Online/Interactive

According to Parks Associates' recent research, written up in this CNET article, Internet adoption is essentially flat in the US. The firm found 64% of US homes had Internet access, up from 62% in 2004. It also made the prediction…

Yahoo! some time ago launched a free website offering for small businesses (to get their content and as a "foot in the door" for web hositing upsells). When I speak to Yahoo! about it, they won't reveal numbers but say…

Here is a great introductory article on the nuts and bolts of IPTV technology. Why is this important or relevant to local? The architecture of IPTV systems will allow for a two way street of communication between users and servers…

I'm about to leave for the airport so I've only got a few more minutes to blog here . . . Loren Baker at Search Engine Journal has written up some new features at Yahoo! answers, another component of the…

There are many things happening that I'd like to write and post about, but I've been unable to because of travel. Yesterday I was at the NAA conference and moderated a very interesting panel on "free" classifieds. I attended another…

eMarketer predicts an uptick in online auto ads this year. Auto advertisers will spend 1.9 billion in online advertising in 2006 and almost $2.7 in 2007 — up from 1.4 billion last year, according to the research firm. Other notable…

A study by research firm Compete (found via Search Engine Watch) found Google has the most loyalty among its users. Here is how the rest of the search engines stacked up: * Google: 71.0% * Yahoo!: 48.1% * MSN: 27.8%…

Red Herring reports on a social search engine that has launched called PreFound. Like others in this growing space — led most notably by Yahoo! (Flickr, MyWeb, del.icio.us etc.) — its success will depend on gaining a critical mass of…

Online classifieds site LiveDeal.com launched a free rental listings service today. Read about it here and here.

Chris Sherman at Search Engine Watch writes up a bit of the history of Ask Jeeves now that the butler's retirement is here. This is something that has been well over a year in coming. The question now is whether…

MySpace's phenomenal popularity with the teens and early twentysomethings generated a $580 million acquisition by the seventysomething Rupert Murdoch. Here are some truly impressive recent metrics on the site (according to comScore):24.2 million unique users in October 200511.6 billion page…

Today's N.Y. Times (reg. req'd) has a pro-"net neutrality" editorial: If access tiering takes hold, the Internet providers, rather than consumers, could become the driving force in how the Internet evolves. Those corporations' profit-driven choices, rather than users' choices, would…

There are a few interesting posts on the Lost Remote blog today that relate to our post yesterday about online vs. traditional broadcasting of the Olympic games. Read them here and here.

When people have asked me about "vertical search" and the associated opportunity, I've argued that there is an opportunity but it's mixed. Because the general search market is locked up right now we're seeing a ton of companies offering a…

Here's a roundup of data by aggregator eMarketer on broadband adoption — now pegged at 61 percent of U.S. households, according to Ipsos. eMarketer summarizes that price is the major barrier to continued penetration in the U.S. market: According to…

I'm restraining myself from using the term "Web2.0," which really is on the cusp of cliche status. But Judy's Book has done some very interesting things to its site that if I were comfortable using that term ... might describe…

MySpace, the supersite for teens, has announced the launch of its own branded "mobile virtual network operator" network. The service and phones will be powered/provided by Helio LLC, which is a joint venture of Earthlink Inc. and South Korean carrier…

SiliconBeat blogs about Podbop, a site that combines podcasting and local. It allows you to hear podcasts of bands that are playing in the local market. One can search by artist or location. The site links to Eventful.com, which provides…

Like Yahoo! before it, Microsoft is now offering free basic Web sites to local/small businesses. I haven't set one up so I don't know how "robust" it is compared with what Yahoo! offers. It's pretty clearly a kind of "foot…

Search Engine Journal covers the upcoming Yahoo Search Marketing Searchlight Awards in N.Y. The program is highlighting the innovative work of agencies that have combined traditional campaigns with search marketing. I'll be racing from the Newspaper Association of America show…