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My 2 featured articles for the week ending February 25:

Archived blogs for the week of Feb. 21, 2005

762 - February 25, 2005 - 9.46 AM EST

Yahoo set to acquire Ludicorp?

There are rumors that Yahoo is to acquire Ludicorp, the company behind the photo blogging Web service Flickr, for an undisclosed amount of money.

Its not the first time rumors of these talks have made the rounds. Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake told my colleague Michael Copeland, that they had received buyout offers from both Google and Yahoo.

Google and Yahoo want to buy it outright, while venture capital firms are flooding it with all kinds of creative proposals.

"We get four or five calls a week from VCs," says Stewart Butterfield, who co-founded Flickr with his wife, Caterina Fake. "We even had a health-care fund call recently. I guess they wanted in on the excitement."

Posted on Businessblog™

761 - February 24, 2005 - 9.21 AM EST

AOL launches new local search feature

AOL launches a new Local Search service with an extensive directory of local information available to help people quickly find answers.

AOL's new Local Search is integrated with the AOL® Search product available to AOL® subscribers and other Web users across America Online's network of Web properties, including the AOL.com site and at http://localsearch.aol.com.

AOL Local Search represents the next step in local search convenience by aggregating the most current and frequently updated information listings and high-quality content from leading Internet brands, including AOL® Yellow Pages, AOL® CityGuide, the Moviefone® and MapQuest® services, and a range of new partners, into one complete search service.

The new AOL Local Search gives users a simpler way to find local businesses, events, movies and more, with tools to narrow choices and help decide who to call, where to go, what to do, and how to get there.

"AOL's goal is to help people find answers faster where they live, work and travel nationwide," said Jim Riesenbach, Senior Vice President, AOL Search and Directional Media. "Local search is an important and growing category of search services given that 20 percent of all online look-ups are for something nearby -- local businesses and resources, movies, events, restaurants, products, retail stores and more.

Posted on Businessblog™

760 - February 23, 2005 - 6.21 PM EST

Paid search to grow faster than any other advertising

According to a new study, paid search and PPC (pay per click) is expected to increase faster than any other method of Internet advertising, growing from $2.6 billion this year to $5.5 billion in 2009.

In addition, the search market is expected to become more specialized, as search focuses more on specific categories, according to the study published last week by JupiterResearch.

Specialized search in four categories--retail, financial services, media and entertainment, and travel--accounted for 79 percent of the paid search market in 2004, Jupiter said.

Posted on Businessblog™

759 - February 23, 2005 - 10.45 AM EST

Yahoo Image Search now has up to 1.5 billion images

Yahoo has improved Yahoo Image Search with an index of up to 1.5 billion images and added new features such as transformed queries.

The Yahoo Image Search engine will automatically detect terms that better fit the user’s query through advanced search triggers, returning results filtered accordingly.

For example, a search for black and white pics of tiger would return black and white images of a tiger.

Posted on Businessblog™

758 - February 22, 2005 - 9.33 PM EST

Up to $3 million in bonuses for Google executives

Google launched an executive bonus program that would give each of its senior executives as much as $3 million in 2005, if the company meets its financial targets.

In a document filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Google offered details of its 2005 senior-executive bonus plan.

The company said in the filing that it created the variable cash incentive program to motivate participants to achieve the company's financial and other performance objectives, and to reward them for their achievements when those objectives are met.

Posted on Businessblog™

757 - February 22, 2005 - 8.11 PM EST

Two thirds of UK's biggest companies invisible to SE's

Research released today reveal that more than 60 percent of FTSE 100 companies have failed to make their websites visible to search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

According to a poll by search firm The Search Works, almost two thirds of the official websites of FTSE 100 companies did not appear in the first page or top 10 results of a simple online search using keywords such as 'travel', 'insurance' or 'bank'.

The research showed that the travel sector is the most advanced, achieving a high profile across the largest number of search engines.

Posted on Businessblog™

756 - February 22, 2005 - 5.52 PM EST

Picsearch in a deal to help MSN Search

Picsearch has agreed to supply the new MSN Search service with image search services. The deal means that MSN consumers may search for electronic images on the Internet using technology made available by Picsearch.

Nils Andersson, CEO of Picsearch, said “I am very excited that Picsearch’s technology will be used to find images on the Web for this worldwide service. MSN shares our desire to be at the forefront of the net search market.

Posted on Businessblog™

755 - February 22, 2005 - 9.24 AM EST

$164 million for search-optimized domain portfolio

Web marketing agency Marchex has completed a deal to pay an impressive $164.2 million for Name Development Ltd., which displays keyword advertising links across a portfolio of more than 100,000 domain names.

The deal, along with the recent sale of a misspelled domain name for $112,000, offers evidence that mistyped URLs and other "accidental traffic" have become big business.

The pricetag on the sale of Name Development is more than the $155 million paid by SAVVIS Communications to acquire Cable & Wireless America, and nearly as much as the $176 million Freenet paid for the hosting operations of Germany's Tect AG.

Posted on Businessblog™

754 - February 21, 2005 - 7.04 PM EST

Is Google running counter to site designers?

Google is adding links to sites without permission and seems to think all is OK with that practice. Some think it should try harder to grow a conscience.

True drama comes when saintliness and sin battle it out in one place. The bigger the setting, the more exciting the drama - and on that basis, Google is one of the most dramatic organisations on the planet.

Last week, Google offered to host some or all of Wikipedia, the open encyclopaedia and poster child for the new democracy of knowledge. Previously, the search giant had said it was funding massive undertakings to get university libraries online and accessible to all.

These are the acts of a company committed to the most idealistic dreams of the Net. But what to make of the decision to take over existing web content and offer alternative links, which may run entirely counter to the wishes of site designers?

Posted on Businessblog™

753 - February 21, 2005 - 3.04 PM EST

Yahoo to acquire a stake in IndiaTimes

Yahoo is to acquire a stake in the IndiaTimes, India's largest web portal, reports The Financial Times.

Yahoo is reported to be partnering with Bennett Coleman, the publisher of The Times of India newspaper and other titles.

Bennet Coleman is apparently looking for a partner to develop its online services, a move which may lead to a US flotation.

Posted on Businessblog™

Copyright © Serge Thibodeau 2005. All rights reserved.

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