Here are last week’s highlights from the TKG blog, in case you missed any posts. Click below to read each post in full.

Merrill Brown and the Internet: Still the Visionary
“Extraordinary change means extraordinary opportunity,” Merrill Brown, founder and principal of MMB Media, told the audience at last month’s Drilling Down on Local conference. Few people are more knowledgeable about the impact of new technologies on society than Brown. Before he was a founder of RealOne, before he was the first editor in chief of MSNBC.com, before he was a media and communications consultant for Time Inc., NBC and USWEST, he was a widely quoted writer. (read more…)

Will Apple Rule Local Search in the Living Room?
Though IPTV hasn’t been the primary focus of a blog post in a while, we’ve mentioned it here and there as a local search medium to start thinking about. The thinking goes that the IP architecture of the technology will allow more precise targeting with content and ad delivery, as well as a two-way street for content pull (which has its own set of implications for behavioral targeting). (read more…)

AgendiZe Brings ‘Contact Widgets’ to Local Listings
Local search software developer AgendiZe will announce an expanded partnership with Canada’s Yellow Pages Group that will position new “contact widgets” throughout YPG’s listings. The widgets will be available at an undisclosed point, likely in the next couple weeks. This takes AgendiZe’s call-to-action functionality a step further by extending it to all listings. The functionality is basically an easy way for IYPs to plant a button on their listings that offers click to call, send to e-mail, send to phone, save to Facebook, and other calls to action. (read more…)

Internet Yellow Pages Socialize
Canadian IYP Yellowpages.ca announced a Facebook application that lets users of the social network tap into local listings and share recommendations with friends. This comes days after the U.K.’s Yell did something similar with its “Socialiser” app, and Superpages has had a Facebook application for some time. Though it’s not an IYP, Lolodex arrived on the scene in March to similarly blend local search and social networking, a la Facebook. (read more…)

More From Seat on Future Strategy
More detail has come out on Seat Pagine Gialle’s proposed sale of its foreign properties. The goal, according to an interview with Reuters, is “to shift its attention back to Italy to mine a boom in Internet use in the country instead of looking for growth abroad. That means units Telegate in Germany, Thomson Directories in Britain and Europages in France are on the auction block.” (read more…)

Yellowbook Uses Web to Extend Reach of New Campaign
Yellowbook has launched a new microsite to encourage consumers to download and share spots from its new ad campaign. The site also links to Yellowbook’s YouTube channel. TKG recently posted on the new Yellowbook campaign and brand makeover. We see it as an upgrade of the previous David Carradine campaign, which the publisher contends was quite successful. Apparently, it wanted a new direction. (read more…)

Microsoft Offers Cash Back to Online Shoppers
Microsoft will announce a new Live Search product today at Advance08, which gives cash back to users who purchase products through the system. The aptly named Cashback feature will place dollar sign icons throughout paid search results wherever there are deals available. Users who purchase these items will then have cash amounts transferred to a new section of their Microsoft LiveID accounts. (read more…)

Google Mashes Up News and Maps
Google has begun to place geotagged news stories in Google Earth. By mousing over news icons on the map, preview windows appear that show stories from Google News. This adds to the news stories it was already plotting via its partnership with The New York Times. This is also similar to what MetaCarta does with news stories from the AP and others (profiled in a past post). (read more…)

Yell Cites Tough Times in Dividend Cut
Yell Group announced results today that showed all its operating groups generated top-line growth in its 2007-08 financial year (ended March 31), with almost all the growth coming from the Internet. The company emphasized that it hit its EBITDA guidance for the year. Yell CFO John Davis announced Yell will cut its dividend in half, calling it a prudent decision to achieve more flexibility in the face of economic uncertainty. (read more…)

Quick Response Bar Codes Invade Yellow Pages
An innovative bar code technology, QR Codes, first developed in Japan by Denso-Wave has been introduced in Singapore by Singapore Press Holdings. Branded as ZapCodes, the two-dimensional bar codes enable mobile phones equipped with cameras and special software to download information or link users to Web sites for more information. (read more…)