Yahoo Rolls Out Widgets 4
Yahoo has announced extensive updates to its cross-OS widget platform, changes which are aimed at improving performance, increasing functionality, and providing new features and services to users.
Of all the new releases in Widgets 4, the Flickr Widget is probably the one that shows the most promise. It allows users to display, upload and tag Flickr photos, as well as giving users the option of dragging and dropping large groups of photos into the widget and edit the tags and other information without needing to open a browser.
Live Search Sails With New Captain
The Live Search product will no longer be living in the same house with all of the other Windows Live products. A new leader will take it over as Microsoft forms a new “beat Google” corporate group.
Yahoo Acknowledges Illicit Clicks Exist
The company has made its first ever disclosure on the clicks it discards, numbering between 12 and 15 percent of the ones it receives as either "invalid or of inferior quality.
Ups and Downs of Socializing Content
There are many ups and downs to adding a user generated content section to a site. It has been interesting watching the effects of SEOMoz’s user generated content and points systems.
Key Issues in Web Anaytics Implementation and Rollout
I spent most of the last two weeks on the road – teaching down in San Diego at the WebSideStory DMU and manning a booth at the Omniture Summit. Going out and talking to so many people is always interesting (if a bit daunting for an essentially shy guy) – and if you take out the travel parts it was all pretty enjoyable.
Lessons From a Well-Crafted White Paper
If you write white papers, you will want to take note of what I am about to say.
Every once and a while I come across a simply excellent white paper.
The Writing Style of Your Company’s Blog
I was honored to speak yesterday on corporate blogging in DC, as a joint event put on by Merry Bruns and DC Web Women. The two other speakers, Scott Briscoe of ASAE, and Lorelei Brown of the Natl Association of Realtors, are both longtime bloggers and we had a great time sharing our experience on how the business world looks at blogging.
In Brief: Semel Smiles, Google Surges, And More
Yahoo managed to please its CEO while holding serve in comScore’s search engine rankings for February 2006, but Microsoft, Ask, and Time Warner/AOL gave up some ground. Among brands people sought through search in 2006, MySpace topped a Hitwise list of searched brand terms
Google Sneaks Embedded Text Link Ads Into PPA
What’s been called an assault on click-fraud, or affiliate networks, or both, could also carry with it a little controversy. Google’s recent beta launch of pay-per-action AdSense, available only to US advertisers, was released overtop another new product: the text link format ad unit.
OpenAjax Alliance Welcomes MSFT, Google
Microsoft has joined the OpenAjax Alliance, along with thirty-one other companies.
And although thirty of those corporations were named in the official press release, a rather big one was left out: Google.
The omission is more of an embarrassing slipup than an insulting snub, however.
John Ferraiolo, the Alliance’s blogger, writes, “Unfortunately, we became aware of Google after the press release went out.”