Ex-Google Search Experts Start New Google Competitor
Ex-Google search experts Tom Costello and Russell Power have created a new search engine called Cuill ("cool"). It is rumored that Google is quite upset over this new competitor and has already made an offer to purchase it and add it to its intellectual property library. Costello and Patterson also entertained the idea of involving venture capitalists in the project but eventually funded the search engine themselves for around five million dollars.
Yahoo!'s Recent Acquisitions
In its quest to bulk up its online advertising capabilities and catch up to its competition, Yahoo! recently bought out Blue Lithium, an advertising network focusing on behavioral targeting, remnant inventory and large sites. This new partnership will allow Yahoo! to attract direct response advertisers and amass a better inventory of sites from Blue Lithium's current network. In terms of open source applications, Yahoo!'s latest move in its plan to outsell Google is its $350 million acquisition of Zimbra. Zimbra, a comprehensive office suite, gained recognition at the 2005 Web 2.0 Conference and has recently released its new offline capabilities. This purchase is in direct competition with Google Docs.
Google Files GPay Patent
Google has recently filed for a patent for its latest idea, GPay. GPay is a mobile payment method that would allow consumers to pay for goods and services with any mobile computing device, such as a cell phone or a Palm Pilot. The system is very similar to mobile payment methods already in use in Europe and Asia, which means Google is not the first one to the mobile payment table. However, Google may still be awarded the US patent for the device if the other companies have not applied for patents in the US first.
Mahalo
Mahalo, a new search engine of sorts, has become very popular due to its ease of use and its unique organization of search results. Unlike Google or any of the other well-known search engines out there, Mahalo provides search results organized into primary and secondary sources, followed by links to images or videos. For someone who is not familiar with the search engines or even with the Internet in general, Mahalo offers an accessible search tool that sifts through the mountains of results that you would find on Google for you. In addition, the links or sources listed in the search results for any given query are credible, being built and reviewed by actual people.
Google Bans Directories
Over the past couple of weeks, many search marketers have been talking about Google banning directories. The question on everyone's minds is whether or not there is any benefit left to submitting websites to directories. The general consensus appears to be that Google is once again tweaking its algorithm, which would account for the drop in Page Rank experienced by so many sites. As usual, Google has offered no explanation as to what is going on. In the event that Google actually has decided to discredit backlinks from common directories, experts say a company's best shot at being credited with a backlink from a directory is to make sure that the directories to which it submits its website are of high quality, which usually means they are human-edited.
Microsoft Presents Gatineau
Microsoft recently gave its first presentation of Gatineau, its new web analytics offering. This new tool will help advance the company's digital advertising solutions, putting them in direct competition with Google Analytics. The new web analytics program will focus on demographic segmentation, conversion value data, and behavioral data. Gatineau will only be available in English at first, and will only be released in countries that have adCenter support facilities. This tool will also be available free of charge.
Iran Blocks Google
In an attempt to maintain the moral integrity of its culture, Iran has decided to block the country's access to Google and to Gmail. Internet users in Iran are unable to access websites containing sexual or otherwise graphic or negative material, which is blocked by Internet Service Providers using keyword-searching software. Iran's National Council of Information did release a statement confirming that these sites have been blocked but provided no specific reason as to why.
Google Granted Patent for Desktop Search
Google recently applied for and was granted a patent for an as yet unnamed new desktop search tool. The proposed tool will allow users to perform search queries directly from open desktop documents. All of the information in the document would then be used in the search query and relevant information based on the document would then be provided. The index contained in this system would be composed of documents and information found on the user's machine as well as any information or documents in the user's local network. This would then be added to the global index taken from the Internet.
AOL's Platform A
AOL has announced its new advertising platform, Platform A. This new platform will bring together all of the digital media technologies used in AOL's current networks, from Advertising.com to Third Screen Media to ADTECH. The company also announced its plans to move its headquarters to New York City. This action is seen by most as an aggressive step by AOL towards getting itself back into the global advertising game. The company appears to be interested in garnering the sky-high budgets of large brand name advertisers, setting itself apart from both Yahoo! and Google.