Month: May 2005

Google Granted Permission to Open Office in China?

I've been watching this issue for a while – nothing tests a corporate maxim such as "Don't Be Evil" as the China Question. From Paid Content we learn that Google has been granted the right to open an office in mainland China. From the source, Interfax China: Chinese authorities…

GooglechinaI’ve been watching this issue for a while – nothing tests a corporate maxim such as “Don’t Be Evil” as the China Question. From Paid Content we learn that Google has been granted the right to open an office in mainland China. From the source, Interfax China:

Chinese authorities have green-lighted Google’s plans to open the company’s first office in Mainland China, which will allow the world’s largest search engine to further localize its operations, but will also significantly intensify competition in China’s online search market, analysts said.

“Google has been granted approval to open an office in China, but has not hired any staff in China yet,” a Google source told Interfax. “Google has also started operations of www.google.com.cn.”

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Yahoo Ups Video Search Ante

An updated Yahoo Video Search launches "GA" (general availability) tonight with more video content (if that sounds familiar, you were reading earlier in the week when Google added more content as well). Feeds include Buena Vista, CBS, Discovery Channel, MTV, Reuters, Scripps Networks (Home & Garden Television, The Food…

An updated Yahoo Video Search launches “GA” (general availability) tonight with more video content (if that sounds familiar, you were reading earlier in the week when Google added more content as well). Feeds include Buena Vista, CBS, Discovery Channel, MTV, Reuters, Scripps Networks (Home & Garden Television, The Food Network), VH1 and “Stupid Videos,” the name of which I just could not resist mentioning and linking to.

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Google Accelerator

I have a new thought on the whole Google OS meme. Basically, we should move on – in many ways, it's already happened. Recall Google's mission – to organize the world's information and make it accessible? Well, that's pretty much the same mission as Microsoft had for the PC,…

GwaI have a new thought on the whole Google OS meme. Basically, we should move on – in many ways, it’s already happened. Recall Google’s mission – to organize the world’s information and make it accessible? Well, that’s pretty much the same mission as Microsoft had for the PC, when you think about it. The big difference was that to execute on its mission, MSFT had to build the OS. But Google just has to leverage the web. In other words, Google’s mission requires a Web OS (I know some of you hate that phrase, but it works for me), whether they build it or not. It’s a platform that must exist if their services are going to be useful.

And, ideally, that platform is responsive, which means fast. So, what to do when broadband feels less than speedy? Why, leverage your massive infrastructure and nifty algorithms to speed it up, of course. Hence the Google Web Accelerator, launched today. Once again, we Mac folks are left out, but if you’re on Windows, you’re in luck. SEW has a nice overview, from it:

GWA works to speed up the surfing process for all web sites NOT only Google by a combination of:

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Google’s Got Some Work to Do on Customer Service…

Now this ain't news to those of you who've complained to me, but it's news to many who presume Google does just about everything right. Net net: Google does not take very good care of its advertisers. Give it time, it will….

Now this ain’t news to those of you who’ve complained to me, but it’s news to many who presume Google does just about everything right. Net net: Google does not take very good care of its advertisers. Give it time, it will.

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Boing Boing Wins a Webby!

I'm a very proud Band Manager today: Boing Boing won another Webby this year, in fact, it won two – both the Webby award (decided by judges), as well as the People's Voice, which was decided by a popular vote. Way to go, gang! Noted: Google won a number…

Bb-1I’m a very proud Band Manager today: Boing Boing won another Webby this year, in fact, it won two – both the Webby award (decided by judges), as well as the People’s Voice, which was decided by a popular vote. Way to go, gang!

Noted: Google won a number of them as well, in various categories, including Best Practices.

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WSJ Discovers Referral Spam

Over at the WSJ (free link) Lee Gomes notes how spam clogs up SERPs, and then realizes that the major engines are to blame for it: …a kind of schizophrenia exists at search-engine companies. Half their engineering staff is busy trying to keep useless pages out of search results;…

Over at the WSJ (free link) Lee Gomes notes how spam clogs up SERPs, and then realizes that the major engines are to blame for it:

…a kind of schizophrenia exists at search-engine companies. Half their engineering staff is busy trying to keep useless pages out of search results; the other half is busy coming up with tools that make it easier for people to create and profit from the useless pages in the first place.

He’s right, of course. We all have seen the crap that lards up results, pretending to be “services” of one sort or another. Is it spam? Well, it’s clearly affiliate- and AdSense-driven sludge. At best, it’s gray. But it’s funny, lately I have to say that the big guys are doing a pretty good job of trimming this stuff out of their results. Gomes notes that he found these sites while looking for home repair information.

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Why Are the Second Tier Networks Failing?

A wise source recently observed to me that to comprehend the health of the big guys, watch how the smaller ones are doing. On that measure, things are not so rosy in search land. Looksmart, Findwhat, Mamma.com, all are trending down on poor results. Why, in an age of…

Ugly ResultsA wise source recently observed to me that to comprehend the health of the big guys, watch how the smaller ones are doing. On that measure, things are not so rosy in search land. Looksmart, Findwhat, Mamma.com, all are trending down on poor results. Why, in an age of ever expanding search and online advertising dollars, why is this happening? Could it be that they are failing to retain traffic of good intent? One might expect that even the second tier search networks are doing well. But they are not. Hmmmm.

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FastClick New Search Ad Network Debuts

Recently public FastClick (FSTC) has been best known as a traditional ad network, but yesterday it launched text ads a la Adsense. It's always good to see competition continue to sprout, even as the leaders consolidate their power. From MediaPost's coverage: Fastclick's entry into contextual search advertising and its…

FastclickRecently public FastClick (FSTC) has been best known as a traditional ad network, but yesterday it launched text ads a la Adsense. It’s always good to see competition continue to sprout, even as the leaders consolidate their power. From MediaPost’s coverage:

Fastclick’s entry into contextual search advertising and its initial public offering announced last month are directly related, analysts speculated. “Investors are now going to look to Fastclick to make sure they have a full quiver of arrows,” said Gary Stein, a Jupiter Research analyst. “It’s important that any company can round out all of their capabilities.”

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Snap Has a News Site

News to me….it's driven by search, and rather interesting in that it does not try to be all things…allows you to filter by date and time, title, source, and general keyword search. Rather cool, I have to say, on first glance….

News to me….it’s driven by search, and rather interesting in that it does not try to be all things…allows you to filter by date and time, title, source, and general keyword search. Rather cool, I have to say, on first glance.

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