HP Promoting T-Shirts Promoting YouTube Videos, Yahoo Nixes “The 9,” Craigslist Reaching For $100 Million, Google Grants, & More

Given that we were unwittingly ensnared by Mike Blumenthal’s authentic sounding April Fools post earlier this week, we’re being a bit more careful and reading items more closely these days. However, one article from Bloomberg that almost reads like an April Fools item discusses a novel program on Google’s YouTube in which computer and printer maker Hewlett Packard is encouraging people to make T-shirts to promote their YouTube videos (presumably as a way to get them to use more printer ink).

In what is more clearly an attempt at humor, the Fake Steve Jobs blog makes pointed fun of the loss of key executives recently at Google. For those who are interested in a serious look at the subject, Danny has done a comprehensive overview and analysis of all the executive moves at Google from 2000 to the present.

In the final Google-related story today, the Google Blog says happy birthday to the Google Grants program, which provides free AdWords to 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. The program has reportedly given away the equivalent of $273.3 million in free AdWords advertising to roughly 4,000 participants in the program.

Perhaps even to a higher degree than Google in its fabled emphasis on the consumer, classifieds site Craigslist is user-centric. (Some might disagree, given what could be described as the site’s “vintage” look and user experience.) A new report from newspaper consulting firm Classified Intelligence estimates that Craigslist revenues may reach $81 million this year, and $100 million soon thereafter, all from charges for job listings on 11 sites and apartment listings in the New York market (the charges combat spam there). Silicon Alley Insider estimates that Craigslist may be worth $5 billion as a whole.

Apparently not worth as much to Yahoo anymore is the video clip show “The 9,” hosted by the lovely and talented Maria Sansone. The show, which is officially off the air, ran for two years and filmed 400 shows. Yahoo seems to have a love-hate relationship with original content, as the NewTeeVee blog explains. For her part, Sansone should have no trouble landing a new gig.

Finally, on my Screenwerk blog, I post that former Citysearch CEO Briggs Ferguson has landed at Idearc, publisher of Superpages, as president of the company’s Internet division. Ferguson is well acquainted with the Internet yellow pages business but he’s not a yellow pages industry insider.