Yahoo! intitated a beta test with a limited number of users (sadly I'm not among that select group) and is preparing to launch a much-improved Web based email product. Beyond putting pressure on rivals (especially Hotmail), it will seek to…
Idealab's Snap.com search engine has launched comparison shopping. The site was developed in partnership with Smarter.com and CouponMountain.com. Shopping search is one of the most furiously competitive market segments and Snap is fighting an uphill battle to gain traction (just…
Simplified search/local search enabler (my awkward term) SME Global Solutions has bagged some cash -- in other words, closed a Series A round with Redpoint Ventures -- and changed its name. The company is now being called "WebVisible." What WebVisible…
At a time when former subscription services (e.g., CNN Video) are moving to free, ad-supported models, the NY Times is moving in the opposite direction. On Monday, the company is launching TimesSelect, a subscription service that will mean certain content…
I can't believe I missed this lower-down in the release: The acquisition also enables eBay and Skype to pursue entirely new lines of business. For example, in addition to eBay's current transaction-based fees, ecommerce communications could be monetized on a…
The NY Times in an article this morning confirms the eBay-Skype rumor. The deal is worth US$2.6 billion in cash and stock. Much of it seems to be about competition and not wanting to get left behind on VoIP. From…
According to the WSJ, eBay is reportedly in talks to buy VoIP provider Skype. News Corp. had approached Skype but apparently balked at the price. Om Malik reports: Skype co-founder and CEO Niklas Zennstr¶m shed some light on the company€™s…
Hitwise, via Reuters, reports that Wikipedia's traffic has grown 154 percent during the past year. It now threatens to surpass traffic to the New York Times site -- one of the few successful news brands online -- and other major…
By and large newspapers' blog-related efforts have so far not been terribly successful. Now, according to a blurb in PaidContent.org, a Knight Ridder-owned newspaper in Columbia, S.C. has launched a separate "citizen journalism" site, TheColumbiaRecord.com. According to the site: TheColumbiaRecord.com…
Verizon is heavily promoting its $60 per month wireless broadband offering. They claim to cover a population of 130 million. That is a lot more expensive than my high-speed cable connectivity I have at my office.I doubt I€™d switch from…
I saw this item on newratings.com, which reports that Google may be pursuing an acquisition of Yell Group, the UK-based company that operates Yell in the UK and Yellow Book in the US. We do not yet know whether this…
Again, no time to devote to this yet but Om Malik writes some very provocative stuff about Google VoIP, VoIP in general and how they might intersect with local search and PPCall. Make no mistake, all the major networks/paid search…
Recently, I have had the opportunity to speak to a number of publishers of all sizes to get a sense of their perspective on this important issue. My take is that Yellow Pages executives believe there will be a major…
Having waited and waited to upgrade my cellphone technology and music listening experience, I read with considerable interest the hot rumors about the pending product launch of a new Motorola cellphone that comes loaded with iTunes software. With 2.5G and…
Last week the New York Times did pieces on the current state of the movie rental market and the state of movie going. Both thought-provoking articles offer views of the challenges industries built before the age of the Internet are…
Internet service providers (ISPs) have long been frustrated by the seeming indifference of their subscribers to their content offerings. Comcast, in particular, has more recently been very aggressive in trying to beef up its content offerings so that it doesn't…
Rupert Murdoch has gone from lambasting newspaper publishers about their online inaction to building with several swift strokes of his checkbook pen an Internet powerhouse that, via its collection of properties, now claims to be "the fifth most trafficked presence…
Commenting on personnel matters is outside the typical scope of this blog, but Om Malik argues that Google's announced hire of Vint Cerf from MCI indicates that GoogleNet (the national broadband wi-fi network) is real. Read more.
In the battle of the interactive maps, MSN is seeking to challenge Google's satellite mapping supremacy with a suite of mapping tools that will seek to combine the best elements of satellite mapping with A9's Yellow Pages local business photography…
Last Fall general purpose (as opposed to niche) search engine Accoona launched to considerable media fanfare. Yes the name does come from the Swahili phrase "acoona matata," popularized in the U.S. by the Disney film The Lion King. Though I'm…
