Last week, J.C. Penney made the news for plummeting in Google rankings for everything from “area rugs” to “grommet top curtains”. Turns out the retail site had a number of suspicious links pointing at it that could be traced back to a link network intended to manipulate Google’s ranking algorithms. Google, in order to protect […]
Bing is introducing a totally redesigned version of its toolbar, called the “Bing Bar.” Apparently it has been “rebuilt from the ground up,” says Microsoft’s Stefan Weitz. Indeed, it operates more like a kind of “dashboard” than a conventional toolbar with links to various sites. And yes, the Bing Rewards loyalty program is still in […]
Now in its fourth year, Google I/O is more popular than ever. The company’s annual conference for the developer community opened for registration today and promptly sold out … in just 59 minutes. Vic Gundotra, Google’s VP of Engineering, posted successive tweets earlier today about the speedy sellout, saying it took 90 days and 50 […]
Earlier this week, Google’s Matt Cutts announced the company would be releasing a new on-page spam detection technique to reduce the amount of content spam we see in Google. Cutts just confirmed the rumors that this algorithm is indeed live. Matt said the change to their algorithm to prevent low-quality scraper content in Google’s index […]
Matt Cutts, a Google engineer working on search quality, wrote at the Google Blog that Google has recently released a new spam detection classifier to help prevent “spammy on-page content” from ranking highly in the Google search index. None of this comes as a surprise, Matt told us Google would be stepping up their search […]
Google has confirmed that it is preparing a service called “Google Offers,” designed to compete with the popular social buying site Groupon. Google has told Search Engine Land: Google is communicating with small businesses to enlist their support and participation in a test of a pre-paid offers/vouchers program. This initiative is part of an ongoing […]
Google announced that after years of not allowing those in Iran to download their software, Google has opened up downloads of their Google Earth, Picasa and Chrome applications. Now if you are in Iran you will be able to download Google Earth, Picasa and Chrome to your computer. Google explained that the U.S. export controls […]
Is Facebook’s third largest advertiser really a site that tries to trick people into switching to Bing? Apparently not. Still, Bing’s not happy with the tactics and is ending its relationship with the publisher. The site, Make-My-Baby.com, now appears to have gone down. But earlier today, it was suggesting that people needed a plug-in to […]
Today in his Consumer Electronics Show keynote, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer declared that Xbox is no longer a gaming device but an entertainment hub. And Windows will be everywhere, from your TV through Xbox, to your phone via Windows Phone 7, and on PCs of any type, especially through a forthcoming version of “Windows On […]
As expected, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has re-filed his patent infringement lawsuit against some of the biggest companies on the web. The suit alleges that 11 companies have infringed on technology developed in the 1990s by Interval Licensing (AKA Interval Research Corporation), one of Allen’s companies. The 11 companies named in the suit are Google, […]
TIME Magazine has named Mark Zuckerberg Person of the Year. Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook, arguably one of Google’s biggest threats in 2011. Facebook has made a search deal with Microsoft Bing this year, which we expect to be expanded in the future. There has been a lot of controversy between Google and Facebook. […]
A district court judge in Seattle has granted motions filed by Google and AOL to dismiss a Paul Allen patent infringement lawsuit against those two companies (and others). Judge Marsha Pechman agreed with both Google and AOL, who said that Allen’s lawsuit was too vague. Allen’s patent infringement complaint “failed to identify the infringing products […]
My Google Chrome Cr-48 notebook has just arrived. For my first day with it, I decided a good torture test would be to unplug my Windows 7 machine and see how the Google laptop worked in its place. Let’s go!
Eight percent of Internet users in the US are Twitter users, and the service is more popular among African-Americans and Latinos than white Internet users. Those are some of the findings from a new Pew Research Center report. Pew surveyed more than 2,200 US adult web users during November and asked, “Do you use Twitter?” […]
Google has announced that Chrome OS laptops are now available to consumers through a pilot program for early adopters who prove themselves to be “right” in various ways. A Chrome Web Store has also launched to allow an easier way to run web apps within the Chrome browser itself.
The Google Nexus S is out today. It was previewed incognito by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at Web 2.0 a few weeks ago. A Samsung Galaxy S-based handset running Android 2.3, it’s the new Android Flagship phone and reputedly best Android device out there — according to early reviews. We’ll get our proverbial mitts on […]
Want to explore the “Cablegate” material that Wikileaks released last week for yourself, but have no idea where to start? There’s a new search engine for the material. Cablesearch: A Google For Cablegate Called Cablesearch, it’s a project from the Eccar: The European Center of Computer Assisted Reporting. Gary Price from ResourceShelf tipped us to […]
Citing a litany of concerns over competition, airfare, and technology, a US Senator is calling on the Justice Department to put conditions on Google’s purchase of travel software company ITA. In a letter to the DOJ on Wednesday, Senator Herb Kohl outlined a number of concerns over Google’s purchase of ITA — the independent software […]
Reuters reports Barry Diller, the CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp, which bought Ask years back, is no longer the CEO of the company. Barry Diller recently gave up on Ask.com with competing with Google, turning Ask.com back into a Q&A site. Now Diller is the chairman and senior executive of IAC, and the current CEO of IAC […]
Whew. The rumors of a Google-Groupon deal are getting hotter. Yesterday, there was a report the deal was done for $2 billion. Today, there are two reports that negotiations continue with a price of $5 to $6 billion being discussed. Back on November 19, the first report of a Google-Groupon deal came out from Kara […]
Over the past week, there has been many rumors that Google would be making a buy-out offer to Groupon, the popular local deals site. Those rumors have heated up this morning, with Vator.tv reporting the deal has closed, with Google buying Groupon for $2.5 billion. Google or Groupon has yet to confirm the deal but […]
The New York Times has a great, detailed story out today about a merchant with an unusual marketing strategy: be mean to customers. Any publicity, even negative publicity, means a win with Google’s ranking algorithms. Is he right? Maybe. Certainly the story illustrates the fallacy of Google’s “gold standard” search results. Rank Well With Bad […]
Ladies and gentlemen open your wallets — and start your smartphones. The holiday shopping season is upon is. This year more than ever there are scores of sites, apps and online tools to direct you to the right product at the best price. It can all be a bit overwhelming in fact. Below I’ve tried […]
GTVHub reports that Google TV is now being blocked by Viacom. Shows such on popular networks such as Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon are not viewable via the Google TV. Previously, ABC, CBS and NBC blocked Google TV and so did Fox many of those channels returned to Google TV soon after. Viacom, which […]
New statistics out today from Experian Hitwise show Facebook’s continued spread into the average US internet user’s daily activities online. Hitwise says Facebook received nearly 25% of all US page views for the week that ended on November 13, 2010 (last week). Comparatively, a year ago at this time, Facebook generated 16.7% of all US […]
Kara Swisher reports Google is looking at Groupon as a possible acquisition. She said she has “multiple sources” close to the deal that say Google is very interesting in making a bid on Groupon. Google did not confirm the rumors but did reply to Kara’s press request in Google fashion: Per usual, we don’t comment […]
Been checking in to the gym on Foursquare? That activity could earn you a free SoBe Lifewater, the next time you swipe your loyalty card at a Vons grocery store. The chain has partnered with Foursquare so that check-in activity generates rewards, provided by Pepsico. Linking Your Accounts Vons is a supermarket chain that’s big […]
Twitter’s business plan has taken another step today: Twitter and Gnip, a social data provider, have partnered to offer up to half of the Twitter “firehose” of tweets for sale with a couple conditions: Companies buying the tweets can’t display them, nor can they resell them; they’re for analysis only. According to Gnip’s announcement, the […]
Today, Facebook is widely expected to announce that it is offering email to its members. Will that be the case? We’ll all find out soon enough. I’ll be live blogging the Facebook event that begins at 10am Pacific Time. Also see our expanded piece: How The New Facebook Messages & Email System Works
At last, Google has finally gained a page preview feature. Called “Instant Previews,” this is a way for you to see what’s on a page that’s listed in Google’s search results without having to leave Google. The new feature seems promising, another way to save time in the searching process, because there’s less need for […]
AllThingsD, which has been reporting nearly every executive-level departure at Yahoo for the past two years, now says that CIO Michael Kirwan is leaving. Was he forced out or did he voluntarily leave? How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? The world may never know. […]
In a first ever move, Google is now carrying ads from someone else’s ad network — Twitter’s, as Google integrates Twitter’s new Promoted Tweets into Google Realtime Search. It’s quite a coup for Twitter. Not only did the company get Google to pay it for its data last year ($15 million, it’s rumored), something relatively […]
Blekko, the long anticipated search engine founded by Rich Skrenta, has finally opened to the public. The service offers an interesting way to “slash” or create specialty search engines for any topic, along with new features the company hopes will improve relevancy. My previous article, Blekko: New Search Engine Lets You “Spin” The Web, goes […]
Google’s lost yet another high profile employee, apparently to Facebook. Another sign that Google’s slipping, to some. Perhaps. For me, Google has become the new “California,” stealing that role away from Yahoo. Come along a tale of equity refugees and companies growing up. California: The Former Golden State I’m a California native. I grew up […]
Microsoft announced their Q1 2010 fiscal earnings with a 25% increase in revenue, $16.20 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2010. Operating income was $7.12 billion and net income was $5.41 billion, both up from the past. These reports beat Wall Streets expectations and the stock is currently slightly up in after hours trading. […]
Google Settles Competition Case in France from the New York Times reports Google has settled with the French anti-trust authorities today. There is an update to this story below. The settlement requires Google to give three month notification to some advertisers, for some ads, prior to rejecting them from displaying on AdWords section of the […]
Satisfied with Google’s recent emphasis on improving user privacy practices, the FTC has ended its investigation into Google’s collection of personal data earlier this year via its Street View photography service. The commission is not penalizing Google for what happened. In a letter to Google attorneys dated October 27, 2010, David Vladeck of the FTC’s […]
Don’t like Google Street View taking pictures of your house? “Just move,” joked Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in a CNN interview on Friday. A controversial joke, no doubt — one made even more controversial for later seeming to disappear from the interview. Don’t blame Google, the company says. It didn’t ask for the quote to […]
President Obama paid a visit to Google’s Marissa Mayer’s home on Thursday night. Mayer was holding a charity event, selling seats for $30,400-per-plate at the fundraising dinner. Obama gave a speech at the event, where he reportedly said: My task has also been to try to figure out how do we address some of the […]
After less than a week since its release, three of America’s largest television networks have started blocking Google TV users from watching video content on their web sites. Sort of. While ABC and CBS keep Google TV viewers out, as does Hulu, NBC actually still seems to let them in. Below, a visual look at […]