The Utility Belt blog reported that Google recently announced a plan to pay a commission to people who are willing to photograph local businesses and gather information about the company to post on Google Maps. The idea is that self-appointed…
YP.com’s shareholders overwhelmingly approved the decision to adopt the LiveDeal name. According to the recent press release, “YP Corp.'s interest in a name change is a reflection of the company's continuing commitment to building a first-of-its-kind hyper-local, Web 2.0 marketing…
Yahoo! last week said it is adding 700,000 listings to its real estate classifieds from Realogy, the real estate industry’s largest franchisor with brands such Century 21 (my wife's brokerage), Coldwell Banker, ERA and Sotheby’s International Realty. Realogy adds Yahoo!…
IAC is pushing extremely hard on real estate, where it sees synergistic developments from owning LendingTree (mortgage referrals), The Home Loan Center and RealEstate.com (Web lead generated brokerage services). Speaking at Inman’s Real Estate Connect conference last week in San…
John L. Scott, a leading broker in the Pacific Northwest, has carved out a niche for itself as a major implementator of technology, even as it sticks to a full-service model. Speaking at Inman’s Real Estate Connect last week, Chairman…
Speaking at Inman’s Real Estate Connect last week in San Francisco, Craigslist namesake Craig Newmark says the service is now getting 8 billion page views a month from 450 cities in 50 countries. He also noted that the service is up…
Here is a sampling of posts from the TKG blog this week, in case you missed them: VFlyer Taps Into Online Real Estate Classified widget provider vFlyer has launched a low-cost Web site development and hosting product for real estate…
Classified widget provider vFlyer has launched a low-cost Web site development and hosting product for real estate agents to post individual listings online. Like the rest of vFlyer's product line (explored here), this is a seller-centric tool that aims to…
When Zillow originally launched, it was seen in some circles as a liberator for consumers who had relied on the judgment of Realtors for too long. But CEO Rich Barton, speaking at Inman’s Real Estate Connect conference, said its mission…
The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports on the possibility of the long rumored Google phone. Google has a few different avenues, The Journal reports: partner or build. Partnering would require the perennial challenge of working with carriers that now…
The NewTeeVee blog reports on comments made by Susan Wojcicki, Google VP of product management, that the company is testing different forms of video advertising. As we have reported in the past, YouTube has already begun to experiment with the…
If you haven't heard, Business 2.0, one of the last remaining "new economy" magazines of the bubble era (and a magazine I've written for), is likely to close its doors, and its owner, Time inc., is currently shopping for buyers.…
Another directory publishing asset has changed hands, with one investor cashing out handsomely and another coming in hoping to make a killing. This time the buyer is Babcock & Brown, an Australian private equity firm that is focused on media…
Click-to-call technology provider eStara announced today that it will integrate a lead generation feature to its Click Suite for Local Search Platform, known as Form to Phone. This will be primarily geared toward auto dealers and third-party auto Web sites…
Free directory assistance services, funded by pay-per-call ads, have been rolled out by a number of entrepreneurial companies, telcos and Yellow Pages publishers. But now comes The Florida Times-Union, which quietly rolled out a local version of Say Hello Inc.…
Hyper-local neighborhood search site StreetAdvisor launched a series of features today that aim to make it more social. The Australian start-up launched in March as a place to share and comment on all things to do with your neighborhood. Today's…
Yesterday, The Kelsey Group announced a partnership with conference series host Search Engine Strategies (SES). The two companies will work together to program upcoming conferences, the first being November’s Interactive Local Media Conference. SES is part of the marketing division…
With the probable exception of Yelp, standalone review sites haven’t figured out a way to make money. In the past year, Insider Pages was sold off to Citysearch, and Judy’s Book, famously, changed its model to coupons. So why would…
InfoSpace's flagship mobile local search product, FindIt, is now available on the iPhone. I knew this would be coming soon, and it is a natural fit for the ease of use of the new device and its mobile local search…
In case you missed any posts last week, here are a few highlights. It's About the Money, Remember Last week, Local.com announced that it will acquire PremierGuide, a white-label local search solution, for US$2 million. I’ve read a handful of…
