of the cheap labor...
...'HIGHEST EXPECTATIONS.' Sarnoff is one of many Western tech research outfits that have turned to India for its combination of low labor costs, big brains, and English speakers the likes of which are available nowhere else in the world. Notables including Microsoft (MSFT ), Google (GOOG ), and IBM (IBM ) face plenty of challenges, but they're convinced that their investments in Indian research will pay off handsomely in the end..."
Monday, August 01, 2005
Google urges developers to embrace browsers' bleeding edge - Builder UK:
"The lead engineer for Google maps has urged fellow Web developers to abandon the lowest-common denominator approach to Web application design
The only way to transform the Web into the desktop platform of the future is to fully embrace bleeding edge features in browser software.
This advice came from the lead engineer of the Google Maps project, Lars Rasmussen.
Speaking at a conference on Web engineering in Sydney, Rasmussen said Maps' use of the XSL standard and Microsoft's VML as examples of useful technologies seldom used by Web developers. Both are only supported by certain browsers.
If a Web application takes advantage of the best technologies a user's browser can offer, then 'each individual gets the sexiest experience in their browser', he said.
'Go beyond browsers' lowest common denominator,' he advised developers..."
"The lead engineer for Google maps has urged fellow Web developers to abandon the lowest-common denominator approach to Web application design
The only way to transform the Web into the desktop platform of the future is to fully embrace bleeding edge features in browser software.
This advice came from the lead engineer of the Google Maps project, Lars Rasmussen.
Speaking at a conference on Web engineering in Sydney, Rasmussen said Maps' use of the XSL standard and Microsoft's VML as examples of useful technologies seldom used by Web developers. Both are only supported by certain browsers.
If a Web application takes advantage of the best technologies a user's browser can offer, then 'each individual gets the sexiest experience in their browser', he said.
'Go beyond browsers' lowest common denominator,' he advised developers..."
