Poking Fun at Local Video
There has been lots of talk about local merchant video ads this year, a trend pushed forward in the most meaningful way by Citysearch's May integration of video ads. We've also seen every major U.S. IYP do the same this…
TKG Data and Analysis: A Holiday Week Recap
Posting (along with the activity level in the local search world) has been understandably light over the past few days. But a lot happened before that; here is a recap in case you missed anything. Click below to read each…
A Holiday Wish
One of the many reasons the Internet has bloomed in the U.S. is that the administration, under the leadership of Ira Magaziner, former head of U.S. Internet policy, allowed the World Wide Web to grow without putting unnecessary restrictions on…
More on Local.com/Citysearch Deal
As promised, today I had the chance to talk with Local.com's VP of bus dev and sales, Peter Hutto, who took time away from his vacation to provide some more color on yesterday's partnership with Citysearch. Hutto confirmed that the…
JibJab Parodies 2007, Online Video Style
From the Stupid Fun on a Pre-holiday Friday department, here is a year-end-recap spoof from the folks at online video production studio JibJab. It takes some questionable jabs (SoCal fires), but also has lots of funny highlights from 2007 in…
Consolidation in Discount Online Travel Space
In news that was supposed to be announced today but broke late last night, discount travel site Kayak has raised $196 million and acquired competitor SideStep. Techcrunch reports that deal is worth $200 million. The funding came from existing investors…
Our Favorite (Local) E-Cards
Thanks for all the holiday cards, and good wishes. It is kind of inspiring that many companies are donating to some wonderful charities. It is great to work with such thoughtful people. Here are some favorite e-cards. Zillow and AdMission probably…
Citysearch and Local.com Partner Up
Local.com announced today that it will pull in and display content from Citysearch in its local listings. This will enhance Local.com's own content and bring in more ad revenues from Citysearch advertisers. Citysearch will meanwhile get more distribution for its…
European Directories Expands Poland Presence With Ditel Deal
European Directories has taken another step in expanding its directory publishing footprint on the continent. Earlier this week, ED acquired the Polish directory publisher Ditel from Telekomunikacja Polska. The deal is worth 20 million euros, or about US$29 million. ED…
AnchorFree Seeks to Provide Wi-Fi at Local Stores and Services
AnchorFree, an ad-supported Wi-Fi service, says it is seeking to add additional verticals to its hotel and coffee shop strongholds. The company, which has raised $6 million and already has 10,000 locations and 5.4 million user sessions a month, wants…
Eniro Embraces Wacky World of Video Search
Last week the Swedish directory publisher Eniro announced that it has selected Stockholm-based Picsearch to power a video search feature on the eniro.se portal. Picsearch has an existing relationship with Eniro via its provision of a video search feature on…
Putting Some Numbers on Online Video
WebVideoReport has started to put some numbers on the growing online video space. It joins GigaOm's NewTeeVee in exclusively covering this space, and has put out some interesting articles in the past few weeks. Choosing a Video Services Provider Web…
Call Genie’s Durance: ‘Voice and Data Truly Intermingled’
has bet heavily on building a voice search platform for telecom carriers, Yellow Pages publishers and other providers of ad-supported directory assistance. Now the 150-person company, partially owned by YPG and just listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has enhanced…
Yahoo! Maps Get More Interactive
Yahoo! announced a series of features for Yahoo! Maps today, the most notable of which is "drag & drop" functionality for routes. The feature, which Google already launched in a similar form, lets users drag a route to any number…
Just Noticed: Idearc’s Media-Savvy Board Includes Former AOL and Primedia Chiefs
The battle for IYP (and local search) supremacy hinges on a number of factors. One of which is likely to be the acquisitions of lateral properties (i.e., RHD and Business.com). So, we note with interest that former AOL chief Jon…
BooRah Upgrades Restaurant Site, Seeks Broader Distribution
BooRah, the Bay Area restaurant review site, has raised some seed funding from Storm Ventures and other investors (amount undisclosed) and plans to use the money to grow beyond its roots as a tech vendor for alternative newsweeklies. The…
Call Genie Extends Relationship With AT&T for Business Category Search
AT&T and Call Genie have extended their relationship to provide 1-800-YellowPages free DA users business category search capabilities. According to the press release, “This feature will give users of AT&T directory assistance the opportunity to search by type of business…
Call Genie Extends Relationship With AT&T for Business Category Search
AT&T and Call Genie have extended their relationship to provide 1-800-YellowPages free DA users business category search capabilities. According to the press release, “This feature will give users of AT&T directory assistance the opportunity to search by type of business…
Clear Channel Teams With Denver Multimedia for Online Video
Radio has virtually been a non-starter for local online sales, but a new video initiative by Clear Channel Radio, the nation’s largest chain with stations in 80 U.S. markets, might ramp things up. The video initiative, using Denver Multimedia (DMM) as…
Catzilla Focuses Search Efforts on Autos and Real Estate
Auto dealers and real estate brokers (and agents) are increasingly contending with mission creep for their Web needs that require them to have two or more Web sites. Part of the problem is that they must conform to standardized requirements.…