Friday, September 30, 2005
Yahoo! is testing cell phone search ads:
"Yahoo! Inc. is testing ways to show advertisements with Internet search results on mobile phones in Japan and Britain.
Yahoo! is adding text ads that appear when people use its search engine from their handsets in Japan, and the company is auctioning off spots on its mobile travel Web site in Britain, Senior Vice President Doug Garland said.
The trials mark Yahoo!'s first experiments with search advertising on phones and may provide an avenue to sell more ads to companies seeking to reach younger consumers..."
"Yahoo! Inc. is testing ways to show advertisements with Internet search results on mobile phones in Japan and Britain.
Yahoo! is adding text ads that appear when people use its search engine from their handsets in Japan, and the company is auctioning off spots on its mobile travel Web site in Britain, Senior Vice President Doug Garland said.
The trials mark Yahoo!'s first experiments with search advertising on phones and may provide an avenue to sell more ads to companies seeking to reach younger consumers..."
Thursday, September 29, 2005
NewsForge | KDE 4 promises radical changes to the free desktop:
"...One prominent effort in Appeal is Tenor, a "contextual linkage engine." Tenor will gather contextual data -- such as the metadata stored in MP3s, the contents of text files, and relationships between a file and the application that created it -- and present it to applications via another KDE framework. This will allow applications to provide more useful ways of searching files for users. For example, using Tenor an application could bring up a list of "all the images I downloaded from the Web in the past week."
The most obvious application of Tenor would be desktop search, giving KDE an analog to GNOME's brilliant search tool Beagle. But the Tenor project's chief architect, Scott Wheeler, wants to go further, asking, "how can we make it easier to work with the data we accumulate on the desktop?" So rather than just making it easier for users to search for documents, Tenor will provide application developers with data that can transform their interfaces. For example, the KDE Control Center, which currently organizes the configuration modules into a confusing hierarchy, may provide a search interface with results that show related items and learn from usage patterns.
The way Tenor is being developed makes it hard to predict how it will appear to users when KDE 4 comes out. Wheeler has no plans to make any applications that use it, opting instead to provide other developers with a framework that they can use as they see fit. Once the developers come to grips with Tenor, it is likely we will see innovation across the desktop, as searchable, navigable webs of information replace traditional hierarchical structures..."
"...One prominent effort in Appeal is Tenor, a "contextual linkage engine." Tenor will gather contextual data -- such as the metadata stored in MP3s, the contents of text files, and relationships between a file and the application that created it -- and present it to applications via another KDE framework. This will allow applications to provide more useful ways of searching files for users. For example, using Tenor an application could bring up a list of "all the images I downloaded from the Web in the past week."
The most obvious application of Tenor would be desktop search, giving KDE an analog to GNOME's brilliant search tool Beagle. But the Tenor project's chief architect, Scott Wheeler, wants to go further, asking, "how can we make it easier to work with the data we accumulate on the desktop?" So rather than just making it easier for users to search for documents, Tenor will provide application developers with data that can transform their interfaces. For example, the KDE Control Center, which currently organizes the configuration modules into a confusing hierarchy, may provide a search interface with results that show related items and learn from usage patterns.
The way Tenor is being developed makes it hard to predict how it will appear to users when KDE 4 comes out. Wheeler has no plans to make any applications that use it, opting instead to provide other developers with a framework that they can use as they see fit. Once the developers come to grips with Tenor, it is likely we will see innovation across the desktop, as searchable, navigable webs of information replace traditional hierarchical structures..."
ACM News Service:
"'When Technology Wastes Time'
TechNewsWorld (09/27/05); Lyman, Jay
American companies lose $588 billion per year because of unnecessary distractions caused primarily by technology tools such as email and instant messaging, according to a new Basex report. The IT analysis firm estimates that 28 billion man-hours are lost annually to interruptions from spam, the Web, and phone calls, but Basex CEO Jonathan Spira says knowledge workers' behavior plays a critical role. He notes that "there has been a very poor job educating the business world about managing knowledge workers." Analyst Maurene Caplan Grey reports a growing number of professional services dedicated to boosting efficiency and productivity by eliminating interruptions. She points out the importance of understanding that companies' sole concern is increased productivity and profitability. Basex suggests companies should train knowledge workers to assign preeminence to immediate tasks, and give them the prudence to disassociate themselves from technology or shut off technology to do their jobs. "The most important thing to understand is that the misuse of technology that has the potential to make us more efficient can be very costly, but we can do something to fix it, and we can end up more efficient in the end," says Spira.
Click Here to View Full Article "
"'When Technology Wastes Time'
TechNewsWorld (09/27/05); Lyman, Jay
American companies lose $588 billion per year because of unnecessary distractions caused primarily by technology tools such as email and instant messaging, according to a new Basex report. The IT analysis firm estimates that 28 billion man-hours are lost annually to interruptions from spam, the Web, and phone calls, but Basex CEO Jonathan Spira says knowledge workers' behavior plays a critical role. He notes that "there has been a very poor job educating the business world about managing knowledge workers." Analyst Maurene Caplan Grey reports a growing number of professional services dedicated to boosting efficiency and productivity by eliminating interruptions. She points out the importance of understanding that companies' sole concern is increased productivity and profitability. Basex suggests companies should train knowledge workers to assign preeminence to immediate tasks, and give them the prudence to disassociate themselves from technology or shut off technology to do their jobs. "The most important thing to understand is that the misuse of technology that has the potential to make us more efficient can be very costly, but we can do something to fix it, and we can end up more efficient in the end," says Spira.
Click Here to View Full Article "
ACM News Service:
" "Death to Folders!"
Economist Technology Quarterly (09/05) Vol. 376, No. 8444, P. 30
The graphical user interface has begun to show its limitations as the vehicle for desktop navigation: Under the current file and folder system, content must be placed in a given location, and users must adhere to the filing system they created in order to effectively retrieve information from their desktop; disparate software further complicates the picture, as it is not uncommon to have information on the same personal contact stored in an email program, a calendar, and the computer's file system. However, Web search techniques could shed important light on a new method of desktop navigation. The exponential growth of the number of files on an average user's desktop is due largely to the greater storage capacities available for lower prices, but the search methods to navigate all that information have only recently received attention from Apple, Microsoft, and Google. To create a database of files on a computer is relatively simple, though in order to function effectively, it must be continuously updated to alter the indexes to any changes in a file. In its release of Mac OS X 10.4, Apple included Spotlight, a feature that queues up files for re-indexing as soon as they are altered, but waits to perform the actual indexing until the computer is idle so as not to compromise performance. Microsoft is not far behind with its WinFS system to be released in 2007; with the ability to see inside a file, rather than just search by its name, these new systems promise to render obsolete traditional file and folder systems. Though not every type of file contains information distinctive enough to offer insight into its content, the next generation of file management will rely heavily on user-issued tags that will inform more comprehensive and relevant searches.
Click Here to View Full Article "
" "Death to Folders!"
Economist Technology Quarterly (09/05) Vol. 376, No. 8444, P. 30
The graphical user interface has begun to show its limitations as the vehicle for desktop navigation: Under the current file and folder system, content must be placed in a given location, and users must adhere to the filing system they created in order to effectively retrieve information from their desktop; disparate software further complicates the picture, as it is not uncommon to have information on the same personal contact stored in an email program, a calendar, and the computer's file system. However, Web search techniques could shed important light on a new method of desktop navigation. The exponential growth of the number of files on an average user's desktop is due largely to the greater storage capacities available for lower prices, but the search methods to navigate all that information have only recently received attention from Apple, Microsoft, and Google. To create a database of files on a computer is relatively simple, though in order to function effectively, it must be continuously updated to alter the indexes to any changes in a file. In its release of Mac OS X 10.4, Apple included Spotlight, a feature that queues up files for re-indexing as soon as they are altered, but waits to perform the actual indexing until the computer is idle so as not to compromise performance. Microsoft is not far behind with its WinFS system to be released in 2007; with the ability to see inside a file, rather than just search by its name, these new systems promise to render obsolete traditional file and folder systems. Though not every type of file contains information distinctive enough to offer insight into its content, the next generation of file management will rely heavily on user-issued tags that will inform more comprehensive and relevant searches.
Click Here to View Full Article "
Media companies, telecom rapidly converging | InfoWorld | News | 2005-09-29 | By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service:
"By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service - September 29, 2005
The growth of broadband networks is providing an anchor for a frenzy of activity between telecommunications and media companies trying to find ways to deliver personalized media content, Internet access, and phone service to consumers, industry experts said Thursday..
...Sun is preparing for the day when every consumer item will be connected to a network, said Caroline Ward, U.K. and Ireland business manager for telco and media with Sun. The company is positioning itself as a content management player over an Internet multimedia subsystem of IP (Internet Protocol) networks, said Darrell Jordan-Smith, a vice president for global telco industries for Sun.
"The whole market is changing," Jordan-Smith said. "The way you meet your customers is changing. How you get content to them is actually changing."
Sun has created a new business unit that combines media and entertainment, Internet and telecom, he said. That unit also works with network equipment manufacturers, system integrators and device manufacturers, all of whom are dealing with friction in the market, Jordan-Smith said..."
"By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service - September 29, 2005
The growth of broadband networks is providing an anchor for a frenzy of activity between telecommunications and media companies trying to find ways to deliver personalized media content, Internet access, and phone service to consumers, industry experts said Thursday..
...Sun is preparing for the day when every consumer item will be connected to a network, said Caroline Ward, U.K. and Ireland business manager for telco and media with Sun. The company is positioning itself as a content management player over an Internet multimedia subsystem of IP (Internet Protocol) networks, said Darrell Jordan-Smith, a vice president for global telco industries for Sun.
"The whole market is changing," Jordan-Smith said. "The way you meet your customers is changing. How you get content to them is actually changing."
Sun has created a new business unit that combines media and entertainment, Internet and telecom, he said. That unit also works with network equipment manufacturers, system integrators and device manufacturers, all of whom are dealing with friction in the market, Jordan-Smith said..."
ResearchBuzz: See Where Blogs/Feeds Are in Meatspace:
"Wondering if there are any blogs/RSS feeds in your neighborhood? You can find out with gFeedMap, which puts FeedMap'd blogs onto Google Maps. It's at http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~kkalu/gfeedmap/browse.php and is affiliated with neither Google nor FeedMap.
FeedMap, at http://www.feedmap.net/BlogMap/ , lets you geocode your 'blog and generate a little badge-sized map that indicates where you are. gFeedMap takes that geocode information and allows you to browse for location by searching city and state. Searching New York, NY generated a map with dozens of tags. Mousing over them gives information about that blog -- unfortunately sometimes the tags get in the way. Clicking on the tag takes you right to the 'blog.
If you're already on FeedMap you can get your own map. Just choose BlogMap from the menu on the left. "
"Wondering if there are any blogs/RSS feeds in your neighborhood? You can find out with gFeedMap, which puts FeedMap'd blogs onto Google Maps. It's at http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~kkalu/gfeedmap/browse.php and is affiliated with neither Google nor FeedMap.
FeedMap, at http://www.feedmap.net/BlogMap/ , lets you geocode your 'blog and generate a little badge-sized map that indicates where you are. gFeedMap takes that geocode information and allows you to browse for location by searching city and state. Searching New York, NY generated a map with dozens of tags. Mousing over them gives information about that blog -- unfortunately sometimes the tags get in the way. Clicking on the tag takes you right to the 'blog.
If you're already on FeedMap you can get your own map. Just choose BlogMap from the menu on the left. "
Japan Today - News - Yahoo begins updating online map based on user tips - Japan's Leading International News Network:
"TOKYO — Yahoo Japan Corp, the nation's largest Internet portal site operator, and Nagoya-based Alps Mapping KK, on Wednesday launched a pilot service that asks users to submit information on their neighborhoods to update an Internet map service they operate. The service, the first of its kind in Japan, is available in its current form through the popular Yahoo! Japan Maps website.
To submit local information, users first have to access the website and select a particular area, and then send in-depth information only locals would know, such as "a convenience store has opened" or "the name of the building has changed." Based on those submissions, Alps employees will visit the area to verify information before they update the map, which will be done once a month."
"TOKYO — Yahoo Japan Corp, the nation's largest Internet portal site operator, and Nagoya-based Alps Mapping KK, on Wednesday launched a pilot service that asks users to submit information on their neighborhoods to update an Internet map service they operate. The service, the first of its kind in Japan, is available in its current form through the popular Yahoo! Japan Maps website.
To submit local information, users first have to access the website and select a particular area, and then send in-depth information only locals would know, such as "a convenience store has opened" or "the name of the building has changed." Based on those submissions, Alps employees will visit the area to verify information before they update the map, which will be done once a month."
Roll Your Own Search Engine With Rollyo (Beta):
"For the past few weeks I've had the chance to test out and create several focused and targeted search engines (based URLS I specified) with Rollyo, a new search tool released to the public today in an early beta by Dave Pell of Davenetics fame. As John notes, the public beta just went up, so fair game to talk about it! I think it's an exciting idea and one that you'll want to check out for yourself.
What is Rollyo?
In a nutshell, Rollyo allows the user to take up to 25 urls and create a search tool (what Rollyo calls a Searchroll), that search ONLY these domains. The database your pulling sites and content from is powered by Yahoo. Of course, you can edit and modify your Searchroll at any time.
Sure, you could head to Yahoo, Google, Gigablast, Ask, MSN and others and as an advanced searcher string together long query strings limiting your search with the site: command. However, most people AREN'T advanced searchers and even those who are might not have the time to create such a query..."
"For the past few weeks I've had the chance to test out and create several focused and targeted search engines (based URLS I specified) with Rollyo, a new search tool released to the public today in an early beta by Dave Pell of Davenetics fame. As John notes, the public beta just went up, so fair game to talk about it! I think it's an exciting idea and one that you'll want to check out for yourself.
What is Rollyo?
In a nutshell, Rollyo allows the user to take up to 25 urls and create a search tool (what Rollyo calls a Searchroll), that search ONLY these domains. The database your pulling sites and content from is powered by Yahoo. Of course, you can edit and modify your Searchroll at any time.
Sure, you could head to Yahoo, Google, Gigablast, Ask, MSN and others and as an advanced searcher string together long query strings limiting your search with the site: command. However, most people AREN'T advanced searchers and even those who are might not have the time to create such a query..."
CogNexus Institue & Wicked Problems
"A wicked problem is one for which each attempt to create a solution changes the understanding of the problem. Wicked problems cannot be solved in a traditional linear fashion, because the problem definition evolves as new possible solutions are considered and/or implemented. The term was originally coined by Horst Rittel.
Wicked problems always occur in a social context -- the wickedness of the problem reflects the diversity among the stakeholders in the problem.
Most projects in organizations -- and virtually all technology-related projects these days -- are about wicked problems. Indeed, it is the social complexity of these problems, not their technical complexity, that overwhelms most current problem solving and project management approaches. (See graphic of wicked problem solving process below.)..."
"A wicked problem is one for which each attempt to create a solution changes the understanding of the problem. Wicked problems cannot be solved in a traditional linear fashion, because the problem definition evolves as new possible solutions are considered and/or implemented. The term was originally coined by Horst Rittel.
Wicked problems always occur in a social context -- the wickedness of the problem reflects the diversity among the stakeholders in the problem.
Most projects in organizations -- and virtually all technology-related projects these days -- are about wicked problems. Indeed, it is the social complexity of these problems, not their technical complexity, that overwhelms most current problem solving and project management approaches. (See graphic of wicked problem solving process below.)..."
Compendium Institute:
"Compendium has three key elements: a shared visual space where ideas can be generated and analyzed, a methodology that allows the exploration of different points of view, and a set of tools for quickly and easily sharing data both within and beyond the boundaries of the group. The process enables people to negotiate collective understanding 'on the fly,' capture the discussions, and share representations of their knowledge digitally across communities of practice -- an approach crucial in keeping collaborative efforts on track and on time..."
"Compendium has three key elements: a shared visual space where ideas can be generated and analyzed, a methodology that allows the exploration of different points of view, and a set of tools for quickly and easily sharing data both within and beyond the boundaries of the group. The process enables people to negotiate collective understanding 'on the fly,' capture the discussions, and share representations of their knowledge digitally across communities of practice -- an approach crucial in keeping collaborative efforts on track and on time..."
Classified Intelligence Announces That Google Shops for Classified Providers:
"ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 2005--Google is aggressively moving to include classifieds listings in its organic search results, making the rounds of classified advertising Web sites, requesting a direct feed of listings.
In an alert sent to clients on Sept. 27, Classified Intelligence puts substance to the rumor that's been circulating for some time and discloses ongoing discussions with possible partners. The Classified Intelligence Alert is proprietary to clients, but available on request to the media by e-mailing: info@classifiedintelligence.com.
"Anytime an online giant like Google does something of this magnitude, it's going to change the classified landscape and up the ante for everyone else in the field," said Peter M. Zollman, founding principal and executive editor of Classified Intelligence LLC. "It's not about threat or blessing. It's about changing online choices, about new options for consumers, and about companies competing to provide better services to buyers and sellers. That's got to be good for everyone.
"But Google will not find that the existing competitors - newspapers, Craigslist, and AOL just to name a few - are easily dissuaded from their hard-won audiences."..."
"ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 27, 2005--Google is aggressively moving to include classifieds listings in its organic search results, making the rounds of classified advertising Web sites, requesting a direct feed of listings.
In an alert sent to clients on Sept. 27, Classified Intelligence puts substance to the rumor that's been circulating for some time and discloses ongoing discussions with possible partners. The Classified Intelligence Alert is proprietary to clients, but available on request to the media by e-mailing: info@classifiedintelligence.com.
"Anytime an online giant like Google does something of this magnitude, it's going to change the classified landscape and up the ante for everyone else in the field," said Peter M. Zollman, founding principal and executive editor of Classified Intelligence LLC. "It's not about threat or blessing. It's about changing online choices, about new options for consumers, and about companies competing to provide better services to buyers and sellers. That's got to be good for everyone.
"But Google will not find that the existing competitors - newspapers, Craigslist, and AOL just to name a few - are easily dissuaded from their hard-won audiences."..."
Search Engine Journal - Search Engine Advertising Choices:
"...Over the past three years, independent research has consistently confirmed that search engine users tend to click on the center column organic (free) ads far more often than on paid ads. Earlier this year, search marketers benefited from a number of published studies that clearly demonstrate the higher value of organic placements. While the results of this research is easily available to all, traditional and tech media stories tend to focus on paid-search advertising.
Two studies that made an enormous impact on the search marketing field this year are the Eye Tracking research conducted by Enquiro CEO Gord Hotchkiss and a whitepaper published by Lisa Wehr, CEO of OneUpWeb titled, ” Target Google’s Top Ten to Sell Online .” Gord’s study shows the basic F (or triangular) shape search user’s eyes tend to follow when examining search results. Lisa’s study found that search users are up to 6X more likely to click on the first few organic results as they are to choose any of the paid results.
A third study, ” Accurately Interpreting Clickthrough Data as Implicit Feedback ” , released earlier this week by Cornell professor Thorsten Joachims looked at the links users found on search engine results pages and questioned why they choose which link. The results show again the importance of high organic search engine rankings. The researchers asked subjects to perform searches and looked at which results they viewed, which they clicked on, and what happens if those links are mixed up.
The Cornell study found that search users tended to view (look at) the first five organic results with a high percentage of them (approx. 2/3) viewing the top two listings with 42% of them selecting or clicking on that link. The number of search-viewers halves to approximately 1/3 of users viewing sites appearing in positions 3, 4 and 5. The numbers drop to about 1 in 10 users tending to view the 9 th and 10 th placed sites..."
"...Over the past three years, independent research has consistently confirmed that search engine users tend to click on the center column organic (free) ads far more often than on paid ads. Earlier this year, search marketers benefited from a number of published studies that clearly demonstrate the higher value of organic placements. While the results of this research is easily available to all, traditional and tech media stories tend to focus on paid-search advertising.
Two studies that made an enormous impact on the search marketing field this year are the Eye Tracking research conducted by Enquiro CEO Gord Hotchkiss and a whitepaper published by Lisa Wehr, CEO of OneUpWeb titled, ” Target Google’s Top Ten to Sell Online .” Gord’s study shows the basic F (or triangular) shape search user’s eyes tend to follow when examining search results. Lisa’s study found that search users are up to 6X more likely to click on the first few organic results as they are to choose any of the paid results.
A third study, ” Accurately Interpreting Clickthrough Data as Implicit Feedback ” , released earlier this week by Cornell professor Thorsten Joachims looked at the links users found on search engine results pages and questioned why they choose which link. The results show again the importance of high organic search engine rankings. The researchers asked subjects to perform searches and looked at which results they viewed, which they clicked on, and what happens if those links are mixed up.
The Cornell study found that search users tended to view (look at) the first five organic results with a high percentage of them (approx. 2/3) viewing the top two listings with 42% of them selecting or clicking on that link. The number of search-viewers halves to approximately 1/3 of users viewing sites appearing in positions 3, 4 and 5. The numbers drop to about 1 in 10 users tending to view the 9 th and 10 th placed sites..."
BitTorrent - Introduction:
"What is BitTorrent?
BitTorrent is a free speech tool.
BitTorrent gives you the same freedom to publish previously enjoyed by only a select few with special equipment and lots of money. ('Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one' -- journalist A.J. Liebling.)
You have something terrific to publish -- a large music or video file, software, a game or anything else that many people would like to have. But the more popular your file becomes, the more you are punished by soaring bandwidth costs. If your file becomes phenomenally successful and a flash crowd of hundreds or thousands try to get it at once, your server simply crashes and no one gets it.
There is a solution to this vicious cycle. BitTorrent, the result of over two years of intensive development, is a simple and free software product that addresses all of these problems.
The key to scaleable and robust distribution is cooperation. With BitTorrent, those who get your file tap into their upload capacity to give the file to others at the same time. Those that provide the most to others get the best treatment in return. ('Give and ye shall receive!')
Cooperative distribution can grow almost without limit, because each new participant brings not only demand, but also supply. Instead of a vicious cycle, popularity creates a virtuous circle. And because each new participant brings new resources to the distribution, you get limitless scalability for a nearly fixed cost.
BitTorrent is not just a concept, but has an easy-to-use implementation capable of swarming downloads across unreliable networks. BitTorrent has been embraced by numerous publishers to distribute to millions of users.
With BitTorrent free speech no longer has a high price."
"What is BitTorrent?
BitTorrent is a free speech tool.
BitTorrent gives you the same freedom to publish previously enjoyed by only a select few with special equipment and lots of money. ('Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one' -- journalist A.J. Liebling.)
You have something terrific to publish -- a large music or video file, software, a game or anything else that many people would like to have. But the more popular your file becomes, the more you are punished by soaring bandwidth costs. If your file becomes phenomenally successful and a flash crowd of hundreds or thousands try to get it at once, your server simply crashes and no one gets it.
There is a solution to this vicious cycle. BitTorrent, the result of over two years of intensive development, is a simple and free software product that addresses all of these problems.
The key to scaleable and robust distribution is cooperation. With BitTorrent, those who get your file tap into their upload capacity to give the file to others at the same time. Those that provide the most to others get the best treatment in return. ('Give and ye shall receive!')
Cooperative distribution can grow almost without limit, because each new participant brings not only demand, but also supply. Instead of a vicious cycle, popularity creates a virtuous circle. And because each new participant brings new resources to the distribution, you get limitless scalability for a nearly fixed cost.
BitTorrent is not just a concept, but has an easy-to-use implementation capable of swarming downloads across unreliable networks. BitTorrent has been embraced by numerous publishers to distribute to millions of users.
With BitTorrent free speech no longer has a high price."
Search Engine Journal - Bittorrent Receives $8.75 Million in Funding:
"The developer of the Bittorrent technology has just got the commitment of $8.75 million financial support from a venture capital firm. The plan is to further develop the technology to develop it into a commercial distribution tool for media companies. The technology, which is giving nightmares to organizations like RIAA and MPAA, is not going anywhere!
The technology was first developed in the 2001 when Bram Cohen created Bittorrent as a hobby after he found himself unemployed due to dotcom crash. Now, it has become the preferred method to share files on the internet replacing the traditional p2p applications like Kazaa and Napster.
The technology works fantastically well for large files as it enables users to share the content by splitting them into tiny bits, which are made available for, upload as soon a user downloads them. The information can be grabbed from a large pool of users connected to the Bittorrent networks.
The party financing this development is the Doll Capital Management based in California. Cohen said about this new development: “Bittorrent will become the ideal platform for both independent publishers and the world’s leading media companies alike.”"
"The developer of the Bittorrent technology has just got the commitment of $8.75 million financial support from a venture capital firm. The plan is to further develop the technology to develop it into a commercial distribution tool for media companies. The technology, which is giving nightmares to organizations like RIAA and MPAA, is not going anywhere!
The technology was first developed in the 2001 when Bram Cohen created Bittorrent as a hobby after he found himself unemployed due to dotcom crash. Now, it has become the preferred method to share files on the internet replacing the traditional p2p applications like Kazaa and Napster.
The technology works fantastically well for large files as it enables users to share the content by splitting them into tiny bits, which are made available for, upload as soon a user downloads them. The information can be grabbed from a large pool of users connected to the Bittorrent networks.
The party financing this development is the Doll Capital Management based in California. Cohen said about this new development: “Bittorrent will become the ideal platform for both independent publishers and the world’s leading media companies alike.”"
Search Engine Journal - Google AdSense Testing "Advertise Here" Link on Sites:
"Google AdSense is marketing its site targeting service by testing an “Advertise on this site” link in its AdSense contextually targeted advertisements. Darren Rowse of Problogger.net picked this up after seeing the Google AdSense test on Tim Carter’s Ask the Builder website. Once a user clicks through on the link in the ad, they are taken to a nifty AdWords generated site profile page with basic information on the Ask the Builder site and Google suggests to the reader to join or use AdWords to purchase advertising targeting the website..."
"Google AdSense is marketing its site targeting service by testing an “Advertise on this site” link in its AdSense contextually targeted advertisements. Darren Rowse of Problogger.net picked this up after seeing the Google AdSense test on Tim Carter’s Ask the Builder website. Once a user clicks through on the link in the ad, they are taken to a nifty AdWords generated site profile page with basic information on the Ask the Builder site and Google suggests to the reader to join or use AdWords to purchase advertising targeting the website..."
Search Engine Journal - Ask Jeeves and MSN Search Engine Technology Comparison:
"With so much talk about relevance these days, I thought I’d introduce you to some of the technology behind the search engine, and what the potential differences between them could be. There are some interesting takes on search technology from pre-ranking results on the fly to neural networks to community based searching. In the last article I introduced you to Google and Yahoo! and how their search technology works. In this article I look at MSN and Ask Jeeves.
MSN - MSN Search is the newest player in the search market. And despite that they are considered the #3 search engine on the web. Not bad considering they just launched their technology this year.
MSN takes advantage of a technology that no other search engine has tackled – neural networks. A neural network is a series of computers which are supposed to learn based on input provided.
Think about that for a second – a learning computer. One that just doesn’t follow rules assigned to it (which is what the more traditional algorithmic search engines like Google and Yahoo! do) but actually can learn from its results..."
"With so much talk about relevance these days, I thought I’d introduce you to some of the technology behind the search engine, and what the potential differences between them could be. There are some interesting takes on search technology from pre-ranking results on the fly to neural networks to community based searching. In the last article I introduced you to Google and Yahoo! and how their search technology works. In this article I look at MSN and Ask Jeeves.
MSN - MSN Search is the newest player in the search market. And despite that they are considered the #3 search engine on the web. Not bad considering they just launched their technology this year.
MSN takes advantage of a technology that no other search engine has tackled – neural networks. A neural network is a series of computers which are supposed to learn based on input provided.
Think about that for a second – a learning computer. One that just doesn’t follow rules assigned to it (which is what the more traditional algorithmic search engines like Google and Yahoo! do) but actually can learn from its results..."
Search Engine Journal - Google and Yahoo Search Engine Technology Comparison:
"With so much talk about relevance these days, I thought I’d introduce you to some of the technology behind the search engine, and what the potential differences between them could be. There are some interesting takes on search technology from pre-ranking results on the fly to neural networks to community based searching.
In these articles I will focus on ‘The Big Four.’ These are the engines considered to own the search space. They are Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask Jeeves. First will be Google and Yahoo!..."
"With so much talk about relevance these days, I thought I’d introduce you to some of the technology behind the search engine, and what the potential differences between them could be. There are some interesting takes on search technology from pre-ranking results on the fly to neural networks to community based searching.
In these articles I will focus on ‘The Big Four.’ These are the engines considered to own the search space. They are Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask Jeeves. First will be Google and Yahoo!..."
Newspapers Grab Local Markets:
"Published: September 29, 2005
(After October 07, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Are local readers turning to the web sites of their top local papers when they go online for news? A new report from Nielsen//NetRatings indicates that they are.
The study found that readers in almost every city in the top 10 local markets have been loyal to their top hometown paper. Local newspapers claimed an average of 19% of the local Internet readership, and held the top spot among the city's online readers for online newspaper sites. The exception was Philadelphia, in which online readers favored USA Today over the Philadelphia Inquirer. USAToday.com had a local market reach of 9.6%, compared with 9.2% for Philly.com, a Knight Ridder site featuring content from the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
The Washington Post managed to reach about 30% of its local market, followed closely by the Boston Globe (28.3%) and the Atlanta Journal Constitution (26.4%).
On a national level, the New York Times, USA Today and the Washington Post captured the greatest number of Internet users.
According to eMarketer's latest estimates, US newspapers will bring in online revenues of $1.4 billion in 2005. By 2008, revenues will have risen to $2.26 billion.
For more on this topic, including profiles of individual online newspaper publishers, read eMarketer's recent report on online publishing."
"Published: September 29, 2005
(After October 07, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Are local readers turning to the web sites of their top local papers when they go online for news? A new report from Nielsen//NetRatings indicates that they are.
The study found that readers in almost every city in the top 10 local markets have been loyal to their top hometown paper. Local newspapers claimed an average of 19% of the local Internet readership, and held the top spot among the city's online readers for online newspaper sites. The exception was Philadelphia, in which online readers favored USA Today over the Philadelphia Inquirer. USAToday.com had a local market reach of 9.6%, compared with 9.2% for Philly.com, a Knight Ridder site featuring content from the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
The Washington Post managed to reach about 30% of its local market, followed closely by the Boston Globe (28.3%) and the Atlanta Journal Constitution (26.4%).
On a national level, the New York Times, USA Today and the Washington Post captured the greatest number of Internet users.
According to eMarketer's latest estimates, US newspapers will bring in online revenues of $1.4 billion in 2005. By 2008, revenues will have risen to $2.26 billion.
For more on this topic, including profiles of individual online newspaper publishers, read eMarketer's recent report on online publishing."
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Google to Remove Boast About Index Size - BizReport:
"by Michael Liedtke
Google Inc. will stop boasting on its home page about the number of Web pages it has stored in its index, even as the online search engine leader continues a crusade to prove it scans substantially more material than its rivals.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company planned to remove the index size late Monday. It will mark the first time in more than five years that Google hasn't listed the size of its search index on its sparse home page.
When Google started the practice in mid-2000, the index spanned 1 billion pages; as of Monday afternoon, Google's home page said the search index contained 8.17 billion pages..."
"by Michael Liedtke
Google Inc. will stop boasting on its home page about the number of Web pages it has stored in its index, even as the online search engine leader continues a crusade to prove it scans substantially more material than its rivals.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company planned to remove the index size late Monday. It will mark the first time in more than five years that Google hasn't listed the size of its search index on its sparse home page.
When Google started the practice in mid-2000, the index spanned 1 billion pages; as of Monday afternoon, Google's home page said the search index contained 8.17 billion pages..."
CheapBooks.com :: View topic - How To: Reverse Engineering Search Engine Ranking Algorithms: "Back in 1997 I did some research in an attempt to reverse-engineer algorithms used by search engines. In that year, the big ones included AltaVista, Webcralwer, Lycos, Infoseek, and a few others.
I was able to largely declare my research a success. In fact, it was so accurate that in one case I was able to write a program that produced the exact same search results as one of the search engines. This article explains how I did it, and how it is still beneficial today...
...While this methodology is good for learning a few things about search engines, on the whole I would not recommend making this the basis for your web site promotion. The quantity of pages to compete against, the quality of your visitors, the shoot-first mentality of search engines, and many other factors will prove that there are better ways to do web site promotion.
This methodology can be used for reverse engineering other products. For example, when I worked at Agency.com doing stats, we used a product made by a major micro software company (you might be using one of their fine operating system products right now) to analyze web server logs. The problem was that it took more than 24 hours to analyze 1 days worth of logs, so it was never up to date. A little bit of magic and a little bit of perl was able to generate the same reports in 45 minutes simply by feeding the same logs into both systems until the results came out the same and every condition was accounted for."
I was able to largely declare my research a success. In fact, it was so accurate that in one case I was able to write a program that produced the exact same search results as one of the search engines. This article explains how I did it, and how it is still beneficial today...
...While this methodology is good for learning a few things about search engines, on the whole I would not recommend making this the basis for your web site promotion. The quantity of pages to compete against, the quality of your visitors, the shoot-first mentality of search engines, and many other factors will prove that there are better ways to do web site promotion.
This methodology can be used for reverse engineering other products. For example, when I worked at Agency.com doing stats, we used a product made by a major micro software company (you might be using one of their fine operating system products right now) to analyze web server logs. The problem was that it took more than 24 hours to analyze 1 days worth of logs, so it was never up to date. A little bit of magic and a little bit of perl was able to generate the same reports in 45 minutes simply by feeding the same logs into both systems until the results came out the same and every condition was accounted for."
Yahoo Desktop Search Out of Beta:
"By Susan Kuchinskas
Yahoo (Quote, Chart) has released its Desktop Search to the public. The product, which was released in beta in January, now includes LiveWords contextual search.
LiveWords lets users initiate a Web search from within a file or document on the desktop. Highlighting a word and then clicking the new LiveWords button delivers what Yahoo calls a 'search snack.' The search snack is a small sampling of Web search results.
Yahoo originally built the LiveWords feature into Yahoo Messenger instant messaging.
Yahoo now claims to search over 300 different file types, up from 200 when the beta was launched. Searchable file types include attachments, documents, music, images, video, the Yahoo Address Book and Yahoo Messenger archives..."
"By Susan Kuchinskas
Yahoo (Quote, Chart) has released its Desktop Search to the public. The product, which was released in beta in January, now includes LiveWords contextual search.
LiveWords lets users initiate a Web search from within a file or document on the desktop. Highlighting a word and then clicking the new LiveWords button delivers what Yahoo calls a 'search snack.' The search snack is a small sampling of Web search results.
Yahoo originally built the LiveWords feature into Yahoo Messenger instant messaging.
Yahoo now claims to search over 300 different file types, up from 200 when the beta was launched. Searchable file types include attachments, documents, music, images, video, the Yahoo Address Book and Yahoo Messenger archives..."
Yahoo!, Google Boosted By Internet Ad Gains - Forbes.com:
"Banc of America Securities said it continues to believe that the Internet 'is in the midst of a multi-year share grab of ad dollars, with Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) and Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) poised to be among the biggest beneficiaries.'
On the newspaper side, Banc of America said that companies with the strongest franchises and 'more-national exposure' will see Internet-advertising revenue approach 10% of total ad revenue over the next two years, but some of that growth will come at the expense of the print side.
'Given the secular shift toward the Internet and away from newspapers, we remain bullish on the Internet sector as an investment and cautious on the newspaper group as a whole,' the research firm said. Banc of America's top pick in the Internet space is Yahoo!, which it rates at 'buy' with a $43 price target. Its favorite stock in the newspaper space is Dow Jones (nyse: DJ - news - people ), which the firm rates at 'buy' with a $43 price target..."
"Banc of America Securities said it continues to believe that the Internet 'is in the midst of a multi-year share grab of ad dollars, with Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) and Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) poised to be among the biggest beneficiaries.'
On the newspaper side, Banc of America said that companies with the strongest franchises and 'more-national exposure' will see Internet-advertising revenue approach 10% of total ad revenue over the next two years, but some of that growth will come at the expense of the print side.
'Given the secular shift toward the Internet and away from newspapers, we remain bullish on the Internet sector as an investment and cautious on the newspaper group as a whole,' the research firm said. Banc of America's top pick in the Internet space is Yahoo!, which it rates at 'buy' with a $43 price target. Its favorite stock in the newspaper space is Dow Jones (nyse: DJ - news - people ), which the firm rates at 'buy' with a $43 price target..."
Search and Rescue - New York Times: "
By TIM O'REILLY
Published: September 28, 2005
Sebastopol, Calif.
AUTHORS struggle, mostly in vain, against their fated obscurity. According to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks sales from major booksellers, only 2 percent of the 1.2 million unique titles sold in 2004 had sales of more than 5,000 copies. Against this backdrop, the recent Authors Guild suit against the Google Library Project is poignantly wrongheaded..."
Of course cataloging all books will generate that many more searches which = more ad revenue and book sales. Watch out Amazon! However, my guess is that Google also wants to catalog all books for the content/context they can provide; to improve their search algorithms... Also perhaps leveraging the libraries taxonomies?
By TIM O'REILLY
Published: September 28, 2005
Sebastopol, Calif.
AUTHORS struggle, mostly in vain, against their fated obscurity. According to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks sales from major booksellers, only 2 percent of the 1.2 million unique titles sold in 2004 had sales of more than 5,000 copies. Against this backdrop, the recent Authors Guild suit against the Google Library Project is poignantly wrongheaded..."
Of course cataloging all books will generate that many more searches which = more ad revenue and book sales. Watch out Amazon! However, my guess is that Google also wants to catalog all books for the content/context they can provide; to improve their search algorithms... Also perhaps leveraging the libraries taxonomies?
Search Engine Journal - Multilingual Search Blog Covers International Search:
"We missed this announcement earlier in the month and feel that this search blog is deserve its due. Multilingual Search is an International Search Blog launched by Andy Atkins-Krüger in beta in April and has since built a team of editors around the world covering Europe and Asia. Multilingual Search is now out of beta and reporting daily on stories about the world’s leading and emerging regional search engines. The blog is already featuring original interviews with key search executives from Yandex of Russia, Seekport of Germany and Eniro from Sweden as well as with Ask Jeeves on their European expansion plans.
“We felt there was a gap in the information available to search marketers who are targeting the non-English speaking world in particular. Very quickly we discovered there was a lot going on which was under-reported. Using local search marketers – we can get the news worldwide as it happens. The blog user can choose to view posts by country which is something marketers asked us for to facilitate their planning and research efforts.” Explains Andy Atkins-Krüger.
One interesting feature is that the blog offers not only the usual RSS 2 and Atom feeds – but country by country feeds for those with a particular geographic focus in mind.
The United Nations of editors and bloggers include AussieWebmaster (webmaster world moderator Rasmus Sorensen), Alan Webb who runs the leading German search forum and blog ‘Abakus’, Nikos Kapsomenakis who is covering Greek search engines, Georgi Georgiev of Bulgaria, Matt Fong who is covering Asian search, Sante Achille of Italia, Nick Wilsdon, Marina Zaliznyak who is covering just about everywhere with a perhaps accidental emphasis on wine producing countries, and everyone’s favorite Latin American search expert Nacho Hernandez. "
"We missed this announcement earlier in the month and feel that this search blog is deserve its due. Multilingual Search is an International Search Blog launched by Andy Atkins-Krüger in beta in April and has since built a team of editors around the world covering Europe and Asia. Multilingual Search is now out of beta and reporting daily on stories about the world’s leading and emerging regional search engines. The blog is already featuring original interviews with key search executives from Yandex of Russia, Seekport of Germany and Eniro from Sweden as well as with Ask Jeeves on their European expansion plans.
“We felt there was a gap in the information available to search marketers who are targeting the non-English speaking world in particular. Very quickly we discovered there was a lot going on which was under-reported. Using local search marketers – we can get the news worldwide as it happens. The blog user can choose to view posts by country which is something marketers asked us for to facilitate their planning and research efforts.” Explains Andy Atkins-Krüger.
One interesting feature is that the blog offers not only the usual RSS 2 and Atom feeds – but country by country feeds for those with a particular geographic focus in mind.
The United Nations of editors and bloggers include AussieWebmaster (webmaster world moderator Rasmus Sorensen), Alan Webb who runs the leading German search forum and blog ‘Abakus’, Nikos Kapsomenakis who is covering Greek search engines, Georgi Georgiev of Bulgaria, Matt Fong who is covering Asian search, Sante Achille of Italia, Nick Wilsdon, Marina Zaliznyak who is covering just about everywhere with a perhaps accidental emphasis on wine producing countries, and everyone’s favorite Latin American search expert Nacho Hernandez. "
Online Growth in China:
"Published: September 27, 2005
(After October 05, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
The number of Internet users in China has topped 100 million, according to data released by the China Internet Network Information Center.
In its '16th Statistical Survey Report on Internet Development in China,' the agency put the total number of Internet users at 103 million as of July 2005. China is already the largest country in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of Internet users. The US is the only country with a larger online population. But with only 10% of the Chinese population online, the potential for Internet growth in China overshadows the US.
Another sign of China's growing online might is the expansion of broadband. For the first time, there are more broadband users in China than dial-up users.
eMarketer projects that China's broadband market will continue to be dominated by DSL, with cable accounting for 2.1 million broadband households, or just under 6% of the market, compared to 25.6 million for DSL and 9.2 million for other technologies like satellite, fiber, fixed wireless, powerline and other emerging broadband technologies accessed at home. As is the case with Internet usage, China will be the clear regional leader in broadband, an advantage that will get more lopsided as time goes on.
A wild card, however, is government restriction of online information. Earlier this week, the government imposed new rules that would limit news and other information online, the New York Times reported. The government also put new rules in place regarding content permitted on Web sites.
Interested in statistics and analysis of technology in the Asia-Pacific region? Keep an eye out for eMarketer's new report about digital TV in Asia. Sign up to be notified by e-mail when it is released."
"Published: September 27, 2005
(After October 05, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
The number of Internet users in China has topped 100 million, according to data released by the China Internet Network Information Center.
In its '16th Statistical Survey Report on Internet Development in China,' the agency put the total number of Internet users at 103 million as of July 2005. China is already the largest country in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of Internet users. The US is the only country with a larger online population. But with only 10% of the Chinese population online, the potential for Internet growth in China overshadows the US.
Another sign of China's growing online might is the expansion of broadband. For the first time, there are more broadband users in China than dial-up users.
eMarketer projects that China's broadband market will continue to be dominated by DSL, with cable accounting for 2.1 million broadband households, or just under 6% of the market, compared to 25.6 million for DSL and 9.2 million for other technologies like satellite, fiber, fixed wireless, powerline and other emerging broadband technologies accessed at home. As is the case with Internet usage, China will be the clear regional leader in broadband, an advantage that will get more lopsided as time goes on.
A wild card, however, is government restriction of online information. Earlier this week, the government imposed new rules that would limit news and other information online, the New York Times reported. The government also put new rules in place regarding content permitted on Web sites.
Interested in statistics and analysis of technology in the Asia-Pacific region? Keep an eye out for eMarketer's new report about digital TV in Asia. Sign up to be notified by e-mail when it is released."
Online Ads Soared in First Half:
"Published: September 28, 2005
(After October 06, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
US Internet advertising revenues for the first six months of 2005 reached a new high.
It's official. 2005 is on track to be the best year for Internet advertising in history.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers released Internet advertising revenue figures for the second quarter and the first six months of 2005. For the quarter, online ad revenues totaled $2.985 billion, a 26% increase over same period 2004.
Revenues for the first half rose an identical 26%, reaching $5.8 billion.
"The consistent growth in overall revenues shows marketers may be shifting more of their total advertising budgets to online. This is a natural development as research shows more consumers are spending a larger percentage of their media time online, while the flow of advertising dollars follows," said David Silverman of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In both 2004 and 2005, search was the most popular ad format at 40%, followed by banners and classifieds.
CPM pricing continues to be the predominant choice for both buyers and sellers.
For more information on online advertising, and to see eMarketer's estimate for total 2005 ad revenue numbers, read the recently published Ad Spending Trends report."
"Published: September 28, 2005
(After October 06, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
US Internet advertising revenues for the first six months of 2005 reached a new high.
It's official. 2005 is on track to be the best year for Internet advertising in history.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers released Internet advertising revenue figures for the second quarter and the first six months of 2005. For the quarter, online ad revenues totaled $2.985 billion, a 26% increase over same period 2004.
Revenues for the first half rose an identical 26%, reaching $5.8 billion.
"The consistent growth in overall revenues shows marketers may be shifting more of their total advertising budgets to online. This is a natural development as research shows more consumers are spending a larger percentage of their media time online, while the flow of advertising dollars follows," said David Silverman of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In both 2004 and 2005, search was the most popular ad format at 40%, followed by banners and classifieds.
CPM pricing continues to be the predominant choice for both buyers and sellers.
For more information on online advertising, and to see eMarketer's estimate for total 2005 ad revenue numbers, read the recently published Ad Spending Trends report."
Monday, September 26, 2005
The Power of Default Values (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox):
"Summary:
Search engine users click the results listings' top entry much more often than can be explained by relevancy ratings. Once again, people tend to stick to the defaults...
...What is interesting is the researchers� second test, wherein they secretly fed the search results through a script before displaying them to users. This script swapped the order of the top two search hits. In other words, what was originally the number two entry in the search engine's prioritization ended up on top, and the top entry was relegated to second place.
In this swapped condition, users still clicked on the top entry 34% of the time and on the second hit 12% of the time...
...The researchers also assessed whether the search engine in fact placed the best hit on top. Obviously, this can only be determined by having humans judge which websites are best, and there is no objective criterion for "best website to answer a given question." Still, the researchers derived relevancy ratings by averaging the judgments of five people, and that's probably as good as you get in terms of estimating information relevance.
On average, the top hit in the original search listings was judged as being the most relevant 36% of the time; the second hit was most relevant 24% of the time; and the two hits were equally relevant 40% of the time. In other words, the search engine tended to be right, but was wrong one-fourth of the time. (If the two hits are equally relevant, it doesn't matter which one is placed on top, so I counted these as being right.)
Given how often the search engine was wrong, users clicked the top hit far too frequently. And when the two top hits were swapped, too few users changed their behavior. In other words, we can conclude that there is a strong bias in favor of clicking the top link, though not so strong that link quality is irrelevant..."
"Summary:
Search engine users click the results listings' top entry much more often than can be explained by relevancy ratings. Once again, people tend to stick to the defaults...
...What is interesting is the researchers� second test, wherein they secretly fed the search results through a script before displaying them to users. This script swapped the order of the top two search hits. In other words, what was originally the number two entry in the search engine's prioritization ended up on top, and the top entry was relegated to second place.
In this swapped condition, users still clicked on the top entry 34% of the time and on the second hit 12% of the time...
...The researchers also assessed whether the search engine in fact placed the best hit on top. Obviously, this can only be determined by having humans judge which websites are best, and there is no objective criterion for "best website to answer a given question." Still, the researchers derived relevancy ratings by averaging the judgments of five people, and that's probably as good as you get in terms of estimating information relevance.
On average, the top hit in the original search listings was judged as being the most relevant 36% of the time; the second hit was most relevant 24% of the time; and the two hits were equally relevant 40% of the time. In other words, the search engine tended to be right, but was wrong one-fourth of the time. (If the two hits are equally relevant, it doesn't matter which one is placed on top, so I counted these as being right.)
Given how often the search engine was wrong, users clicked the top hit far too frequently. And when the two top hits were swapped, too few users changed their behavior. In other words, we can conclude that there is a strong bias in favor of clicking the top link, though not so strong that link quality is irrelevant..."
New technology aims to making academic file sharing easier (phillyBurbs.com): "By GENARO C. ARMAS
The Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - An academic Napster? A souped-up Google for educators?
Not quite, but the creators of 'LionShare' say the new technology could make it easier for educators and researchers to quickly share or search for large academic and scientific files with peers or other institutions.
LionShare uses a secure, private 'peer-to-peer' network for faculty, researchers and students to share photos, research, class materials and other types of information that may be not be easily accessible through current technology, said Mike Halm, director of the LionShare project at Penn State University.
'It's a lot more than academic Napster,' said Halm, who spoke about the project at a meeting in Philadelphia on Tuesday of the Internet2 consortium...
..."Peer-to-peer" essentially means exchanging files between certain computers. Repositories are virtual warehouses where research databases, photos or other large files can be stored.
A researcher looking for data in most cases would need to search each repository separately, which could be very time-consuming. Depending on what the researcher is looking for, it may also difficult to download large data sets or video of, for instance, a deep-sea expedition.
LionShare uses new technology to combine peer-to-peer and repository searching into a single search, "like Google-searching the Internet," Halm said. The technology is supposed to officially emerge from testing and into general use on Sept. 30..."
The Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - An academic Napster? A souped-up Google for educators?
Not quite, but the creators of 'LionShare' say the new technology could make it easier for educators and researchers to quickly share or search for large academic and scientific files with peers or other institutions.
LionShare uses a secure, private 'peer-to-peer' network for faculty, researchers and students to share photos, research, class materials and other types of information that may be not be easily accessible through current technology, said Mike Halm, director of the LionShare project at Penn State University.
'It's a lot more than academic Napster,' said Halm, who spoke about the project at a meeting in Philadelphia on Tuesday of the Internet2 consortium...
..."Peer-to-peer" essentially means exchanging files between certain computers. Repositories are virtual warehouses where research databases, photos or other large files can be stored.
A researcher looking for data in most cases would need to search each repository separately, which could be very time-consuming. Depending on what the researcher is looking for, it may also difficult to download large data sets or video of, for instance, a deep-sea expedition.
LionShare uses new technology to combine peer-to-peer and repository searching into a single search, "like Google-searching the Internet," Halm said. The technology is supposed to officially emerge from testing and into general use on Sept. 30..."
Analysis: Firefox faces challenges as it matures - Computerworld:
"With Microsoft updating IE, can the open-source browser flourish?
News Story by Juan Carlos Perez
SEPTEMBER 20, 2005 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - When Version 1.0 of Firefox was released last November (see 'Mozilla launches Firefox 1.0 browser'), it caused a sensation as a seemingly more secure and more feature-rich alternative to Microsoft Corp.'s ubiquitous Internet Explorer, which for years had held a market share north of 90% -- and which Microsoft had barely bothered to improve.
Since then, Firefox has achieved what no other browser had accomplished in years: It attained a significant market share at Internet Explorer's expense. Firefox now holds a market share of between 7% and 9%, according to various market research estimates.
But as Firefox nears its first birthday, its maker, The Mozilla Foundation, faces significant challenges, analysts said. These include quickly discovering and fixing security vulnerabilities, competing against an upcoming Internet Explorer upgrade and broadening Firefox's user base beyond its core of technically savvy users.
The stream of Firefox security vulnerabilities uncovered in recent months is par for the course for a young software product (see 'Symantec report sparks safe-browser debate'). But it may disappoint users who switched to Firefox expecting it to be immune to security holes.
While the myth of Firefox as a totally secure browser is gone, Microsoft is upgrading Internet Explorer to try to close the features gap that attracted users to Firefox (see "RSA: Gates promises new version of IE by mid-year"). Internet Explorer 7 is now in a beta phase, meaning that Mozilla must keep its browser one step ahead of Internet Explorer in features and innovation..."
"With Microsoft updating IE, can the open-source browser flourish?
News Story by Juan Carlos Perez
SEPTEMBER 20, 2005 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - When Version 1.0 of Firefox was released last November (see 'Mozilla launches Firefox 1.0 browser'), it caused a sensation as a seemingly more secure and more feature-rich alternative to Microsoft Corp.'s ubiquitous Internet Explorer, which for years had held a market share north of 90% -- and which Microsoft had barely bothered to improve.
Since then, Firefox has achieved what no other browser had accomplished in years: It attained a significant market share at Internet Explorer's expense. Firefox now holds a market share of between 7% and 9%, according to various market research estimates.
But as Firefox nears its first birthday, its maker, The Mozilla Foundation, faces significant challenges, analysts said. These include quickly discovering and fixing security vulnerabilities, competing against an upcoming Internet Explorer upgrade and broadening Firefox's user base beyond its core of technically savvy users.
The stream of Firefox security vulnerabilities uncovered in recent months is par for the course for a young software product (see 'Symantec report sparks safe-browser debate'). But it may disappoint users who switched to Firefox expecting it to be immune to security holes.
While the myth of Firefox as a totally secure browser is gone, Microsoft is upgrading Internet Explorer to try to close the features gap that attracted users to Firefox (see "RSA: Gates promises new version of IE by mid-year"). Internet Explorer 7 is now in a beta phase, meaning that Mozilla must keep its browser one step ahead of Internet Explorer in features and innovation..."
NSA granted Net location-tracking patent | CNET News.com:
"The National Security Agency has obtained a patent on a method of figuring out an Internet user's geographic location.
Patent 6,947,978, granted Tuesday, describes a way to discover someone's physical location by comparing it to a 'map' of Internet addresses with known locations..."
"The National Security Agency has obtained a patent on a method of figuring out an Internet user's geographic location.
Patent 6,947,978, granted Tuesday, describes a way to discover someone's physical location by comparing it to a 'map' of Internet addresses with known locations..."
Microsoft Plans to Sell Search Ads of Its Own - New York Times:
"The Microsoft Corporation will unveil today its own system for selling Web advertising as it struggles to compete with Google and Yahoo in the expanding Web search business. The system, to be used by MSN, is meant to improve on those of Microsoft's rivals by allowing marketers to aim ads on Web search pages to users based on their sex, age or location..."
"The Microsoft Corporation will unveil today its own system for selling Web advertising as it struggles to compete with Google and Yahoo in the expanding Web search business. The system, to be used by MSN, is meant to improve on those of Microsoft's rivals by allowing marketers to aim ads on Web search pages to users based on their sex, age or location..."
Friday, September 23, 2005
Sergey, Larry, Eric, David and Jerry - Forbes Says Rich!: "Sergey, Larry, Eric, David and Jerry - Forbes Says Rich!
The 2005 edition of the Forbes 400 list of the of the wealthiest Americans was published this afternoon and includes Brin, Page and Schmidt from Google as well as Filo and Yang from Yahoo. Of course, Gates and Ballmer from Microsoft are also on the list. Here's a quick look at how several people who have interests in the web search biz fared..."
The 2005 edition of the Forbes 400 list of the of the wealthiest Americans was published this afternoon and includes Brin, Page and Schmidt from Google as well as Filo and Yang from Yahoo. Of course, Gates and Ballmer from Microsoft are also on the list. Here's a quick look at how several people who have interests in the web search biz fared..."
Myriad Search: Meta Search Your Way:
"By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor - September 22, 2005
A new meta search engine allows you to compare results from the four top web search engines, and tweak their relative importance in the mix by adding to or subtracting from the relative importance of each.
Myriad Search is a brand-new and relatively untested meta search engine designed primarily to help search engine optimizers with competitive intelligence research on keywords. Want to know which competitor is ranking well on specific keywords? Myriad Search will show you, presenting search results with their relative rankings from Ask Jeeves, Google, MSN Search and Yahoo..."
"By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor - September 22, 2005
A new meta search engine allows you to compare results from the four top web search engines, and tweak their relative importance in the mix by adding to or subtracting from the relative importance of each.
Myriad Search is a brand-new and relatively untested meta search engine designed primarily to help search engine optimizers with competitive intelligence research on keywords. Want to know which competitor is ranking well on specific keywords? Myriad Search will show you, presenting search results with their relative rankings from Ask Jeeves, Google, MSN Search and Yahoo..."
Search Engine Journal » Google Building Alternative Internet:
"Old news" but a good summary of recent articles/rumors
:
"Google is working on its most ambitious project to date, the creation of a global data transfer network that could effectively serve as a private Internet. Since the introduction of AdWords three years ago, Google has become the world’s largest media company and advertising vehicle. It has grown to rival Microsoft in scope and scale. The process has made it a fully globalized corporation.
Google has an estimated $7billion in the bank and employs many of the brightest brains in IT. It also has a reputation for being one of the best tech firms in the world to work for and has been known to use that reputation to headhunt intellect from its rivals. It is focused on the burgeoning Chinese market and appears to be performing better there than its chief rival Microsoft is. Google has the obvious capital and intellectual resources to do just about anything it wants to.
There are a number of reasons backing speculation that Google is building its own global digital communications network. Google has formally entered the telecom business with the release of a VOIP client known as Google Talk. VOIP is an acronym for Voice Over IP, which is a synonym for Internet telephone. In order to provide this service Google has had to acquire technical and physical resources that, along with other assets held by the company, point to the co"
"Old news" but a good summary of recent articles/rumors
:
"Google is working on its most ambitious project to date, the creation of a global data transfer network that could effectively serve as a private Internet. Since the introduction of AdWords three years ago, Google has become the world’s largest media company and advertising vehicle. It has grown to rival Microsoft in scope and scale. The process has made it a fully globalized corporation.
Google has an estimated $7billion in the bank and employs many of the brightest brains in IT. It also has a reputation for being one of the best tech firms in the world to work for and has been known to use that reputation to headhunt intellect from its rivals. It is focused on the burgeoning Chinese market and appears to be performing better there than its chief rival Microsoft is. Google has the obvious capital and intellectual resources to do just about anything it wants to.
There are a number of reasons backing speculation that Google is building its own global digital communications network. Google has formally entered the telecom business with the release of a VOIP client known as Google Talk. VOIP is an acronym for Voice Over IP, which is a synonym for Internet telephone. In order to provide this service Google has had to acquire technical and physical resources that, along with other assets held by the company, point to the co"
Vivisimo and MSN Awarded Contract to Power Search on FirstGov:
"Word in this news release that Vivisimo (the Clusty people) has been awarded a federal government contract to provide search techology to the U.S. Government's FirstGov.gov portal. MSN Search will also play a role in the new FirstGov search.
As part of the agreement, Vivisimo teamed with Microsoft's MSN Search Web service to provide search results for the government domain.
The announcement also points out that Vivisimio plans to use its own crawling technology to develop focused/targeted crawls of some government (federal and local) material and then combine and cluster with MSN results.
Another news release from the General Services Administration (the organization that oversees FirstGov) offers a few more details including:
New Services
FirstGov.gov will launch government-wide News and Image search services so citizens will not have to go to individual agencies to find these resources.
Financial
This new search strategy provides significantly more services for less than the cost of previous FirstGov search services. The value of the contract is $1.8 million annually, which is nearly half the cost of the current search service on FirstGov.gov. The contract is part of a new Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) FirstGov has set up to acquire future Web search services. The BPA has a total value of $18 million over the length of the agreement.
The news release also points out that FirstGov has signed Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA) with Fast Search and Transfer (the company currently powering search on FirstGov), Gigablast, and Vivisimo.
The BPA enables GSA to easily acquire new search services that are important to citizens, and enhance citizen access to government information.
When can we expect to begin seeing the new FirstGov search? Neither press release lists any dates. However, this FirstGov newsletter from August says to begin looking in February 2006.
We first blogged about FirstGov publishing a request for information from companies interested in offering search services to the government portal back in March.
Since 2002, FirstGov's search capabilities have been powered with a database and search technology provided by Fast Search and Transfer and managed by AT&T. At its inception, FirstGov search was powered with technology from Inktomi.
Postscript: Clusty currently offers its own U.S. government meta search tool (released, March 2005) that includes .gov results from the MSN Search database."
"Word in this news release that Vivisimo (the Clusty people) has been awarded a federal government contract to provide search techology to the U.S. Government's FirstGov.gov portal. MSN Search will also play a role in the new FirstGov search.
As part of the agreement, Vivisimo teamed with Microsoft's MSN Search Web service to provide search results for the government domain.
The announcement also points out that Vivisimio plans to use its own crawling technology to develop focused/targeted crawls of some government (federal and local) material and then combine and cluster with MSN results.
Another news release from the General Services Administration (the organization that oversees FirstGov) offers a few more details including:
New Services
FirstGov.gov will launch government-wide News and Image search services so citizens will not have to go to individual agencies to find these resources.
Financial
This new search strategy provides significantly more services for less than the cost of previous FirstGov search services. The value of the contract is $1.8 million annually, which is nearly half the cost of the current search service on FirstGov.gov. The contract is part of a new Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) FirstGov has set up to acquire future Web search services. The BPA has a total value of $18 million over the length of the agreement.
The news release also points out that FirstGov has signed Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA) with Fast Search and Transfer (the company currently powering search on FirstGov), Gigablast, and Vivisimo.
The BPA enables GSA to easily acquire new search services that are important to citizens, and enhance citizen access to government information.
When can we expect to begin seeing the new FirstGov search? Neither press release lists any dates. However, this FirstGov newsletter from August says to begin looking in February 2006.
We first blogged about FirstGov publishing a request for information from companies interested in offering search services to the government portal back in March.
Since 2002, FirstGov's search capabilities have been powered with a database and search technology provided by Fast Search and Transfer and managed by AT&T. At its inception, FirstGov search was powered with technology from Inktomi.
Postscript: Clusty currently offers its own U.S. government meta search tool (released, March 2005) that includes .gov results from the MSN Search database."
A New Approach to Sharing Web Research:
"By Mary Ellen Bates, Guest Writer - September 21, 2005
There are many approaches to sharing information you've found on the web, but a new free tool called eSnips is one of the most useful and intriguing yet seen.
Net Snippets, the company that developed a product for post-search information management, has rolled out a new tool for collecting and sharing information. eSnips is a way cool tool - a little hard to describe but amazing in its capabilities.
A caveat: eSnips is just barely in beta, and every now and then it hiccups, so be patient. I have already seen several improvements in the service since I have begun using it, and I have high hopes that it will continue to improve.
So, what is eSnips? At its most basic, it provides a free web-based file storage and sharing tool. You can upload up to one gigabyte of material�plain text, music, photos, screen shots, whatever. Since I travel a fair amount, I was first attracted to eSnips as a simple way to make a back-up copy of my essential files and presentations accessible from any PC.
But what makes eSnips interesting is that, with its toolbar, you can 'snip' any content you see on the web and have that material stored in your eSnips account as well. If I am doing research for a client, I can highlight the portion of a web page that I think would be useful, click the 'Snip' button on the toolbar, and that content, along with the URL, is stored in my eSnips account..."
"By Mary Ellen Bates, Guest Writer - September 21, 2005
There are many approaches to sharing information you've found on the web, but a new free tool called eSnips is one of the most useful and intriguing yet seen.
Net Snippets, the company that developed a product for post-search information management, has rolled out a new tool for collecting and sharing information. eSnips is a way cool tool - a little hard to describe but amazing in its capabilities.
A caveat: eSnips is just barely in beta, and every now and then it hiccups, so be patient. I have already seen several improvements in the service since I have begun using it, and I have high hopes that it will continue to improve.
So, what is eSnips? At its most basic, it provides a free web-based file storage and sharing tool. You can upload up to one gigabyte of material�plain text, music, photos, screen shots, whatever. Since I travel a fair amount, I was first attracted to eSnips as a simple way to make a back-up copy of my essential files and presentations accessible from any PC.
But what makes eSnips interesting is that, with its toolbar, you can 'snip' any content you see on the web and have that material stored in your eSnips account as well. If I am doing research for a client, I can highlight the portion of a web page that I think would be useful, click the 'Snip' button on the toolbar, and that content, along with the URL, is stored in my eSnips account..."
Search Engine Lowdown :: News: Goodbye Jeeves, Hello China:
"Diller's axing the butler. Soon we'll be searching Ask.
At an investment conference Diller called his search engine 'potentially the glue for almost all of our services.'
I noticed an Ask search box as I logged out of Match the other night. It said something like 'now that you're done searching for love, search the web!'
Putting search boxes on your properties is more like thumb tacks than glue, but I guess you have to start somewhere.
At the same meeting Diller announced that Ask will begin operating in China next year, and assured the shareholders that, 'our job is to increase Ask's market share.'"
"Diller's axing the butler. Soon we'll be searching Ask.
At an investment conference Diller called his search engine 'potentially the glue for almost all of our services.'
I noticed an Ask search box as I logged out of Match the other night. It said something like 'now that you're done searching for love, search the web!'
Putting search boxes on your properties is more like thumb tacks than glue, but I guess you have to start somewhere.
At the same meeting Diller announced that Ask will begin operating in China next year, and assured the shareholders that, 'our job is to increase Ask's market share.'"
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Article: Microsoft Shuffles Leadership | News | Computer Science | UIUC:
"By Steve Lohr - Published: September 21, 2005
Microsoft reshuffled its management team yesterday in an effort to make it more nimble as the company tries to lift its growth and compete with fast-moving rivals like Google.
Under the plan, seven business units will be collapsed into three divisions, each led by an executive who will carry the title of president.
The idea is to push more decision-making down into the businesses, and that means that the company's two longtime leaders - Bill Gates, co-founder and chairman, and Steven A. Ballmer, chief executive - will have to delegate more authority to their chief lieutenants.
'We need to improve agility,' Mr. Ballmer said in an interview..."
"By Steve Lohr - Published: September 21, 2005
Microsoft reshuffled its management team yesterday in an effort to make it more nimble as the company tries to lift its growth and compete with fast-moving rivals like Google.
Under the plan, seven business units will be collapsed into three divisions, each led by an executive who will carry the title of president.
The idea is to push more decision-making down into the businesses, and that means that the company's two longtime leaders - Bill Gates, co-founder and chairman, and Steven A. Ballmer, chief executive - will have to delegate more authority to their chief lieutenants.
'We need to improve agility,' Mr. Ballmer said in an interview..."
Blogging For One:
"Published: September 21, 2005
(After September 29, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
A new study finds that blogs are more likely to deal with personal matters than politics or current events, and nearly 50% of bloggers see the activity as a form of therapy.
According to an AOL survey conducted by Digital Marketing Services Inc., many bloggers write about 'anything and everything.' But while blogs often include comments on news topics, they are more likely to be about friends, family and other personal interests.
Although bloggers say they write about personal matters on their blogs, 43.9% of respondents said that they read other blogs to get a different perspective on the news. These findings are similar to a Harris Interactive survey from March 2005, which found that about 44% of US Internet users read political blogs, including 16% who read them less than once a month. And although most bloggers read other blogs, the AOL survey found that almost one-quarter of them do not.
About one-half of bloggers (48.7%) keep a blog because it serves as a form of therapy, and 40.8% say it helps them keep in touch with family and friends. Just 16.2% say they are interested in journalism, and 7.5% want to expose political information. Few see blogging as their ticket to fame.
Bill Schreiner, Vice President, AOL Community, puts it in perspective: 'In a way, blogs serve as oral history. When it comes to sharing blogs and reading other people's blogs, we like to connect with people, learn about their lives, and find common ground. There's no pressure to write about a particular subject or keep blogs maintained a certain way, and it's not necessarily a popularity contest.'
Want to learn more about blogging? Read eMarketer's report, The Business of Blogging, or search our eStat Database for the term "blogs." "
"Published: September 21, 2005
(After September 29, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
A new study finds that blogs are more likely to deal with personal matters than politics or current events, and nearly 50% of bloggers see the activity as a form of therapy.
According to an AOL survey conducted by Digital Marketing Services Inc., many bloggers write about 'anything and everything.' But while blogs often include comments on news topics, they are more likely to be about friends, family and other personal interests.
Although bloggers say they write about personal matters on their blogs, 43.9% of respondents said that they read other blogs to get a different perspective on the news. These findings are similar to a Harris Interactive survey from March 2005, which found that about 44% of US Internet users read political blogs, including 16% who read them less than once a month. And although most bloggers read other blogs, the AOL survey found that almost one-quarter of them do not.
About one-half of bloggers (48.7%) keep a blog because it serves as a form of therapy, and 40.8% say it helps them keep in touch with family and friends. Just 16.2% say they are interested in journalism, and 7.5% want to expose political information. Few see blogging as their ticket to fame.
Bill Schreiner, Vice President, AOL Community, puts it in perspective: 'In a way, blogs serve as oral history. When it comes to sharing blogs and reading other people's blogs, we like to connect with people, learn about their lives, and find common ground. There's no pressure to write about a particular subject or keep blogs maintained a certain way, and it's not necessarily a popularity contest.'
Want to learn more about blogging? Read eMarketer's report, The Business of Blogging, or search our eStat Database for the term "blogs." "
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
ACM News Service: "'IT Workers: You Can't Always Guess What They Want'
Computerworld (09/12/05) P. 52; Horowitz, Alan S.
Fulfilling IT staffers' needs is the secret to high productivity and low turnover, but there is often a disconnect between what IT managers think workers want and what they actually want. This is critical in view of the apparent resurgence of turnover as a result of retiring baby boomers, a decline in computer science majors graduating from U.S. universities, and more overseas opportunities that encourage foreign-born IT talent to stay at home. Many experts say it is folly to assume that money is the chief desire of IT employees: More important to workers is the feeling that they are making a meaningful contribution to the company, a feeling reinforced by recognition and appreciation for their efforts. Other documented wants of IT professionals include job security; access to new technologies; reasonable and less stressful work schedules; and more appreciation from business customers. Managers have a responsibility to ensure that IT's contributions are esteemed and to relay such recognition to employees. Humana CTO Brian LeClaire places IT workers in several distinct categories in terms of motivation: Some employees enjoy their usually technology-centric work as it is and wish to continue in that vein, while some prefer new challenges and projects. Still others want to advance their careers and move into management, a common desire among increasing numbers of IT workers. The best strategy for determining what IT workers want is simply to ask them. Such needs can be extracted through performance reviews, formal surveys, "town hall" meetings, and other programs.
Click Here to View Full Article
Computerworld (09/12/05) P. 52; Horowitz, Alan S.
Fulfilling IT staffers' needs is the secret to high productivity and low turnover, but there is often a disconnect between what IT managers think workers want and what they actually want. This is critical in view of the apparent resurgence of turnover as a result of retiring baby boomers, a decline in computer science majors graduating from U.S. universities, and more overseas opportunities that encourage foreign-born IT talent to stay at home. Many experts say it is folly to assume that money is the chief desire of IT employees: More important to workers is the feeling that they are making a meaningful contribution to the company, a feeling reinforced by recognition and appreciation for their efforts. Other documented wants of IT professionals include job security; access to new technologies; reasonable and less stressful work schedules; and more appreciation from business customers. Managers have a responsibility to ensure that IT's contributions are esteemed and to relay such recognition to employees. Humana CTO Brian LeClaire places IT workers in several distinct categories in terms of motivation: Some employees enjoy their usually technology-centric work as it is and wish to continue in that vein, while some prefer new challenges and projects. Still others want to advance their careers and move into management, a common desire among increasing numbers of IT workers. The best strategy for determining what IT workers want is simply to ask them. Such needs can be extracted through performance reviews, formal surveys, "town hall" meetings, and other programs.
Click Here to View Full Article
ABC News: Silicon Insider: Sweet Music From a Simple Theory: "Digital Music Web Site Brings Scientist's Premise to Life
Silicon Insider
Commentary
By MICHAEL S. MALONE
Sept. 15, 2005 — Want to see and hear something very cool? Check out this Web site: http://tones.wolfram.com/generate/.
Pick a style of music and press the button. If you want, mess with the pitch or the choice of instruments or the time signature. Interesting, isn't it? The music is amazingly complex, not the kind of stuff you would hear from a standard music generator. There is a randomness here, but at the same time, a structure — listen to the melodies emerge in the classical music, the riffs in the rock 'n' roll — the kind of music that suggests an intelligence has had a hand in the composition.
And yet, if you read the accompanying explanation, you'll discover that all the music you are hearing — and you can generate literally billions of tunes, enough to fill a lifetime of continuous listening — is being generated automatically (literally) by a computer using a handful of simple rules.
How is that possible? Well, therein lies a tale..."
Silicon Insider
Commentary
By MICHAEL S. MALONE
Sept. 15, 2005 — Want to see and hear something very cool? Check out this Web site: http://tones.wolfram.com/generate/.
Pick a style of music and press the button. If you want, mess with the pitch or the choice of instruments or the time signature. Interesting, isn't it? The music is amazingly complex, not the kind of stuff you would hear from a standard music generator. There is a randomness here, but at the same time, a structure — listen to the melodies emerge in the classical music, the riffs in the rock 'n' roll — the kind of music that suggests an intelligence has had a hand in the composition.
And yet, if you read the accompanying explanation, you'll discover that all the music you are hearing — and you can generate literally billions of tunes, enough to fill a lifetime of continuous listening — is being generated automatically (literally) by a computer using a handful of simple rules.
How is that possible? Well, therein lies a tale..."
Search Engine Journal - Google Secure Access Wifi Application:
"You see what happens when you give your employees 20% of the time spent on the job, to fiddle with any idea they come up with? They create Google Secure Access.
From Google “Google Secure Access is a downloadable client application that allows users to establish a more secure WiFi connection.” There is also a privacy policy and download page (which I seem not to be able to access).
I believe InsideGoogle was one of the first to cover this, followed up by Danny with his security and privacy points. Lots of other discussion in the blogosphere as well. Even Reuters wrote about Google plans own WiFi service: Web site. Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums & WebmasterWorld."
"You see what happens when you give your employees 20% of the time spent on the job, to fiddle with any idea they come up with? They create Google Secure Access.
From Google “Google Secure Access is a downloadable client application that allows users to establish a more secure WiFi connection.” There is also a privacy policy and download page (which I seem not to be able to access).
I believe InsideGoogle was one of the first to cover this, followed up by Danny with his security and privacy points. Lots of other discussion in the blogosphere as well. Even Reuters wrote about Google plans own WiFi service: Web site. Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums & WebmasterWorld."
Surfwax Offers Look-Ahead Technology for Web Sites:
"Today SurfWax is introducing a dynamic query suggestion tool that can be easily installed and customized on any web site.
Before Google offered its popular Google Suggest tool, Silicon Valley's SurfWax was offering dynamic search navigation technology called LookAhead.
It's available online when searching SurfWax News. In this case, LookAhead might help the searcher focus a news search with very little effort before clicking the search button. News related terms, (names, events, etc) dynamically appear in a drop-down box directly below the search interface as the searcher types letters into the search. Then all the searcher needs to do is click a suggested term or word and run the search..."
"Today SurfWax is introducing a dynamic query suggestion tool that can be easily installed and customized on any web site.
Before Google offered its popular Google Suggest tool, Silicon Valley's SurfWax was offering dynamic search navigation technology called LookAhead.
It's available online when searching SurfWax News. In this case, LookAhead might help the searcher focus a news search with very little effort before clicking the search button. News related terms, (names, events, etc) dynamically appear in a drop-down box directly below the search interface as the searcher types letters into the search. Then all the searcher needs to do is click a suggested term or word and run the search..."
Search Engine Journal - Google and Microsoft to Battle Over AOL?:
"Google and Microsoft may be taking their next battle out of the courtroom and into the Time Warner board room as the analysts are boiling over who may be acquiring a large part of AOL. Last week the New York Post (a News Corp company) reported that Microsoft was interested in paying Time Warner an unspecified amount of cash to take a large enough stake in AOL and then merge it into their MSN network.
The Microsoft ‘acquisition’ of AOL would surely lead to an establised partner where MSN could showcase its MSN Search Engine and MSN AdCenter Keywords advertising (to be launched by MSN this year). The acquisition would also add to MSN’s registered customer base, edging it closer up the ladder to Yahoo.
However, currently Google powers AOL’s search engine and Google AdWords ads are served on AOL during search results. Additionally, Google revenue generated form its AdWords partnership with AOL is 12% of Google’s total revenue model. As a defensive move to keep that revenue, Google may enter a bidding war with Microsoft over AOL.
Besides keeping its revenue, Google would also add strengths from the deal similar to what MSN would gain; registered members and content channels.
Wouldn’t such an action by Google be taking the company into the wrong direction? Google’s recent acquisitions have been innovative technology companies and more cutting edge than … AOL.
Why go through the motions of forking over billions of dollars to bring such users into Google? Let’s remember that Google is a media company, AOL is a media channel, and AOL can bring Google and Google applications into the homes of those who are not the usual Google suspects. Furthermore, let us not forget, AOL also owns Advertising.com, a very cutting edge advertising company which would bring a harem of technology, behavioral targeting, happy advertisers and content publishers into the Google Advertising Network.
Posted by — Loren Baker, Editor @ 5:54 am"
"Google and Microsoft may be taking their next battle out of the courtroom and into the Time Warner board room as the analysts are boiling over who may be acquiring a large part of AOL. Last week the New York Post (a News Corp company) reported that Microsoft was interested in paying Time Warner an unspecified amount of cash to take a large enough stake in AOL and then merge it into their MSN network.
The Microsoft ‘acquisition’ of AOL would surely lead to an establised partner where MSN could showcase its MSN Search Engine and MSN AdCenter Keywords advertising (to be launched by MSN this year). The acquisition would also add to MSN’s registered customer base, edging it closer up the ladder to Yahoo.
However, currently Google powers AOL’s search engine and Google AdWords ads are served on AOL during search results. Additionally, Google revenue generated form its AdWords partnership with AOL is 12% of Google’s total revenue model. As a defensive move to keep that revenue, Google may enter a bidding war with Microsoft over AOL.
Besides keeping its revenue, Google would also add strengths from the deal similar to what MSN would gain; registered members and content channels.
Wouldn’t such an action by Google be taking the company into the wrong direction? Google’s recent acquisitions have been innovative technology companies and more cutting edge than … AOL.
Why go through the motions of forking over billions of dollars to bring such users into Google? Let’s remember that Google is a media company, AOL is a media channel, and AOL can bring Google and Google applications into the homes of those who are not the usual Google suspects. Furthermore, let us not forget, AOL also owns Advertising.com, a very cutting edge advertising company which would bring a harem of technology, behavioral targeting, happy advertisers and content publishers into the Google Advertising Network.
Posted by — Loren Baker, Editor @ 5:54 am"
Search Engine Journal - Google Looking to Build National DWDM Optic Network:
"Google is reviewing contractor bids from tech firms in a plan to build a nationwide optical DWDM (dense wavelength-division multiplexing) network. Such a network would have few rivals and it appears that Google plans to wire every address in the United States with access to its video, voice, and multimedia content..."
"Google is reviewing contractor bids from tech firms in a plan to build a nationwide optical DWDM (dense wavelength-division multiplexing) network. Such a network would have few rivals and it appears that Google plans to wire every address in the United States with access to its video, voice, and multimedia content..."
It's All In the Timing:
" Published: September 19, 2005
(After September 27, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Every marketer knows that where you run your ads is a vitally important media decision—but new research indicates that when you run them may be critical, too.
The "Online Media Conversion Rates by Daypart" study, from the Atlas Institute, found that potential customers who are exposed to display ads online during the workday and early evening are more likely to make a purchase, fill out registrations or convert than consumers who view the ads between midnight and dawn.
"Time of day can have a dramatic impact on a campaign as hourly conversion rates can vary as much as 50% from the overall average," said Young-Bean Song of Atlas. "The results of this study indicate that web users save their purchases and other activities (typically tracked as conversions by marketers) for the lunch hour, after dinner or before going to bed."
In a report released earlier this year, The Media Audit said that the period from 1 pm to 6 pm was the most popular daypart among online shoppers who had made 12 or purchases over the past 12 months.
Atlas's research analysts, who studied conversion rates for each hour of the day, found that the lunchtime and prime time hours were the best dayparts for conversion rates. The noon hour (Eastern time) showed the highest conversion rate, at 35% more than the overall average. The 4 a.m. hour had the lowest rate, converting at less than half of the day's mean rate, while the morning, in general, showed the least activity.
"This is a clear indicator for direct response marketers that daypart advertising can play a key role in realizing savings in costs-per-acquisition deals," said Mr. Song.
The study offers several learning points for marketers.
Most importantly, given the large dips in conversion rates seen during the early morning, it may be a good idea — particularly for direct response advertisers — to avoid delivering impressions during that time. Targeting impressions to other hours, such as the late evening and lunch hour, could realize savings in cost-per-acquisition (CPA) by delivering more effective impressions that generate more conversions.
However, there are several other key factors to take into account when choosing dayparts:
* Keep in mind that if a daypart media buy is significantly more expensive than regular media, it may offset the potential gain in acquisition costs. As a general rule, paying more than a 35% surcharge for daypart buys will negate any gain in efficiency and should be avoided.
* Although early morning hours display a poor conversion rate, they still account for about 10% of the overall conversion volume. Simply cutting out these hours will increase efficiency and raise conversion rates, but will also sacrifice conversion volumes. Advertisers can try to increase impression volumes to more effective times of day; however, they may reach some point of diminishing return due to increasing impression frequency.
* Savings will only be realized for advertisers that have contracted CPM deals with their publishers. CPA and CPC deals need not worry about daypart, since they are negotiated on a pay-for-performance basis, irrespective of hour.
For a broad survey of what works and doesn't work online, read eMarketer's E-Commerce in the US: Retail Trends report."
" Published: September 19, 2005
(After September 27, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Every marketer knows that where you run your ads is a vitally important media decision—but new research indicates that when you run them may be critical, too.
The "Online Media Conversion Rates by Daypart" study, from the Atlas Institute, found that potential customers who are exposed to display ads online during the workday and early evening are more likely to make a purchase, fill out registrations or convert than consumers who view the ads between midnight and dawn.
"Time of day can have a dramatic impact on a campaign as hourly conversion rates can vary as much as 50% from the overall average," said Young-Bean Song of Atlas. "The results of this study indicate that web users save their purchases and other activities (typically tracked as conversions by marketers) for the lunch hour, after dinner or before going to bed."
In a report released earlier this year, The Media Audit said that the period from 1 pm to 6 pm was the most popular daypart among online shoppers who had made 12 or purchases over the past 12 months.
Atlas's research analysts, who studied conversion rates for each hour of the day, found that the lunchtime and prime time hours were the best dayparts for conversion rates. The noon hour (Eastern time) showed the highest conversion rate, at 35% more than the overall average. The 4 a.m. hour had the lowest rate, converting at less than half of the day's mean rate, while the morning, in general, showed the least activity.
"This is a clear indicator for direct response marketers that daypart advertising can play a key role in realizing savings in costs-per-acquisition deals," said Mr. Song.
The study offers several learning points for marketers.
Most importantly, given the large dips in conversion rates seen during the early morning, it may be a good idea — particularly for direct response advertisers — to avoid delivering impressions during that time. Targeting impressions to other hours, such as the late evening and lunch hour, could realize savings in cost-per-acquisition (CPA) by delivering more effective impressions that generate more conversions.
However, there are several other key factors to take into account when choosing dayparts:
* Keep in mind that if a daypart media buy is significantly more expensive than regular media, it may offset the potential gain in acquisition costs. As a general rule, paying more than a 35% surcharge for daypart buys will negate any gain in efficiency and should be avoided.
* Although early morning hours display a poor conversion rate, they still account for about 10% of the overall conversion volume. Simply cutting out these hours will increase efficiency and raise conversion rates, but will also sacrifice conversion volumes. Advertisers can try to increase impression volumes to more effective times of day; however, they may reach some point of diminishing return due to increasing impression frequency.
* Savings will only be realized for advertisers that have contracted CPM deals with their publishers. CPA and CPC deals need not worry about daypart, since they are negotiated on a pay-for-performance basis, irrespective of hour.
For a broad survey of what works and doesn't work online, read eMarketer's E-Commerce in the US: Retail Trends report."
Monday, September 19, 2005
Talk Xanga: Capturing Gen-Z's Computational Imagination:
"In a recent HPCWire article entitled 'New Directions for Computational Science Education,' the authors claim computational science education in the United States is broken. We agree whole-heartedly with this assessment.
A more important point, however, is that it is not just HPC education that is broken, but there is a dire need to think of a cyberinfrastructure-enabled educational science, where information technology provides the necessary foundation to build pedagogy. If cyberinfrastructure is poised to change the way discoveries happen in science, technology, engineering as well as social and behavioral sciences, the educational system as a whole needs to reflect this urgency.
The overt presence of cyberinfrastructure in every aspect of our life -- starting from HDTV at home to high-speed cellphone networks -- throws into sharp relief the need to re-think education ground up given the recent advances in cyberinfrastructure (CI) sciences..."
"In a recent HPCWire article entitled 'New Directions for Computational Science Education,' the authors claim computational science education in the United States is broken. We agree whole-heartedly with this assessment.
A more important point, however, is that it is not just HPC education that is broken, but there is a dire need to think of a cyberinfrastructure-enabled educational science, where information technology provides the necessary foundation to build pedagogy. If cyberinfrastructure is poised to change the way discoveries happen in science, technology, engineering as well as social and behavioral sciences, the educational system as a whole needs to reflect this urgency.
The overt presence of cyberinfrastructure in every aspect of our life -- starting from HDTV at home to high-speed cellphone networks -- throws into sharp relief the need to re-think education ground up given the recent advances in cyberinfrastructure (CI) sciences..."
ACM News Service:
"'Will Web Users 'Flock' to Social Surfing?'
New Scientist (09/15/05); Biever, Celeste
Bart Decrem, formerly with the Mozilla Foundation, has created Flock, a "social" Web browser designed to make it easier and faster to write, edit, share, and present Web content. He hopes Flock will satisfy the requirements of the "Web 2.0" Web user community with its seamless integration of blogging, photo blogging, and shared bookmark tools. Blogging tools such as Google's Blogger and Six Apart's Movable Type have not greatly eased the posting of content to the Web, and most bloggers are particularly annoyed with photo blogging services' lack of quality and efficiency. The best service currently available is the Flickr Web site, which users log into and download photos, and then transfer the images to their blog; however, TechCrunch editor Mike Arrington says that both the Flickr photo site and the blog site take a long time to log into, while the photos are not always formatted correctly in the blog. Flock partially addresses this problem by allowing photos to be dragged and dropped from Flickr into the blog. In addition, Flock shows users how the blog and the photos pasted into it will appear when published, while the browser's "social bookmarking" feature lets bookmarks be accessed from any PC and shared to create an index of popular bookmarked pages that other users can search. Flock's basic browser capabilities are based on the open-source code for Mozilla's Firefox browser. Flock is slated to be released to the general public next month."
Full article: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8003
"'Will Web Users 'Flock' to Social Surfing?'
New Scientist (09/15/05); Biever, Celeste
Bart Decrem, formerly with the Mozilla Foundation, has created Flock, a "social" Web browser designed to make it easier and faster to write, edit, share, and present Web content. He hopes Flock will satisfy the requirements of the "Web 2.0" Web user community with its seamless integration of blogging, photo blogging, and shared bookmark tools. Blogging tools such as Google's Blogger and Six Apart's Movable Type have not greatly eased the posting of content to the Web, and most bloggers are particularly annoyed with photo blogging services' lack of quality and efficiency. The best service currently available is the Flickr Web site, which users log into and download photos, and then transfer the images to their blog; however, TechCrunch editor Mike Arrington says that both the Flickr photo site and the blog site take a long time to log into, while the photos are not always formatted correctly in the blog. Flock partially addresses this problem by allowing photos to be dragged and dropped from Flickr into the blog. In addition, Flock shows users how the blog and the photos pasted into it will appear when published, while the browser's "social bookmarking" feature lets bookmarks be accessed from any PC and shared to create an index of popular bookmarked pages that other users can search. Flock's basic browser capabilities are based on the open-source code for Mozilla's Firefox browser. Flock is slated to be released to the general public next month."
Full article: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8003
ACM News Service:
"'Patent Reform Debate Gets Heated on Hill'
Associated Press (09/15/05); Werner, Erica
The original Patent Reform Act of 2005 introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) featured a provision that would restrict patent holders' ability to obtain court orders to halt the sale of products that potentially infringe on their patents. This was one of many reforms desired by the high-tech industry, which wants to deter "patent trolls" who generate profits without producing anything by acquiring patents and then suing others for infringement. However, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) balked at such changes, claiming they would enervate the drug industry's ability to innovate, given its dependence on patent enforcement as a protective measure for intellectual property and as a source of money while new products are developed. The court order provision and other amendments were removed from Smith's bill in response to BIO and PhRMA's objections, which prompted criticism from Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) at a Sept. 15 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on intellectual property. Another point of conflict for the high-tech and drug industries is whether infringement damages should be awarded according to the value of the whole product or the individual component of the product being patented. Remaining provisions that are still sought by high-tech firms would allow patents to be more easily challenged after being issued, and permit companies to more easily defend patent-infringement lawsuits in a favorable domain."
Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050915/ap_on_go_co/congress_patents
"'Patent Reform Debate Gets Heated on Hill'
Associated Press (09/15/05); Werner, Erica
The original Patent Reform Act of 2005 introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) featured a provision that would restrict patent holders' ability to obtain court orders to halt the sale of products that potentially infringe on their patents. This was one of many reforms desired by the high-tech industry, which wants to deter "patent trolls" who generate profits without producing anything by acquiring patents and then suing others for infringement. However, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) balked at such changes, claiming they would enervate the drug industry's ability to innovate, given its dependence on patent enforcement as a protective measure for intellectual property and as a source of money while new products are developed. The court order provision and other amendments were removed from Smith's bill in response to BIO and PhRMA's objections, which prompted criticism from Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) at a Sept. 15 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on intellectual property. Another point of conflict for the high-tech and drug industries is whether infringement damages should be awarded according to the value of the whole product or the individual component of the product being patented. Remaining provisions that are still sought by high-tech firms would allow patents to be more easily challenged after being issued, and permit companies to more easily defend patent-infringement lawsuits in a favorable domain."
Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050915/ap_on_go_co/congress_patents
Friday, September 16, 2005
Google Blog Search Help:
"What is Blog Search?
Blog Search is Google search technology focused on blogs. Google is a strong believer in the self-publishing phenomenon represented by blogging, and we hope Blog Search will help our users to explore the blogging universe more effectively, and perhaps inspire many to join the revolution themselves. Whether you're looking for Harry Potter reviews, political commentary, summer salad recipes or anything else, Blog Search enables you to find out what people are saying on any subject of your choice.
Your results include all blogs, not just those published through Blogger; our blog index is continually updated, so you'll always get the most accurate and up-to-date results; and you can search not just for blogs written in English, but in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese and other languages as well."
http://blogsearch.google.com/
"What is Blog Search?
Blog Search is Google search technology focused on blogs. Google is a strong believer in the self-publishing phenomenon represented by blogging, and we hope Blog Search will help our users to explore the blogging universe more effectively, and perhaps inspire many to join the revolution themselves. Whether you're looking for Harry Potter reviews, political commentary, summer salad recipes or anything else, Blog Search enables you to find out what people are saying on any subject of your choice.
Your results include all blogs, not just those published through Blogger; our blog index is continually updated, so you'll always get the most accurate and up-to-date results; and you can search not just for blogs written in English, but in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese and other languages as well."
http://blogsearch.google.com/
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Pay-Per-Call Cranks Up:
"Published: September 14, 2005
(After September 22, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
When most marketers think about search advertising, the pay-per-click model immediately springs to mind. But that could change if pay-per-call advertising takes off.
According to a report from the Kelsey Group, pay-per-call advertising—search advertising that generates phone calls rather than clicks—could generate as much as $4 billion in revenue by 2009.
'Consumers are accustomed to making phone calls to contact local businesses and local businesses are similarly used to closing leads over the phone,' said Greg Sterling of the Kelsey Group, commenting on why PPCall will appeal to many smaller businesses. 'A performance-based online medium that delivers calls rather than clicks therefore makes sense for the local market.'
Benefits of the PPCall model for the local marketplace include:
* PPCall potentially addresses the millions of small businesses that rely on the phone for leads and sales.
* PPCall is less susceptible to fraud than clicks and is more transparent to local businesses.
* PPCall helps 'close the loop' in tracking offline consumer buying behavior.
Search advertising has grown explosively in the past several years, quickly becoming the largest category of online advertising. Growth should cool somewhat going forward, although the category is expected to increase by 40% this year.
You don't have to search for eMarketer's new Ad Spending report—it will be released this week."
"Published: September 14, 2005
(After September 22, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
When most marketers think about search advertising, the pay-per-click model immediately springs to mind. But that could change if pay-per-call advertising takes off.
According to a report from the Kelsey Group, pay-per-call advertising—search advertising that generates phone calls rather than clicks—could generate as much as $4 billion in revenue by 2009.
'Consumers are accustomed to making phone calls to contact local businesses and local businesses are similarly used to closing leads over the phone,' said Greg Sterling of the Kelsey Group, commenting on why PPCall will appeal to many smaller businesses. 'A performance-based online medium that delivers calls rather than clicks therefore makes sense for the local market.'
Benefits of the PPCall model for the local marketplace include:
* PPCall potentially addresses the millions of small businesses that rely on the phone for leads and sales.
* PPCall is less susceptible to fraud than clicks and is more transparent to local businesses.
* PPCall helps 'close the loop' in tracking offline consumer buying behavior.
Search advertising has grown explosively in the past several years, quickly becoming the largest category of online advertising. Growth should cool somewhat going forward, although the category is expected to increase by 40% this year.
You don't have to search for eMarketer's new Ad Spending report—it will be released this week."
The Big Battle Over Ad Budgets: "Published: September 15, 2005
A new eMarketer report tracks the flow of advertising dollars to the Internet — and how much of that gain is coming from traditional media.
Internet advertising could be dubbed 'The Comeback Kid' of the media world.
According to eMarketer projections, in 2005, US Internet ad spending will surpass $10 billion for the first time, shooting past that mark to $12.9 billion. That figure more than doubles 2002's bottoming out. Four years from now, companies will spend nearly $10 billion more on Internet ads, reaching $22.3 billion in 2009.
'To call this advertising market 'hot' implies it's a fashion that might turn slack at any moment,' says David Hallerman, Senior Analyst at eMarketer and author of the Ad Spending Trends: The Internet and Other Media report. 'These yearly and quarterly ad spending gains point to a sea change in media usage among marketers, reflecting how the Internet has become an essential element of daily life for more and more individuals.'
"Much of the increase is coming at the expense of other, traditional media channels," says Mr. Hallerman. According to an InsightExpress survey, 74% of media planning and buying executives reported an increased demand for Internet ad inventory in late 2004. That figure was 23 points higher than the next most in-demand medium, cable TV. In contrast, 19% or more of respondents cited decreased demand for media such as newspapers, radio, magazines and network TV.
Mr. Hallerman also notes that despite the rapid growth of online advertising, it hasn't kept pace with audience growth. Overall ad spending rose 32.5% in 2004, while spending per user rose 27.9%.
"Put simply," says Mr. Hallerman, "money has failed to follow eyeballs on the Internet."
Not all is rosy in the online advertising world, though.
"The not-so-hidden secret about Internet advertising — the one that often makes traditional marketers hesitate about allocating more money to follow those eyeballs — is that the creative work is so often poor," says Mr. Hallerman. "When compared to the potentially beguiling motion and sound of a TV commercial, or the rich color and design in a static magazine ad, Internet advertising appears flat."
Get the information, analysis and comparative industry projections you need to make smarter decisions about your advertising budget. Read eMarketer's new Ad Spending Trends: The Internet and Other Media report today."
A new eMarketer report tracks the flow of advertising dollars to the Internet — and how much of that gain is coming from traditional media.
Internet advertising could be dubbed 'The Comeback Kid' of the media world.
According to eMarketer projections, in 2005, US Internet ad spending will surpass $10 billion for the first time, shooting past that mark to $12.9 billion. That figure more than doubles 2002's bottoming out. Four years from now, companies will spend nearly $10 billion more on Internet ads, reaching $22.3 billion in 2009.
'To call this advertising market 'hot' implies it's a fashion that might turn slack at any moment,' says David Hallerman, Senior Analyst at eMarketer and author of the Ad Spending Trends: The Internet and Other Media report. 'These yearly and quarterly ad spending gains point to a sea change in media usage among marketers, reflecting how the Internet has become an essential element of daily life for more and more individuals.'
"Much of the increase is coming at the expense of other, traditional media channels," says Mr. Hallerman. According to an InsightExpress survey, 74% of media planning and buying executives reported an increased demand for Internet ad inventory in late 2004. That figure was 23 points higher than the next most in-demand medium, cable TV. In contrast, 19% or more of respondents cited decreased demand for media such as newspapers, radio, magazines and network TV.
Mr. Hallerman also notes that despite the rapid growth of online advertising, it hasn't kept pace with audience growth. Overall ad spending rose 32.5% in 2004, while spending per user rose 27.9%.
"Put simply," says Mr. Hallerman, "money has failed to follow eyeballs on the Internet."
Not all is rosy in the online advertising world, though.
"The not-so-hidden secret about Internet advertising — the one that often makes traditional marketers hesitate about allocating more money to follow those eyeballs — is that the creative work is so often poor," says Mr. Hallerman. "When compared to the potentially beguiling motion and sound of a TV commercial, or the rich color and design in a static magazine ad, Internet advertising appears flat."
Get the information, analysis and comparative industry projections you need to make smarter decisions about your advertising budget. Read eMarketer's new Ad Spending Trends: The Internet and Other Media report today."
www.businessinafrica.net | features | technology and telecoms African software gains global popularity:
"Gary Wilson - Published: 12-SEP-05
New York - A decade ago, Ubuntu was a word that shook apartheid South Africa. Today, it is a word that may be keeping Bill Gates awake at night.
Ubuntu is an African word that is one of the founding principles of the new South Africa, and it also is the name of a new computer operating system developed by South African Mark Shuttleworth and his company Canonical.
The word 'Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language', writes Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 'No Future Without Forgiveness'. It means 'you are generous, you are hospitable, you are friendly and caring and compassionate. You share what you have'.
Ubuntu Linux calls itself the 'Linux for human beings'. In less than six months from its introduction in October 2004, Ubuntu Linux became the most popular Linux desktop distribution in the United States.
In July, PC World magazine named Ubuntu Linux one of its '100 Best Products of 2005'. And it has won numerous other awards. A special version was developed by Hewlett-Packard for its laptop computers that are sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa..."
"Gary Wilson - Published: 12-SEP-05
New York - A decade ago, Ubuntu was a word that shook apartheid South Africa. Today, it is a word that may be keeping Bill Gates awake at night.
Ubuntu is an African word that is one of the founding principles of the new South Africa, and it also is the name of a new computer operating system developed by South African Mark Shuttleworth and his company Canonical.
The word 'Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language', writes Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 'No Future Without Forgiveness'. It means 'you are generous, you are hospitable, you are friendly and caring and compassionate. You share what you have'.
Ubuntu Linux calls itself the 'Linux for human beings'. In less than six months from its introduction in October 2004, Ubuntu Linux became the most popular Linux desktop distribution in the United States.
In July, PC World magazine named Ubuntu Linux one of its '100 Best Products of 2005'. And it has won numerous other awards. A special version was developed by Hewlett-Packard for its laptop computers that are sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa..."
ACM News Service:
"'IBM Almaden Research Center's Intelligent Bricks and Kybos Software Supersmart Storage'
Computerworld (09/12/05) P. 34; Collett, Stacy
IBM envisions an intelligent storage system architecture that boasts easier data management, reduced maintenance costs, and less environmental impact through the integration of Intelligent Bricks hardware and Kybos software. A team led by Moidin Mohiuddin at IBM's Almaden Research Center has developed a prototype storage system from these technologies that can recover from failures by assigning the functions of dysfunctional bricks to new bricks. Each brick is equipped with a processor, an Ethernet switch chip, and some disks, and the bricks are arranged in a high-speed mesh network whose communications are facilitated by capacitative couplers on each brick face. The prototype allows for fail-over space by using 25 percent more bricks than are actually necessary to store data. Floor space is saved thanks to the bricks' small size, and the use of a water-cooling rather than fan-cooling system makes the prototype less noisy and more power-efficient. Gartner analyst Stanley Zaffos is uncertain that the brick technology will dramatically lower acquisition costs, but says the Kybos software 'holds the promise of lowering [total cost of ownership] by creating an infrastructure that's more flexible, extensible, and manageable.' Mohiuddin expects the technology developed through his research to be applied to storage systems for medical images, Web sites, and other storage-heavy applications by the end of the decade.
Click Here to View Full Article"
"'IBM Almaden Research Center's Intelligent Bricks and Kybos Software Supersmart Storage'
Computerworld (09/12/05) P. 34; Collett, Stacy
IBM envisions an intelligent storage system architecture that boasts easier data management, reduced maintenance costs, and less environmental impact through the integration of Intelligent Bricks hardware and Kybos software. A team led by Moidin Mohiuddin at IBM's Almaden Research Center has developed a prototype storage system from these technologies that can recover from failures by assigning the functions of dysfunctional bricks to new bricks. Each brick is equipped with a processor, an Ethernet switch chip, and some disks, and the bricks are arranged in a high-speed mesh network whose communications are facilitated by capacitative couplers on each brick face. The prototype allows for fail-over space by using 25 percent more bricks than are actually necessary to store data. Floor space is saved thanks to the bricks' small size, and the use of a water-cooling rather than fan-cooling system makes the prototype less noisy and more power-efficient. Gartner analyst Stanley Zaffos is uncertain that the brick technology will dramatically lower acquisition costs, but says the Kybos software 'holds the promise of lowering [total cost of ownership] by creating an infrastructure that's more flexible, extensible, and manageable.' Mohiuddin expects the technology developed through his research to be applied to storage systems for medical images, Web sites, and other storage-heavy applications by the end of the decade.
Click Here to View Full Article"
Search in China:
"Published: September 13, 2005
(After September 21, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Everyone's heard of Google and Yahoo!, but how about Baidu? For many Chinese Internet users, that's the search engine of choice.
Although Google and Yahoo! each claim about one-fifth of the Chinese search market, there are also a number of prominent local players, including China-based search engines Baidu and Sogou.
According to research firm Analysys, Baidu claims 37% of the search engine market in China, while Sogou has a 13% share, placing it fourth behind Baidu, Google and Yahoo!
Analysys believes that Baidu will continue to be the leader in the Chinese search sector, thanks not only to extensive knowledge of the Chinese Internet market but also to solid financial backing.
Shanghai-based iResearch says that the number of search users in China will top 186 million by 2007, representing 91% of all Chinese Internet users.
This would still be smaller than the number of search users in the US. But the rapid growth in China suggests that the total will surpass the US soon.
iResearch also expects paid search revenues in China to ramp up quickly, more than doubling between 2005 and 2007.
For more on Internet usage in China, try a search in eMarketer's eStat Database."
"Published: September 13, 2005
(After September 21, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Everyone's heard of Google and Yahoo!, but how about Baidu? For many Chinese Internet users, that's the search engine of choice.
Although Google and Yahoo! each claim about one-fifth of the Chinese search market, there are also a number of prominent local players, including China-based search engines Baidu and Sogou.
According to research firm Analysys, Baidu claims 37% of the search engine market in China, while Sogou has a 13% share, placing it fourth behind Baidu, Google and Yahoo!
Analysys believes that Baidu will continue to be the leader in the Chinese search sector, thanks not only to extensive knowledge of the Chinese Internet market but also to solid financial backing.
Shanghai-based iResearch says that the number of search users in China will top 186 million by 2007, representing 91% of all Chinese Internet users.
This would still be smaller than the number of search users in the US. But the rapid growth in China suggests that the total will surpass the US soon.
iResearch also expects paid search revenues in China to ramp up quickly, more than doubling between 2005 and 2007.
For more on Internet usage in China, try a search in eMarketer's eStat Database."
Monday, September 12, 2005
Ask Jeeves Disputes Anti-Spyware Flaggings: "A dispute has erupted between the Ask Jeeves search engine and anti-spyware software companies that raises questions about the standards used to flag potentially unwanted programs on users computers.
At least two anti-spyware companies—Sunbelt Software Inc. and Facetime Inc. —have been asked by Ask Jeeves Inc. to stop flagging or to change the way they categorize the company's Web browser search bar plug-in programs but have refused to do so, according to interviews with executives at those companies. At issue is Ask Jeeves' method of distributing its software, such as bundling arrangements that result in the programs being installed without users' consent..."
At least two anti-spyware companies—Sunbelt Software Inc. and Facetime Inc. —have been asked by Ask Jeeves Inc. to stop flagging or to change the way they categorize the company's Web browser search bar plug-in programs but have refused to do so, according to interviews with executives at those companies. At issue is Ask Jeeves' method of distributing its software, such as bundling arrangements that result in the programs being installed without users' consent..."
ResearchBuzz: Search Engine of Free, GNU FDL, Creative Commons Images: "I'm always wary of search engines for free/public domain images -- I'm always worried you're going to find something useful that's not as free/GNU FDL/PubDom/Creative Common'd as it's supposed to be. But I was reading an interview with the owner of Yotophoto, and when he said, 'We have contacted all the sites we index, and all the feedback has all been very positive.' I felt a little better...
Yotophoto ( http://www.yotophoto.com ) has indexed over 100,000 images that are licensed under Creative Commons, GNU FDL, are public domain, or various other flavors of free.
I did a search for 28 results. Results show thumbnails of the content, the site from which the image is indexed, the size, and the license under which the image is available. In some cases there's also a link to view the license. Clicking on the thumbnail takes you straight to the page.
Yotophoto also has an advanced search that allows you to narrow your search by both size and license. In this case searching for public domain images of hummingbird gave only three results.
Posted by RBuzz "
Yotophoto ( http://www.yotophoto.com ) has indexed over 100,000 images that are licensed under Creative Commons, GNU FDL, are public domain, or various other flavors of free.
I did a search for 28 results. Results show thumbnails of the content, the site from which the image is indexed, the size, and the license under which the image is available. In some cases there's also a link to view the license. Clicking on the thumbnail takes you straight to the page.
Yotophoto also has an advanced search that allows you to narrow your search by both size and license. In this case searching for public domain images of hummingbird gave only three results.
Posted by RBuzz "
Microsoft looks to developers to close rivals' search lead - Software - www.itnews.com.au:
"Microsoft is turning to developers in trying to close the lead in search enjoyed by rivals Google and Yahoo.
The software maker is planning to release at its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles several application programming interfaces that begin the process of turning MSN's search capabilities into a development platform.
'For us, this is certainly a first step, and we want to do a lot more,' Justin Osmer, product manager for MSN Search, said Friday [US]...
...The MSN Search API would enable a developer to build an application that would use Microsoft's technology to search a website's database. Microsoft is making the technology available for noncommercial use, and caps its capabilities at 10,000 queries a day, returning a maximum of 50 results per query.
The MSN Messenger API lets people view information while having a conversation on the instant-messaging service. For example, an application could let two people chatting about meeting at a restaurant see a window with driving instructions or a roadmap. A translator application, as another example, could translate a conversation between two people from different countries.
The API for Virtual Earth, which is in beta, would let developers embed the service into an application. The API is available at no charge, even for commercial use. The only requirement is that developers use VE's local search capabilities, Trina Seinfeld, lead product manager for MapPoint, said. While third-party applications don't have to carry advertising from MSN, a shared-revenue option is available..."
"Microsoft is turning to developers in trying to close the lead in search enjoyed by rivals Google and Yahoo.
The software maker is planning to release at its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles several application programming interfaces that begin the process of turning MSN's search capabilities into a development platform.
'For us, this is certainly a first step, and we want to do a lot more,' Justin Osmer, product manager for MSN Search, said Friday [US]...
...The MSN Search API would enable a developer to build an application that would use Microsoft's technology to search a website's database. Microsoft is making the technology available for noncommercial use, and caps its capabilities at 10,000 queries a day, returning a maximum of 50 results per query.
The MSN Messenger API lets people view information while having a conversation on the instant-messaging service. For example, an application could let two people chatting about meeting at a restaurant see a window with driving instructions or a roadmap. A translator application, as another example, could translate a conversation between two people from different countries.
The API for Virtual Earth, which is in beta, would let developers embed the service into an application. The API is available at no charge, even for commercial use. The only requirement is that developers use VE's local search capabilities, Trina Seinfeld, lead product manager for MapPoint, said. While third-party applications don't have to carry advertising from MSN, a shared-revenue option is available..."
InformationWeek > Google > Google Is Getting Under Everyone's Skin > September 12, 2005:
"As it scouts for talent, more than Microsoft is feeling the pinch.
By Thomas Claburn - InformationWeek
Sparks flew--along with accusations of flying chairs--in one of the first hearings last week in Microsoft's lawsuit against Google Inc. over the hiring of former Microsoft executive Kai-Fu Lee. In written testimony, former Microsoft engineer Mark Lucovsky claimed that CEO Steve Ballmer threw a chair in anger when Lucovsky said he was going to Google, and Ballmer vowed to bury Google CEO Eric Schmidt and kill the search company. (Ballmer says Lucovsky's account isn't accurate.)
Google is doing the killing lately, at least when it comes to recruiting star talent. And it's not just from Microsoft. The company's aggressive search for brilliant engineering talent has created an intellectual fuel shortage for competitors. Google's latest coup: hiring Vinton Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the Internet, away from MCI last week. Research scientist Daniel Russell, formerly with IBM, Apple, and Xerox, also recently joined Google..."
"As it scouts for talent, more than Microsoft is feeling the pinch.
By Thomas Claburn - InformationWeek
Sparks flew--along with accusations of flying chairs--in one of the first hearings last week in Microsoft's lawsuit against Google Inc. over the hiring of former Microsoft executive Kai-Fu Lee. In written testimony, former Microsoft engineer Mark Lucovsky claimed that CEO Steve Ballmer threw a chair in anger when Lucovsky said he was going to Google, and Ballmer vowed to bury Google CEO Eric Schmidt and kill the search company. (Ballmer says Lucovsky's account isn't accurate.)
Google is doing the killing lately, at least when it comes to recruiting star talent. And it's not just from Microsoft. The company's aggressive search for brilliant engineering talent has created an intellectual fuel shortage for competitors. Google's latest coup: hiring Vinton Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the Internet, away from MCI last week. Research scientist Daniel Russell, formerly with IBM, Apple, and Xerox, also recently joined Google..."
ResearchBuzz: Unsafe Searching on Google:
"You know Google has a SafeSearch, right? It's a search that filters content so that you don't get icky stuff in your search results. It doesn't always work, but that's the intention.
Now there's Google UnSafeSearch, at http://strix.org.uk/misc/adult.google/index.php . This search grabs the first 100 results of a filtered Google search and the first 100 results of an unfiltered search. It then sifts the two and shows only those results which appeared in the unfiltered search.
So why am I showing you this? ResearchBuzz the newsletter is definitely rated PG. Because Google's SafeSearch doesn't always work. In fact sometimes it filters stuff that perhaps shouldn't be filtered, and using UnSafe Search is a perfect way to find out what's getting filtered.
Use your domain name in a site search like this -- site:example.com . This'll show you pages from that site that don't get through a SafeSearch search. For grins run the search site:google.com and see what pages Google is filtering from itself. "
"You know Google has a SafeSearch, right? It's a search that filters content so that you don't get icky stuff in your search results. It doesn't always work, but that's the intention.
Now there's Google UnSafeSearch, at http://strix.org.uk/misc/adult.google/index.php . This search grabs the first 100 results of a filtered Google search and the first 100 results of an unfiltered search. It then sifts the two and shows only those results which appeared in the unfiltered search.
So why am I showing you this? ResearchBuzz the newsletter is definitely rated PG. Because Google's SafeSearch doesn't always work. In fact sometimes it filters stuff that perhaps shouldn't be filtered, and using UnSafe Search is a perfect way to find out what's getting filtered.
Use your domain name in a site search like this -- site:example.com . This'll show you pages from that site that don't get through a SafeSearch search. For grins run the search site:google.com and see what pages Google is filtering from itself. "
SearchViews: Aussie Search Engines Has Stars in Its Eyes:
"Researchers in Australia have developed a new method of exploring the web that could have a big impact on the search engines we use today.
Ori Allon is the 26-year-old PhD student behind the Orion search engine that's earning praise from Bill Gates among others for its ability to return pages on not just the keyword entered in, but also pages with content that is strongly related to the keyword. Conventional search engines return pages in which the keywords occur - some of them related to the topic, others not.
Query results are displayed via 'expanded text extracts' that show relevant information without requiring a visit to the web site. Says Allon:
'By displaying results to other associated keywords directly related to your search topic, you gain additional pertinent information that you might not have originally conceived, thus offering an expert search without having an expert's knowledge.'
This development is exciting, but don't expect it to radically alter the landscape any time soon. Orion is designed as a complement to existing engines like Yahoo, Google, and MSN, rather than a direct competitor.
Learn more here.
Posted by Erin Bradley at September 9, 2005 10:25 AM"
"Researchers in Australia have developed a new method of exploring the web that could have a big impact on the search engines we use today.
Ori Allon is the 26-year-old PhD student behind the Orion search engine that's earning praise from Bill Gates among others for its ability to return pages on not just the keyword entered in, but also pages with content that is strongly related to the keyword. Conventional search engines return pages in which the keywords occur - some of them related to the topic, others not.
Query results are displayed via 'expanded text extracts' that show relevant information without requiring a visit to the web site. Says Allon:
'By displaying results to other associated keywords directly related to your search topic, you gain additional pertinent information that you might not have originally conceived, thus offering an expert search without having an expert's knowledge.'
This development is exciting, but don't expect it to radically alter the landscape any time soon. Orion is designed as a complement to existing engines like Yahoo, Google, and MSN, rather than a direct competitor.
Learn more here.
Posted by Erin Bradley at September 9, 2005 10:25 AM"
Aussies to turn web search upside down - vnunet.com:
"Australian researchers have patented a method of exploring the web which they claim could revolutionise existing search engines.
Developed by Ori Allon, a 26 year-old PhD student from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the Orion search engine is designed to complement searches conducted on services such as Google, Yahoo or MSN Search.."
"Australian researchers have patented a method of exploring the web which they claim could revolutionise existing search engines.
Developed by Ori Allon, a 26 year-old PhD student from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the Orion search engine is designed to complement searches conducted on services such as Google, Yahoo or MSN Search.."
Search Engine Lowdown :: News: "Revolutionary" Search Engine Sounds Pretty Much Like Ask Jeeves: "'Revolutionary' Search Engine Sounds Pretty Much Like Ask Jeeves
VNU has a little story on Orion, a 'revolutionary' search engine out of Wales New South Wales that 'is designed to find pages where the content is about a topic strongly related to the keyword.'
It sounds suspciously like Ask to me:
Allon cited a search on the topic of the American Revolution as an example of how the system works.
Orion is designed to bring up results with extracts containing this phrase, but it would also give results for American History, George Washington, American Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, Boston Tea Party and more.
Would that be anything like the Ask Jeeves search for American Revolution that delivers both the zoom function so you can drill down contextually into and out of the war and search through related names?
One difference, which I picked out of the news article, is in how they display their contextually related results.
'The results to the query are displayed immediately in the form of expanded text extracts giving you the relevant information without having to go the website, although you still have that option if you wish,' said Allon.
It's interesting to note that Gates um, someone related to Orion even commented on Orion (see comments... thanks for the catch Ken), saying that it would 'take search way beyond how people think of it today.' Right. All the way to what Ask's doing.
Check out the article and let me know what you think. I'll see if I can contact the inventor to see what's actually different between the engines, as VNU isn't likely to have laid those out too clearly.
via SearchViews
Update:
Just also wanted to let you know that he's from New South Wales (a state in Australia) not Wales (a country in the UK) :)
Cheers,
Laura"
VNU has a little story on Orion, a 'revolutionary' search engine out of Wales New South Wales that 'is designed to find pages where the content is about a topic strongly related to the keyword.'
It sounds suspciously like Ask to me:
Allon cited a search on the topic of the American Revolution as an example of how the system works.
Orion is designed to bring up results with extracts containing this phrase, but it would also give results for American History, George Washington, American Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, Boston Tea Party and more.
Would that be anything like the Ask Jeeves search for American Revolution that delivers both the zoom function so you can drill down contextually into and out of the war and search through related names?
One difference, which I picked out of the news article, is in how they display their contextually related results.
'The results to the query are displayed immediately in the form of expanded text extracts giving you the relevant information without having to go the website, although you still have that option if you wish,' said Allon.
It's interesting to note that Gates um, someone related to Orion even commented on Orion (see comments... thanks for the catch Ken), saying that it would 'take search way beyond how people think of it today.' Right. All the way to what Ask's doing.
Check out the article and let me know what you think. I'll see if I can contact the inventor to see what's actually different between the engines, as VNU isn't likely to have laid those out too clearly.
via SearchViews
Update:
Just also wanted to let you know that he's from New South Wales (a state in Australia) not Wales (a country in the UK) :)
Cheers,
Laura"
Search Engine Journal - Murdoch's News Corporation Acquires IGN Entertainment for $650 Million: "Look out America, Rupert Murdoch is doing the same thing he did with cable in the '90's and network TV in the '80's, he's writing checks and entering a new media to conquer. Well, its not really just Rupert, its News Corp, which is expanding its dominance of the US and World media from the TV set and onto labtops and desktops - especially those of 15-29 year olds. Yes, News Corp, the same people that have challenged the intellectual well-being of the average US citizen wih such masterpieces as FOX NEWS, Married With Children, the New York Post, Animals Gone Wild, Joe Billionaire and Bill O'Reilly.
Look out Ask Jeeves, Yahoo, AOL and Google, there's a new player in town with a bankroll backed by new investments by the Saudis and they are quite serious. Adding to its plan to dominate the young adult online market, News Corporation announced last week that they are buying the video game/entertainment network IGN Entertainment for $650 million in cash. "The acquisition of IGN adds a significant visitor base in the gaming sector, and increases Fox's exposure among the prized 18- to 34-year-old male audience," said Jack Flanagan, senior vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "The acquisition is a good complement to the company's other assets in the online space."..."
Look out Ask Jeeves, Yahoo, AOL and Google, there's a new player in town with a bankroll backed by new investments by the Saudis and they are quite serious. Adding to its plan to dominate the young adult online market, News Corporation announced last week that they are buying the video game/entertainment network IGN Entertainment for $650 million in cash. "The acquisition of IGN adds a significant visitor base in the gaming sector, and increases Fox's exposure among the prized 18- to 34-year-old male audience," said Jack Flanagan, senior vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "The acquisition is a good complement to the company's other assets in the online space."..."
Oracle to buy rival Siebel for $5.85 bln - Yahoo! News:
"PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq:ORCL - news) on Monday said it will buy rival software company Siebel Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:SEBL - news), which has been long-mentioned as a possible takeover target, for $10.66 a share in a deal that valued Siebel at $5.85 billion.
Oracle, which will become the world's biggest customer relationship management software maker if the deal goes through, said the agreement was worth $3.61 billion after subtracting Siebel's $2.24 billion in cash.
The price per share represents a 16.8 pct premium to Siebel's closing share price of $9.13 on Friday.
Siebel gained prominence in the late 1990s as a top maker of software that helps companies better understand and manage their relationships with customers, one of the market's fastest-growing areas.
But as Siebel's share of that market gets chipped away by stiff competition, analysts have increasingly considered it a prime takeover prize for a rival like Oracle..."
"PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq:ORCL - news) on Monday said it will buy rival software company Siebel Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:SEBL - news), which has been long-mentioned as a possible takeover target, for $10.66 a share in a deal that valued Siebel at $5.85 billion.
Oracle, which will become the world's biggest customer relationship management software maker if the deal goes through, said the agreement was worth $3.61 billion after subtracting Siebel's $2.24 billion in cash.
The price per share represents a 16.8 pct premium to Siebel's closing share price of $9.13 on Friday.
Siebel gained prominence in the late 1990s as a top maker of software that helps companies better understand and manage their relationships with customers, one of the market's fastest-growing areas.
But as Siebel's share of that market gets chipped away by stiff competition, analysts have increasingly considered it a prime takeover prize for a rival like Oracle..."
EBay to buy Skype - Yahoo! News:
"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY - news) has agreed to buy the fast-growing Internet start-up Skype in a move to add free Web telephone calls to its online auctions and fuel growth, the companies confirmed on Monday.
EBay said it plans to pay $1.3 billion in cash and $1.3 billion in stock for the Web communications company. It would make a further payout of up to $1.5 billion by 2008 or 2009 if financial targets are met, giving the deal a total value of up to $4.1 billion, executives of the two companies said.
EBay is renowned for an Internet business model linking millions of buyers and sellers, but its core U.S. market is maturing, slowing to annual growth of between 20 percent and 30 percent a year, compared with 50 percent international growth.
Skype, which said it expects revenue of $60 million this year and more than $200 million in 2006, has raced to the lead in the booming voice-over-Internet (VOIP) market, which is being aggressively targeted by online powerhouses like Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), Google (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) and Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT - news)..."
"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY - news) has agreed to buy the fast-growing Internet start-up Skype in a move to add free Web telephone calls to its online auctions and fuel growth, the companies confirmed on Monday.
EBay said it plans to pay $1.3 billion in cash and $1.3 billion in stock for the Web communications company. It would make a further payout of up to $1.5 billion by 2008 or 2009 if financial targets are met, giving the deal a total value of up to $4.1 billion, executives of the two companies said.
EBay is renowned for an Internet business model linking millions of buyers and sellers, but its core U.S. market is maturing, slowing to annual growth of between 20 percent and 30 percent a year, compared with 50 percent international growth.
Skype, which said it expects revenue of $60 million this year and more than $200 million in 2006, has raced to the lead in the booming voice-over-Internet (VOIP) market, which is being aggressively targeted by online powerhouses like Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), Google (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) and Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT - news)..."
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Squeezing The Search Engine Loaf For Freshness:
"Phil Bradley points to this research paper, The Freshness Of Web Search Engines' Databases (PDF), out of Heinrich-Heine-University in Dusseldorf that analyzed the freshness of Google, Yahoo and MSN over six weeks in February and March 2005. Google came out best with the most pages updated almost daily, but MSN had the best 'worst case' scenario with no page more than 20 days old. Yahoo was said to be 'chaotic.' There's much much more in the paper which, sadly and ironically, is already out of date in terms of knowing what's happening right now. But having benchmark for various points in time is great."
"Phil Bradley points to this research paper, The Freshness Of Web Search Engines' Databases (PDF), out of Heinrich-Heine-University in Dusseldorf that analyzed the freshness of Google, Yahoo and MSN over six weeks in February and March 2005. Google came out best with the most pages updated almost daily, but MSN had the best 'worst case' scenario with no page more than 20 days old. Yahoo was said to be 'chaotic.' There's much much more in the paper which, sadly and ironically, is already out of date in terms of knowing what's happening right now. But having benchmark for various points in time is great."
Japan's Mitsui Invests in Feedster:
"A news release sent to SEW Blog alerts us to the fact that Feedster from Japan's, Mitsui and Co has made an investment in Feedster. What's the size of the investment? The number was not disclosed. Feedster will use the money to expand their business worldwide.
In June, we blogged about Feedster closing a round of venture cap funding. Last December we mentioned the Omidyar Network making an investment in the company. "
"A news release sent to SEW Blog alerts us to the fact that Feedster from Japan's, Mitsui and Co has made an investment in Feedster. What's the size of the investment? The number was not disclosed. Feedster will use the money to expand their business worldwide.
In June, we blogged about Feedster closing a round of venture cap funding. Last December we mentioned the Omidyar Network making an investment in the company. "
InfoWorld: Product Guide: ISYS:desktop : Review:
"Desktop search gets down to business
Solutions from dtSearch, Google, ISYS, X1 allow users to explore knowledge assets throughout the enterprise
By Mike Heck September 1, 2005
When enterprises roll out search applications, it's usually a big IT effort to keep indexes refreshed and the overall systems running. Because of this complexity and the reality that most enterprise knowledge resides on workers' PCs, consumer desktop search technology has infiltrated organizations -- and has caught IT executives off guard.
There's no questioning the benefit of quickly finding that e-mail or spreadsheet squirreled away months ago. Yet there are still red flags concerning security of consumer desktop tools, such as revealing private personal or corporate information or introducing spyware to the enterprise network. More significantly, these tools lack the centralized administration so essential for enterprise deployments.
What, then, distinguishes tools that are free or for personal use from those you'd consider purchasing for your organization? To answer this question, I looked at enterprise products from dtSearch, ISYS Search Software, and X1 Technologies, along with Google's Desktop Search, which has recently been outfitted with corporate features..."
"Desktop search gets down to business
Solutions from dtSearch, Google, ISYS, X1 allow users to explore knowledge assets throughout the enterprise
By Mike Heck September 1, 2005
When enterprises roll out search applications, it's usually a big IT effort to keep indexes refreshed and the overall systems running. Because of this complexity and the reality that most enterprise knowledge resides on workers' PCs, consumer desktop search technology has infiltrated organizations -- and has caught IT executives off guard.
There's no questioning the benefit of quickly finding that e-mail or spreadsheet squirreled away months ago. Yet there are still red flags concerning security of consumer desktop tools, such as revealing private personal or corporate information or introducing spyware to the enterprise network. More significantly, these tools lack the centralized administration so essential for enterprise deployments.
What, then, distinguishes tools that are free or for personal use from those you'd consider purchasing for your organization? To answer this question, I looked at enterprise products from dtSearch, ISYS Search Software, and X1 Technologies, along with Google's Desktop Search, which has recently been outfitted with corporate features..."
WSJ.com - New Search Engines Help Users Find Blogs:
"Users Say Google and Yahoo Fail to Locate Latest Postings; A Guide to the Top Sites
By VAUHINI VARA - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE - September 7, 2005; Page D1
The race is on to become the Google of blogs.
Web logs, online diaries written and published by everyone from college students to big media companies, are being created and updated at an astonishing rate -- and established search companies such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. don't always catch them fast enough. Now, a handful of closely held upstarts such as Technorati Inc., Feedster Inc. and IceRocket.com LLC see an opportunity: Build a search engine that can track the information zipping through blogs, nearly in real time..."
"Users Say Google and Yahoo Fail to Locate Latest Postings; A Guide to the Top Sites
By VAUHINI VARA - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE - September 7, 2005; Page D1
The race is on to become the Google of blogs.
Web logs, online diaries written and published by everyone from college students to big media companies, are being created and updated at an astonishing rate -- and established search companies such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. don't always catch them fast enough. Now, a handful of closely held upstarts such as Technorati Inc., Feedster Inc. and IceRocket.com LLC see an opportunity: Build a search engine that can track the information zipping through blogs, nearly in real time..."
InformationWeek > Venture Viewpoint << In Search Of Intelligent Search >> > September 7, 2005:
"To search effectively behind the firewall, you need to provide relevant context or 'metadata' to your data. On the Web, Google uses text such as 'best football team' as a kind of metadata—that is, it uses terms and links on one page to classify and rank other pages. Behind the firewall, though, you need an enterprise-wide classification system, also called a 'taxonomy,' to create your metadata, say Madrona Venture Group executives Greg Gottesman and Dan Weld. Establishing and managing an enterprise-wide taxonomy is the first, and arguably most important, step toward successful enterprise search..."
"To search effectively behind the firewall, you need to provide relevant context or 'metadata' to your data. On the Web, Google uses text such as 'best football team' as a kind of metadata—that is, it uses terms and links on one page to classify and rank other pages. Behind the firewall, though, you need an enterprise-wide classification system, also called a 'taxonomy,' to create your metadata, say Madrona Venture Group executives Greg Gottesman and Dan Weld. Establishing and managing an enterprise-wide taxonomy is the first, and arguably most important, step toward successful enterprise search..."
