Month: January 2007

Dog Bites Man. Google Crushes It.

Just landed. Everyone knows Google crushed it again. But the stock seems to be priced already for crushing performance, because it did not pop in after hours. In fact, it dipped. Seeking Alpha has the transcript of the earnings call. It's really worth a read if you want to…

Just landed. Everyone knows Google crushed it again. But the stock seems to be priced already for crushing performance, because it did not pop in after hours. In fact, it dipped.

Seeking Alpha has the transcript of the earnings call. It’s really worth a read if you want to geek out – esp. Larry and Sergey’s comments on search and advertising, and the Q&A from the analysts.

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Google Earnings Preview

Google reports earnings today. Bear Sterns sent me an earnings note which declares: Strong Paid Search Growth and International Market Share Gain Reaffirm Positive Outlook · Paid Search Data Indicate Strength for Google. comScore released the December domestic paid search data yesterday. Google.com had 1.27B sponsored clicks in 4Q06,…

Money2-2

Google reports earnings today.

Bear Sterns sent me an earnings note which declares:

Strong Paid Search Growth and International Market Share Gain Reaffirm Positive Outlook

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Yahoo’s Brand Universe Strategy

I don't get it. Now, that doesn't mean it's not brilliant. I mean, in 1996, I told my fellow senior managers at Wired that the world didn't need another search engine (we started Hotbot anyway and I'm pretty sure that's the main reason Lycos bout HotWired). From GigaOm's coverage…

Yahoo Wii

I don’t get it.

Now, that doesn’t mean it’s not brilliant. I mean, in 1996, I told my fellow senior managers at Wired that the world didn’t need another search engine (we started Hotbot anyway and I’m pretty sure that’s the main reason Lycos bout HotWired).

From GigaOm’s coverage of Yahoo’s media day:

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Noted: Google’s Ongoing Assault on MS Office

From ReadWriteWeb: On Monday Google released a relatively minor, but useful, feature. It's worth examining a bit more closely, because it's yet another signal that Google is quietly pecking away at Microsoft's lunch in office software. Now I know that Microsoft Office has a lot of advanced functionality that…

From ReadWriteWeb:

On Monday Google released a relatively minor, but useful, feature. It’s worth examining a bit more closely, because it’s yet another signal that Google is quietly pecking away at Microsoft’s lunch in office software. Now I know that Microsoft Office has a lot of advanced functionality that the online office apps don’t have, but hear me out…

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Noted: Digger

I should have a regular roundup of new search startups, but for now, consider it noted: Digger. Release. More on Cnet's investment here. Update: More on Digger at VentureBeat….

I should have a regular roundup of new search startups, but for now, consider it noted: Digger. Release. More on Cnet’s investment here.

Update: More on Digger at VentureBeat.

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Do You Trust Your Government?

Read this. (ZDnet) The FBI appears to have adopted an invasive Internet surveillance technique that collects far more data on innocent Americans than previously has been disclosed. Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of…

Read this. (ZDnet)

The FBI appears to have adopted an invasive Internet surveillance technique that collects far more data on innocent Americans than previously has been disclosed.

Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, according to current and former officials. That database can subsequently be queried for names, e-mail addresses or keywords.

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Cap’n Ballmer: Search, Full Speed Ahead

Steve Ballmer gives an interview to the FT, the summary is here. From it: Microsoft’s next big challenge is to address the threat posed by advertising-supported business models such as Google’s, Steve Ballmer, chief executive, signalled on Monday as the software group launched Vista, its new operating system. In…

Aricraftcarrier

Steve Ballmer gives an interview to the FT, the summary is here. From it:

Microsoft’s next big challenge is to address the threat posed by advertising-supported business models such as Google’s, Steve Ballmer, chief executive, signalled on Monday as the software group launched Vista, its new operating system.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Ballmer said that, having focused on the threat posed by open source software over the past few years, the company had now turned its attention to advertising-funded business models.

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Thank God For 20% Time

Man, I wish I smoked weed like I used to in graduate school. I'd have a 24-hour party to watch the sunset across the globe on Google Earth. No, really. I mean….wow, man….

Sunriseearth017+High-Res

Man, I wish I smoked weed like I used to in graduate school. I’d have a 24-hour party to watch the sunset across the globe on Google Earth. No, really. I mean….wow, man.

6 Comments on Thank God For 206 Time

When Microsoft (and Yahoo) Are Sucking Wind, Is It Fun to Be Google?

When Live Search launched, I was happy to see how the company positioned search as in the early stages of development (sure, they quoted my book, so that helped). But since then, it's been mostly bad news for Live Search. A reader (thanks Michelle) pointed me to this Cnet…

Live Search

When Live Search launched, I was happy to see how the company positioned search as in the early stages of development (sure, they quoted my book, so that helped). But since then, it’s been mostly bad news for Live Search. A reader (thanks Michelle) pointed me to this Cnet story. In it, the author describes what most of us already know – that Microsoft has continued to lose search market share, and further, that some analysts believe that the Live brand has confused the public.

“Microsoft’s Live branding has been tremendously confusing and has hurt the company, and it is very likely contributing to the situation they are in right now,” said David Smith, an analyst at Gartner. “They’ve created another brand and have not differentiated it.”



It’s too early to pass “final judgment” on the strategy, Smith said. But now is the time for Microsoft to clearly explain its strategy, he said.

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YouTube: You Want (Google’s) Ads With That?

One of the more news-making moments of last week's Davos event, at least as it relates to our little corner of the world, was Chad Hurley's revelation (BBC) that it would soon be rolling out a system to share revenues with the folks who create its videos (Jarvis has…

Youtube

One of the more news-making moments of last week’s Davos event, at least as it relates to our little corner of the world, was Chad Hurley’s revelation (BBC) that it would soon be rolling out a system to share revenues with the folks who create its videos (Jarvis has the video). For me, this was sort of a “no shit, Sherlock” moment, I mean, did anyone really expect Google was going to buy YouTube and *not* make ads available inside the core product – the videos themselves?

But the way it was spun really struck me as impressive. Instead of “YouTube to Run Ads,” the headlines were “YouTube to Share Revenue With Creators.” Well played, my man!

I spoke to Chad briefly at Davos, and I am certain he and the folks at Google are deeply studying the best models to roll out ads on the site. My guess is there will be any number of units available (one might be just three seconds long, he told the BBC), and when folks upload their videos, they’ll be presented with a choice of the kind of ads they might want to roll into their video, and also, various placement options (ie, before, after, middle, above (?) etc). There will probably also be some kind of passive AdSense play a la Revvr, and for sure, the more aggressive units will also be some kind of AdSense video mashup, as the company hinted at in this recent post on Google’s blog:

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