Online/Interactive

Google is closing in on personalized search, a feature on the search horizon that will allow engines to better target users and optimize paid search. The carrot for users is a better way to organize their search history. It's been…

The debate over requiring users to register for access to news content rages on in the online news world. On the one hand, it can inhibit traffic by erecting a barrier for users to get content, and traffic is important…

Editor & Publisher columnist Steve Outing lists his New Year's resolutions for the newspaper industry here.It's a good summary of many of the challenges facing the newspaper industry, and it echoes much of our own analysis and recommendations to the…

In something of a surprise, Google is set to buy 5% of America Online from Time Warner for $1 billion. We had anticipated a Microsoft announcement. There's more on this story from The N.Y. Times. This is obviously a big…

"Alea iacta est"' (the die is cast) is what Julius Caesar is supposed to have said as he famously crossed the Rubicon river in Northern Italy, marking the beginning of events that would cause him to become "dictator for life."…

From the release: Insider Pages, the community-based local-search engine, and Interchange Corporation, owner of Local.com, a leading local-search engine, today announced an agreement for the distribution of Insider Pages Pay Per Phone Call advertisers and merchant reviews on Local.com. Insider…

On the advertiser side, Ingenio has added a couple of features ("auto-bidding" and "conversion management") to make PPCall easier and more effective. Ingenio explains: Auto-bidding: Similar to the proxy bidding features popularized by Google and eBay, Ingenio Auto-Bidding allows advertisers…

Here's a picture of the MIT-developed $100 laptop. The computer, created in partnership with Google and AMD, is set to roll out soon. Reportedly, Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett (and AMD competitor) said users will not want such a device.…

AOL has apparently decided to no longer offer direct classifieds advertising and will instead become a distributor or aggregator of classified ads from other sources. Also the San Diego Union Tribune is apparently having good success with free classifieds (the…

In all-day meetings, so there's no time to really blog (drat!). MSN follows Yahoo! and AOL in offering VoIP PC-to-phone calling (through MSN messenger). MSN is doing this in partnership with MCI (being acquired by Verizon). Here are the details:…

I haven't been there in person, so I had to read about it on the Google Blog. Some time ago Google created Google Space (a physical place in Terminal 1) where users can access the Internet for free while waiting…

This is very interesting -- and we could see a proliferation of vertical search engines on top of this. No time to discuss extensively. Here are the opinions of: Danny Sullivan and John Battelle. Here's Susan Mernit and Om Malik.…

Far ahead of its newspaper industry owners, news portal Topix.net has launched a redesigned site and added user comments and community features, turning the entire site into a blog of sorts. Here's more from SiliconBeat.

Local retailer aggregator and Google Base partner StepUp announced that it had received a $6.6 million series B round. From the press release: StepUp Commerce, Inc., the Internet€™s local shopping service, today announced it has closed a $6.6 million funding…

According to Nielsen/NetRatings, there were 5.1 billion total search queries in October. Here's how Nielsen recorded search engine market share (U.S.): Google -- 48 percent Yahoo! -- 22 percent MSN -- 11 percent AOL -- 7 percent Ask -- 3…

Interchange's consumer destination site Local.com will be offering a del.icio.us-like tagging/bookmarking feature powered by LookSmart's Furl like The N.Y. Times). This is the latest in a series of moves (with more coming) to beef up the content and features of…

Amid a frenized and potentially boffo online shopping season (projected to reach $19.6b in the U.S.), U.K.-based GUS announced that it's buying California-based comparison shopping engine PriceGrabber. The online shopping site was No. 6 in terms of August U.S. traffic,…

Following in the footsteps of The New York Times, USA Today announced that it will merge its print and online newsrooms. Both moves came out of a recognition that online news traffic is growing and that news distribution should be…

Google is introducing a new music feature, according to Reuters and SEW. When users search for, say, Madonna (the example used at SEW), they'll see some information: a picture and links to a page about Madonna and a link to…

Yahoo! renamed Konfabulator Yahoo! Widgets, and it has greatly expanded the widget gallery (it seems). I love these widgets. They're fun. Strategic value: They give the company a presence on the desktop, beyond the browser -- blah, blah, blah. Now,…