TechAddress

Yahoo and Google: It’s Over, Folks

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:34:44 +0000

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Source:Mashable!

Earlier this year, as Yahoo fought off an acquisition attempt by Microsoft, it began to entertain a search advertising deal with Google. They even even went so far as to conduct a live trial of such a measure. Now the two Internet giants have effectively terminated the effort.

In June, as the US Department of Justice began its investigation of that arguably brazen move, the two companies forged an outline of what such an arrangement would look like if it were to see official approval.

But opposition steadily grew as Google and Yahoo heads stood strong for an October launch. Weeks later, they softened a bit, deciding to allow the DOJ to do its business. Yet, late last week, The Wall Street Journal reported a high potential of failure for their original proposal. Finally, today Google has confirmed the end of its agreement with Yahoo.

Google’s senior vice president of Corporate Development, David Drummond, who also sits as the chief legal officer for the company, cites government regulators’ ongoing scrutiny and concern and the possibility of a “protracted legal battle” and potential “damage to relationships with valued partners” as the key factors in its discontinuation of the search advertising plan put forth in late spring.

Drummond wrote that it was four months of review and “discussions of various possible changes to the agreement” that made it an ultimately unsuccessful venture. And in what seems to be a sort of token concession, the Google executive explained that an attempt to weather any and all conflicts “wouldn’t have been in the long-term interests of Google or our users.”

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Live Search Cashback Increases in Popularity During Economic Downturn

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:31:13 +0000

Source:Mashable!

Hitwise has noticed a trend over the last few weeks in the growing popularity of Live Search Cashback. For those unfamiliar with the service, Live Search Cashback helps users get cash back from shopping online. Similar to sites like Eversave, but integrated with the Live Search platform, the cashback program lets you shop anywhere online that participates in the program and collects your cash back savings all in one spot.

According to Hitwise reports, Live Search Cashback was at a 3.75% share of the total traffic to Live.com about eleven weeks ago, but had grown to 6.29% of the total traffic just seven days ago. The statistics delivered by Hitwise also track gender and note that many of these frugal shoppers are female with an income under $100,000 a year.

Live Search Cashback is growing its market share in a tough economic climate, and that alone says a lot about the program, but how does it work? Basically, it requires you to sign up for it, giving it some tracking information so it can follow your shopping and credit your cash back correctly. Once you have the Live Search set up with a Live Search Cashback account, you just remember to do all of your online shopping through the Live Search interface.

As you go about your normal bargain hunting, Cashback via Live Search will list products rated by price and participation in addition to shopping category. As long as you purchase items with the Live Search Cashback indicator logo on them (shown above), your cash back rebates and rewards get credited to your Cashback account. Users of the program can expect to see most rebates and rewards in their account within 60 days, a similar time frame to sites like MyPoints and other points, rewards and cash back programs.

With at least several months of economic crunch ahead of us, if not longer, every penny counts. If you haven’t already signed up for a shopping rewards program, you may want to check out Live Search Cashback and use it to save as many of your hard earned pennies as possible while you buy the items you need. Every penny counts these days, after all.

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Google-Yahoo Might be OK for Yahoo, but What About Everybody Else?

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:30:17 +0000

Source:Mashable!

As we rehash the Google-Yahoo story once more in light of the companies’ insistence to press forward into a non-exclusive search advertising arrangement - for which they have drawn considerable ire for earlier in the year when they trialed such a partnership at a time when Microsoft’s pursuit of a complete (and then partial) buyout of Yahoo, was still more or less on the table - there comes another provocation writ to the effect that the proposal is not anything to be alarmed by.

Actually, the exact title of the piece published today is “Why the Google-Yahoo ad deal is nothing to fear,” under which author and SJSU business processor Randall Stross presents a sort of “what monopoly?” flavor of argument. But the outline and commentary delivered by Stross makes some points that seem loose and even nitpicky at points. Altogether, the article hinges on the concept of auctioneering. Advertisers must bid, so all is fair, right?

Not quite. Yes, Stross makes a perfectly valid point to write up the auction process as the key factor in what drove Google and Yahoo to purportedly think they would not be troubled by a potential denial from regulators at the U.S. Department of Justice. (Though I think Stross steps a bit too far in thinking that Google and Yahoo “innocently thought that their advertising pact…would said through a regulatory review.” And Stross also steps leisurely past the fact that Google and Yahoo had played briefly without such an official OK before “they voluntarily submitted” to DOJ review, as he describes it.)

But the element of Google’s current market share (and, furthermore, what it would have access to following approval of this effort) is part and parcel of the sales process. It is, in short, what determines the value advertising. Advertisers pay considerably more to Google for ads that are more or less equal in size and shape to Yahoo’s own placements because Google’s audience is naturally much larger, and is growing still. (If third party analysts’ readings are accurate, Yahoo, Microsoft and others of the upper echelon of the Web search industry are either growing much more slowly, have become stagnant, or are decreasing in share.)

Another item Stross mentions is one I will just go ahead and paste verbatim:

“The deal would mean that some ads that visitors see on Yahoo’s search results page would be supplied by Google. Yahoo expects it will bring in $800 million annually in additional revenue because some search phrases get better results on Google, and some search phrases draw a plentiful number of advertisers on Google but none at all on Yahoo.

Everyone who wants to see Yahoo, the No. 2 search engine, regain some of its lost luster has abundant reason to cheer the deal on….”

The first paragraph is stands pretty much without error. Some search phrases do get better results on Google. And, yes, some search phrases do draw advertisers that don’t crop up in Yahoo’s own list of clients. But to claim that everyone who wants to see Yahoo regain some of its mojo should love the deal is, hardly something to consider seriously. That would be something a Google representative might say to sugar coat a message that would otherwise read as such: “Yahoo is hurting, folks. You want them to make more money? Here’s a quick fix. $800 mil’ for the next year, give or take some pennies. It might not budge the stock price, but Yang & Co sure could use the cash. And look at it this way, if we do good, Yahoo does good. That simple.” (Maybe throw in a “bada bing, bada boom” for spice.)

I have to say that it’s also a bit humorous to see Stross hedge some of his argument on an advertising deal made between Google and Ask.com, which started in 2002 and registered renewals in 2004 and 2007.

What this essentially comes down to is that there is always a mixture of pros and cons in the world of big business. Some win, some lose. And there’s really no disputing the fact that Yahoo will likely bring in that $800 million in revenue if the DOJ flicks on the green light. In that sense, yeah, it can be a winner. But the DOJ has to consider the perspectives of not only the advertising networks, but the advertisers themselves and the costs and potential repercussions associated with bridge-building between the #1 and #2 players in the industry. One example, the Association of National Advertisers, comprised of some 400 advertisers big and small, told the DOJ earlier this month that it was apprehensive of the deal, thinking it would amount to a 90% control over search advertising inventory. The government frankly can’t quite ignore that large an organization or pass it off as a kind of paranoia.

Also, the World Association of Newspapers too found the deal disconcerting. WAN president Gavin O’Reilly explained very plainly several days ago that, “Advertisers will increasingly migrate to Google since they will see diminishing price advantages to advertising through Yahoo. Google has refused to allow Yahoo to show Google ads on the websites of new publishing partners it acquires after the deal is finalized - in other words, Google has imposed a condition that impedes one of Yahoo’s last remaining opportunities to compete with Google.”

Statements made against the Googe-Yahoo deal aren’t, in the words of Mr Stross, an effort “to depict Google as a price-controlling monster.” At least not those statements made by parties doing business with one or both companies. Rather, they are a concerted push to scrutinize the possibility that Google, with a Yahoo partnership, will become a market controlling behemoth. Which has its downsides.

I would venture to guess others players would simply hang up their competitive hats, because so much traffic going one way means less traffic going in any other direction. Eventually the choice really just becomes a matter of being seen or not seen. That’s already the case now to some degree. It’ll be even more pronounced if Google-Yahoo becomes a real thing. The free market is quite a wonderful ideal, sure, but as observers recognize more than ever, some regulation is necessary to provide reasonable opportunity for all involved in the economic process.

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Redesigned Sports Socnet CrowdPicks Offers Users Incentive to Keep Active

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:32:26 +0000

Source:Mashable!

This morning, we reported that Facebook would begin transitioning all users over to the new design this week. This afternoon, confirmation from the social network that the process has begun, with the rollout “to be complete within the next few weeks.”

Perhaps most interesting in the news are the numbers. According to Facebook, 40 million people have tried out the new site, with “nearly 30 million” choosing to stick with it. These numbers are slightly more encouraging than earlier stats from third-party tracker Compete, that showed 40% of users who tried the new Facebook were opting to switch back to the old one.

The bigger story is that with more than 100 million users, it means that 60 million – according to Facebook’s own numbers – still haven’t even tried the new site heading into its rollout. That could spell a lot of confusion and a customer service nightmare as unsuspecting users are migrated to the new site.

As we’ve noted, groups protesting the new Facebook have been gaining momentum over the past few weeks, with more than 200,000 now signed up “People against the new Facebook system.” To counter, Facebook points out that the “Facebook Profile Previews” page has more than 140,000 fans.

We might sound like a broken record at this point, but this is a big deal. It’s a dramatic change for the site, and apparently, tens of millions of users still have no idea it’s coming, despite a fairly strong effort by Facebook to communicate the impending changes. The reaction will certainly be exciting to watch.

Source:Mashable!

Though it may seem like many of the job opportunities in the United States have dried up as of late, you can find a wealth of job postings on the Web that may be right up your alley. From programmers to promotions, there are many startup companies looking to hire just the right people for the positions they have open. These 18 services represent a mixture of well-known mainstream sites and companies that focus on nothing more than listings in the Web 2.0/startup market.

Have you had success using these sites? Tell us more in the comments.

General Job Site Startup Listings

AOL.CareerBuilder.com - The nice thing about the AOL.CareerBuilder.com site is that you have the salary range listed on the summary page as opposed to having to go into each listing.

Jobster.com - While they have a startups section, finding Microsoft intermixed in their thousands of listings makes you think it’s more a general technology area.

Monster.com - One of the longest running online job sites has numerous job listings for startups that you can search by company, date, job title or relevance.

Yahoo Hot Jobs - Yahoo’s job listings includes numerous listings for jobs at startups, most of them seem to be centered on the technical side.

Startup Specific

AsiaWired.com - Looking for startups in Asia? This may be the solution for you.

CoNotes.com - Focusing on nothing but jobs at startups, CoNotes has been around since 2007.

Dice.com - Browse jobs by city or pull up the category that applies to your skill set.

ejob.com - ejob focuses on staffing needs in and around Silicon Valley.

GoBigNetwork.com - A one-stop-shop for startups to form business plans, find funding and locate employees that can fulfill their needs.

HotStartupJobs.com - Aggregates startup listings from a multitude of sites. You can read a lengthier write up of HotStartupJobs by our own Paul Glazowski here on Mashable.

Market.Mashable.com - Our very own marketplace features categories for listing jobs and looking for them also.

NeoHire.com - Lets you look up jobs by category, add them to your basket as you find ones that interest you and then apply to all of the ones you’ve saved.

nPost.com - Besides offering numerous job listings at startups, they have 225+ interviews with people from some of the companies explaining what they are about and what they are looking for in an employee.

StartupAgents.com - Both startups and potential employees can set up profiles to try to find the perfect match for each other. The service is completely free to potential employees, but will cost employers to contact potential hires.

StartupJobs.biz - A small jobs board with unique listings that you can search by type of job or occupation.

Startuply.com - Covers various industries related to Web 2.0 and startups, lets you also browse by job type.

StartupZone.com - Allows you to search jobs by occupation, location or even what stage of funding they are in.

VentureLoop.com - Provides internship listings for students at certain schools and has job listings you can search by country or occupation.

Image via CoNotes

Source:Mashable!

Whether you’re into professional or collegiate sports like football and basketball, or follow NASCAR, NHL, PGA, Soccer, or MLB, it’s often the case to take your pick of teams, players, or driver, and see how they do against the opposition - and also how your choices score against those of your friends. This tendency is the basis for CrowdPicks, a place which has over the past year established a fairly active community in the tradition of sportsmanship. This month CrowdPicks continues into its second year as a public beta with an appreciable redesign.

The service is simple in construction, at least on the surface. Nothing will wow you. But neither will anything displease. Everything is clearly laid, easy to navigate, and for the most part, gets the job done. You can socialize, make your picks, check out the most active and most accurate guestimators. All the things you’d want from this sort of gathering ground. And more than half of registrants are said to be return visitors, so you can count on keeping busy so long as you do your part to keep things interesting.

Which brings up the next point. CrowdPicks promises its users a stake in the revenue generated through advertising, ticket sales, store sales, etc. Currently, CrowdPicks manages this give-back program by tracking page views generated by users. This goes for actions like writing blog posts, offering videos, Trophy Room, as well as bonuses given for recruitment of new users. Routine IP checks are conducted for authenticity. “At the end of the month we drop a portion of our revenue into a poll and it is divided up between the members based on their page view percent,” Co-Founder and President Jeff Murname tells me.

He also makes note of an expansion “to include more revenue sharing parameters” such as “general site participation and ‘quality picks.’” The designers are working to make the latter enhancement valid and purposeful “while not giving the appearance of gambling.” In short, it is participation above all that is rewarded with monetary compensation.

This undoubtedly piques the interest of a number of folks. Yet, if you’re in it to net some cash, it is certainly not the ideal place to spend your time. There are more fruitful locations than this, for sure. Instead, it is really just an appealing place to bring your friends or make new ones on the basis of your favorite field(s) of play. As long as it is one of the seven provided, of course.

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Google’s Needle Hits Yahoo’s Vein in October, Says CEO

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:34:22 +0000

Source:Mashable!

While Bloomberg News takes a good amount of flack for yapping about a stone-cold Steve Jobs when it’s well known that the man’s blood is still rich and warm, another bigwig of the tech realm, Google CEO Eric Schmidt talked with the publication’s reporters Peter Cook and Crayton Harrison about his company’s fascination with Yahoo and the movements the two will make in the next 60 days. As Schmidt explains, Google “will proceed with the agreement by early October.”

The company’s reasoning is stated equally simply. In reference to the U.S. Justice Department’s interest in peering into the proposed Google-Yahoo search advertisement deal, which the two tested to the DOJ’s very vocal irritation, Schmidt said, “We are in the process of talking to the government. They’ve not indicated one way or the other how they’re dealing with us.” Indeed, the logic is very elementary. “Hey DOJ, while you’re there giving what we see as your silent treatment, we’re going to go ahead and start making more money, m’kay? Kay.”

Naturally, Schmidt isn’t totally gung-ho with an eye on its October non-surprise. “We always worry a little bit, but we think our arguments are pretty strong,” is his response to judicial qualms over what some consider possibly imperialist tendencies by the “Mad Men” of Mountain View.

My take on this refresh of the dispute? Business is business, and if Google manages to pass go, well, who’s to say no. Chances are DOJ won’t remain silent ‘til the autumn push, though. If anything, this is a straight reminder sent the way of regulators to recall that the matter has yet to be resolved completely. In a manner of speaking: Get to it, guv’nors.

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Last.fm Makes Artist Royalty Program Official

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:50:11 +0000

Source:Mashable!
I had the pleasure of becoming a godmother at the age of 17, an aunt three years later, and now I have five beautiful godchildren and nieces that I get to spoil–and then send back home. So when I learned about SavvyAuntie, a new beta site that launched today dedicated to godmothers, aunties and […]

Source:Mashable!
It was January when Last.fm first mentioned a business model that would allow independent artists unassociated with a label or middle agency to establish direct relations with the music service to generate royalties. Today the Last.fm marks the official launch of the effort.
Dubbed the Artist Royalty Program, participants can sign up for the program upon […]

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Dimpls: Make Money By Placing Your Own Ads on Personal Photos

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:58:41 +0000

Source:Mashable!
A new site launched today called Dimpls is dedicated to sharing photos of different things from each day in your personal life. Just woke up? Take a picture of your alarm clock. Going to eat? Lets see that turkey sandwich.
Dimpls is pretty simple. Users can upload many photos at once, sort them, and add tags […]

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