Google Gets Wikified
The Google personalized search developments that we wrote about in July have been launched.
How Are Traditional Media Making the Online Transition?
This morning's session at ILM:08 on Leveraging Traditional Media Online was an eye-opener in many respects. It was striking, for example, how aggressively NBC is embracing the idea of following the audience wherever it can get its attention -- at…
Citysearch’s Compelling Revamp
Citysearch has just completed a full revamp of its product and strategy that it hopes will position it in the long-term battle for local. Elements of the revamp include a more intuitive interface, an embrace of social media, a major…
Google/Yahoo Search Advertising Deal DOA
Google announced today that it has decided to walk away from its ad partnership with Yahoo, citing that legal battles with federal antitrust regulators won't make it worthwhile to pursue. The deal would have placed Google text ads throughout Yahoo's…
Implications of the Spot Runner Layoffs
Spot Runner announced that it is laying off 115 people, or less than 30 percent of its staff. It confirmed that a big chunk of the layoffs are coming from its local sales division, formerly known as Weblistic. Company officials say…
Newsforce Teams With Newspapers for ‘Press Release AdSense’
Press releases are rich in content -- richer than most ads. Many local events, businesses and services routinely write them. But they often don’t get past the “about us” sections on their own Web sites. The releases aren’t easily found,…
Latest News on Upcoming ILM:08 Conference
We’re just about ready to go with Interactive Local Media 2008, which is Nov. 19-21 in Santa Clara, in the heart of Silicon Valley. It should be a very important, game-defining event -- and the first one for The Kelsey…
Just Announced: Big-Time Lineup for ILM:08, Silicon Valley
OK, we’ve got the format(s) and “best and brightest” speaker roster set for Interactive Local Media: Extending Local Channels, which is Nov. 19-21 in Santa Clara, California, next to San Jose. At the top of the list is Angie Hicks,…
Android Arrives in Style
After more than a year of speculation about a "GPhone," the Google-powered G1 phone was unveiled today in New York. As we reported last month, this will be a T-Mobile phone (built by HTC), and it will be available to…
Vertical Without Vertigo
My brother recently had a "vertical experience" in the Disneyland "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror." A 150-foot drop in a rickety old elevator. Three times, in fact. But Disney's vertical engineering legerdemain is less ambitious than that of the diverse…
Google Brings a Taste of Online to Traditional Media, Part III: NBC Joins the Mix
Closely related to our recent ongoing coverage of Google's offline media efforts (TKG client Advisory released Friday as well), the company has signed a deal with NBC Universal to further push ad buying through its Google TV Ads platform. Google…
Google Brings a Taste of Online to Traditional Media, Part II
The New York Times writes today about Google's efforts to court ad agencies as a source of new business. Not surprisingly, these efforts are being met with a fair amount of skepticism from agencies that have seen Google as a…
Google Enters the Browser Game
The official Google Blog has announced that the company will launch a new open source browser today called "Chrome." On a basic level, this is a logical move for Google, given that it could provide a more direct front door…
Google Brings a Taste of Online to Traditional Media
We've long known Google to be on a path toward facilitating media buys across a cluster of offline traditional media. A clearer glimpse into this vision was given yesterday by Meredith Papp, product marketing manager at Google, during TKG's session…
Google’s IYP Traffic Scores Add to Ranking Confusion
IBegin head Ahmed Farooq is shaking things up by publicizing Google’s take on top IYPs. Per Google’s methodology, Citysearch leads the way with 7.4 million uniques and a 3.2 percent reach. It beats Yellowpages.com with 6.8 million uniques, and Superpages.com…
Here Comes the GPhone, Part IV
Early rumors of a Google phone, before the Android platform was announced, gave the device a name of "GPhone" (remember?). That name ended up being not that far off the mark -- though Google ended up building the OS rather…
Local Arts Nights Out via Google
Google and Salesforce.com are using some of their market power to help local cultural institutions. Last week, while in San Francisco for Inman, I found “Tartuffe” by the African-American Shakespeare Co. when I searched “San Francisco” and “Theater.” It was…
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Brew
The headlines from this week’s edition: GE: The Heat on Immelt Google: Weathering the Storm? The Future of Fannie and Freddie Anheuser-Busch’s Troubled Brew This wedding tradition of something old and something new is appropriate for BusinessWeek’s leading online stories…
Signs of Google Social Search Emerge
A few Google users have come forward with screenshots of Google's "bucket testing" of a social search feature. Like Digg, StumbleUpon and other social search engines, it allows users to actively rate or vote on search results using small icons that…
If I Can Just Put on My Sneakers
At Princeton's Fourth of July fireworks last night, I got into a discussion with a friend who is concerned about his son who works as a journalist for a small N.J. newspaper. I referred him to a "tell it like it is"…