How is Google Weighing Forum Results?

There is an interesting thread going on at the WebmasterWorld forum looking at whether or not Google favors forums in search results. Matt Cutts tells me that he can neither confirm nor deny this. The thread is started by someone with the handle "bouncybunny," who posts: Once it was directories, then blogs, now forums... maybe. I have no empirical evidence for this, but it seems…

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Alleviating Google Latitude Privacy Concerns

Google's recently announced Latitude service has sparked a bit of concern among privacy advocates and the generally paranoid. I spoke with a Google Spokesperson about this. Google Latitude is a feature in Google Maps for mobile and iGoogle that allows you to share your location with your family and friends in real time.

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Stanford Takes Up Case Against AP

Well, if Google (or any number of other cost-conscious corporations) isn’t going to do something about overreaching copyright enforcement, it may be up to nonprofits and legal scholars at our best law schools. First up, a pair of acronyms, next Congress for encouraging them.

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Some Bright Spots For Ecommerce In January

January was a month of casual browsing, with limited purchases at online retailers, according to a report from marketing firm Coremetrics. The number of online sessions in which consumers browsed a Web site, viewing at least one product page, stayed largely flat compared to December 2008. The number of sessions in which consumers actually completed an order was down 21 percent.

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Can Your Business Benefit By Letting Users Hide Ads?

Contrary to what advertisers might like to believe, not everyone wants to see their ads. This is why televsion advertisers don't like TiVo. Advertising is how a lot of online businesses make their bread and butter though, and without ads, they simply could not generate enough revenue to stay alive. At least one online business believes that allowing users to turn off ads might actually…

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