After weeks of rumors that Microsoft was in talks to buy DoubleClick, and subsequent rumors that Google had swept in to start its own talks, Google today came away with the company for whopping US$3.1 billion. This could mean a…
Google has officially launched its free 411 product. The number, 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411), makes business name and category search accessible from any U.S. telephone. This is a product we originally uncovered in our report Wireless Voice Search: The Multi-Modal Revolution. At…
Google is pushing hard to jumpstart its radio ad business, leveraging its $1.245 billion acquisition of the DMarc rep business in 2005. The search leader says it is working with 900 stations in 200 markets. But so far, according to…
Map-centric directories from the likes of Google and Microsoft, enhanced with satellite and 3D imagery, are absolutely fascinating. They're also increasingly functional, with all kinds of searchable links. But is it really clear that they are the future of directories?…
Simeon Simeonov has a good post on the mysterious and long rumored Google phone, complete with screen shots. No confirmation about whether this is true or not, but Simeon's blog is a good read.
Google announced it has integrated real-time traffic reports on Google Maps. Yahoo! has had traffic reports since late 2004, and Microsoft rolled out a traffic feature (care of Traffic.com) in the May 2006 relaunch of Windows Live Local. Maps, like…
The rumors were true. Last month we wrote about the possibility of Google buying in-game ad placement firm AdScape to broaden its reach in cross-platform advertising. The company has announced that it purchased AdScape for $23 million. Like Microsoft's acquisition…
The long-awaited launch of local business search functionality for Google Maps Australia happened earlier this week, as reported by The Australian. According to the article: "The latest competitor to the established players, to be known as Google Maps, will directly…
Even as Yahoo! pushes hard to fully partner with newspapers online, Google has taken a different tack, offering to sell advertising for newspapers in print. The Google Print Ads program began in June 2005 with magazines to decidedly mixed…
AP reported that Copiepresse, a copyright protection group that represents 17 French and German-language Belgian newspapers, asked Yahoo! to remove links that point to the newspapers' content. At issue is whether a cached page (a copy of content that is…
I'm a bit late to this item (again, I'll blame being out last week), but The Wall Street Journal (sub. required) reported over the weekend that Google is in talks with in-game ad placement firm Adscape Media. Here is Red…
Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune (aka "The Troika") have now weighed in on the controversy generated by the revelation that they are working on a national ad network that will compete with a national ad network being created by Yahoo! and…
The annual Consumer Electronics Show kicks off this week and there will no doubt be a flood of product announcements, many of which will be relevant to the local and online media space. Last year, CES saw the launch of…
Following up on last week's post, here is an in-depth Search Engine Watch article that echoes some of the benefits of vertical search. Search Engine Land meanwhile profiles online travel site SideStep, which puts some of these benefits into action.…
Year-end reviews are always kind of arbitrary. For sure, a lot of overlap occurs from year to year. So much of what we consider "the '60s," for instance, really happened in the early '70s. But clearly, r/evolution is happening in…
Gary Price reports (via Search Engine Land) that "Google" has ranked second in Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year survey. The ranking pertains to the use of Google as a verb (i.e., to "Google" someone or something). Stephen Colbert's "truthiness" took…
The Washington Post reports that Google's initial program to sell remnant newspaper ad inventory has been a considerable success thus far, and that it will expand the program. This will be a key ingredient in Google's overall plan to be…
Following Tuesday's post on Google's efforts to bring more SMEs online, here is a recent audio interview with Google's head of SME product development, Dan Rubinstein, (click to stream the audio if you have a browser plug in for streaming…
