News Corp. to buy Dow Jones for $5.6 Billion

News Corp. said on Wednesday that it agrees to buy Dow Jones & Co. for $5.6 billion.  This purchase would add The Wall Street Journal to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch's media empire and end a century old family-run business that prospered as one of the top U.S. business news sources in the world.

The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones possessions will contribute to Murdoch's immersive media empire, which includes such properties as the Fox television, the MySpace online social network, and the American Idol singing talent show on Fox network, just to name a few.

Under the terms of the agreement, being approved by the boards of both companies, the Dow Jones shareholders will receive $60 in cash for each share of common stock or Class B common stock that they own, the companies said.

This is a big and important purchase in the media industry, especially to Rupert Murdoch.  This purchase has enabled him to achieve his decades-long dream of running the highly respected financial daily.

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Joining forces to squash cybersquatters

Just this morning my aunt was talking about how smart it would have been to buy a bunch of generic domain URL names when the Internet was just starting out—and then sell the domains to big companies for a lot of profit. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one with the idea. It's called cybersquatting; and for big name companies, it's grown from nuisance to threat.

In an attempt to counteract cybersquatters, top businesses such as Yahoo, Coca Cola and Hilton are pooling their resources into the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse.

As Barry Schwartz states, “Cybersquatters purchase domain names that are similar to trademark names, such as yahooemail.com and hilt0n.com. Some use that traffic to earn an affiliate commission on sales from the trademark owners, but others may use it for criminal activities, such as phishing for passwords, bank account details and other personal information.”

Concerning the coalition’s priority, CADNA President Josh Bourne states, “To effectively combat cybersquatting…and other Internet-based fraud, CADNA will work at the national and international levels to make these practices difficult to establish and unprofitable to maintain.”

Ask.com assuages anxieties with new privacy feature

For those of us who fear Big Brother is living inside our computer, Ask.com has announced the creation of AskEraser, its new privacy feature.

AskEraser will allow browsers to erase all search history and, in accordance with its 18 month data retention policy, will conduct searches without logging IP addresses or cookies which could lead back to browsers.

“Anonymous user data can be very useful to enhance search products for all users,” writes Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask.com, “… but we also understand that there are some who are interested in new tools that will help protect their privacy further, and we will give them that control on Ask.com.”

AskEraser will be available in the US and UK later this year and will launch globally in 2008.

More coverage at SearchEngineLand.com.

Google Introduces Custom Search Business Edition

Ever notice a website with its own Google search field? Notice how the terms you enter in that search field don’t search the whole Internet, but just the pages within the website? It’s called Google Custom Search, and it’s a pretty handy product used by thousands of organizations, schools, and even blogs.

Below is a screenshot of Custom Search implemented on the Montclair State University homepage:

The great news is Google just unveiled its Custom Search Business Edition— an enhanced version of Custom Search geared towards small and mid-sized businesses.

Below are the four key features that accompany Custom Search Business Edition (as explained on SearchEngineLand.com):

Customized search results. You can change the look and feel of search results to match the underlying design of a website, using a relatively straightforward XML API provided by Google.

Optional ads. With the free version of Google Custom Search, Google displays ads alongside search results. With the Business Edition, ads in search results are optional.

Dedicated enterprise support. The new service offers both email & phone support,

Optional Google branding. Don't want the Google logo on your search results? You can easily turn it off.

Google’s Custom Search Business Edition has pricing plans which range from $100 per year (for searching up to 5,000 pages) to $500 per year (for searching up to 50,000 pages).

For more info, check out Google’s blog about Custom Search Business Edition.

Guge Gallantly Goes after Google

It’s always an interesting surprise for the Internet community when a no-name (no pun intended) company announces it is suing Google, the #1 worldwide search engine.

A Reuters.com article covering the story indicated that Beijing Guge Science and Technology Ltd. Co (Guge) is “suing Google Inc.'s China subsidiary for copying its name, saying the U.S. search engine's registered Chinese name is too similar to its own and has harmed its operations.”

Guge complained of frequent, misdirected calls from people trying to contact Google, reporting that the problems arise from miscommunications between phone directories and callers. Apparently Guge is tired of dealing with the erroneous traffic and is seeking rectification.

“We just want Google to change their commercial name," stated company official Tian Yunshan.

The article mentioned that this case has “been accepted by a court in Beijing's Haidian district.” Both Google and Guge refused to comment further, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

Google buys its protection for $625 million

On Monday, July 9th, Google officially announced that it signed a contract with Postini, the “global leader” of online security. In a press release concerning the matter, Google declared for the sum of $625 million, it will have control of Postini as a “wholly-owned subsidiary” and that the deal is “expected to close by the end of the third quarter 2007.”

Google Applications such as “Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Docs & Spreadsheets, and Personal Start Page” have become very popular among small businesses; Google provided a statistic indicating that nearly 1,000 small businesses register with these applications each day.

Google maintains that large businesses will likely be impressed with this acquisition because it will allow them to benefit from the innovative applications of Google and the assured security of Postini. The press release stated that among its many security features, “Postini solutions include Email Security, IM Security, Web Security, Message Archiving, Message Encryption, and Policy-enforced TLS.”

President and CEO of Postini, Quentin Gallivan, has described the deal as “an exciting milestone,” and Google appears to agree. As far as I’m concerned, this is another huge step forward for Google, leaving other search engines and Internet application providers in the dust.

Sports Court subpoenas Google for AdWords records

In what is being referred to as a “trademark infringement lawsuit,” two competing companies are about to change the face of advertisement confidentiality on the Internet.

According to Eric Gordon’s post on the matter, “the plaintiff Sport Court (now Conner Sport Court International) claimed that Rhino Sports had breached an injunction by buying the keyword phrase ‘sport court,’ when it fact Rhino Sports apparently had just broad-matched the word ‘court.’”

Unconvinced, Sport Court has officially subpoenaed Google asking it to release all AdWords records pertaining to the term “sport court.” Thanks to Gordon, we have a list of the specific material included in the subpoena:

* all purchases of "sport court" as a keyword
* the associated "cost per click calculations"
* estimated ad positions for the keyword
* search volume trends for the keyword

To ensure compliance, all AdWords clients who utilize these terms have been contacted via e-mail; the AdWords data will be released pending no official objections.

It’s obvious that if released, this data would have “significant competitive value.” Many responses in the Internet community, including my own, have been those of cautious apprehension. If this motion is passed, it stands to set a risky president for future companies looking to get ahead in the world of online advertising.

Click here for more coverage.

Mark your calendars for Google-Free Friday

Today marks the first installment of the Google-Free Fridays SearchEngineLand.com is hosting throughout the month of July. In an attempt to dispel the Google hype, SearchEngineLand.com is recommending browsers abstain from using Google each Friday of this month and instead make use of the other search engines on the Internet.

In his article, Editor-in-Chief Danny Sullivan explains, “The point [of Google-Free Friday] is to encourage people to open their eyes to some of the other major search engines, whether it to be to discover something great and new or to reassure [them] that Google's the right choice.”

Today, SearchEngineLand.com has selected AOL.com as the alternative search engine. Sullivan states that this “is your chance to get a feel of how AOL compares by using a search service there that corresponds to one you might regularly use at Google.”

Personally, I think Google-Free Friday is a smart idea. I think we instinctively turn to Google as the be-all-end-all of search engines. I know I do. Before I read this article, I already used Google to search for five different things this morning. Google-Free Fridays may be the perfect opportunity to start using alternative search engines to see what they have to offer.

Let the competition begin

The iPhone has been on the market about five days, so a rival product must be in the making, right? Right! This Yahoo! News article indicated that LG has signed an agreement with YouTube to develop a new mobile phone. The device will, among other things, “enable users to upload, view and share video clips or user-created content (UCC) online freely without using computers.”

Uh-oh. The iPhone can’t do that.

This partnership is sure to benefit LG, the world’s fifth-largest mobile phone manufacturer, and its relationship with undisputed #1 search engine, Google. Last month in Europe, LG released a line of mobile “Google phones” which offer “one-click access to Google's search engine as well as Google maps and Gmail.” YouTube, the world’s biggest video-sharing website, was acquired by Google last year for 1.65 billion dollars.

While it’s still far too early for a release date, the LG / YouTube phone certainly represents the first of many iPhone competitors that are sure to follow.

Say hello to Yahoo! SmartAds

Yesterday, Yahoo! launched their SmartAds application which, according to a SearchEngineLand.com source, will “deliver display ads to people across the web based on their demographic and geographic profiles, plus search and web browsing behaviors.”

This new form of web advertising, which apparently received positive feedback in its test stage, is expected to expand to reach all areas of the Yahoo! network pending continued success.

SmartAds appears to have a lot of potential in the advertising community; the application will allow advertisers to contact browsers based on demographic, location, or web behavior— or advertisers can mix all three elements until they target the ideal audience.

What makes SmartAds so revolutionary is the “creative assembly platform” which will “take "templates" of advertiser-generated creative (e.g., copy, logos, graphics) and assemble those elements dynamically depending on the targeting opportunity.”

You may be thinking, “Gee, presenting relevant ads is great, but tracking my “web browsing behavior” sounds a little Big Brother-esque.” At least that was my first impression. But Yahoo! representatives assure that “users are grouped into categories and subcategories… not individually targeted.”

So there you have it—Yahoo! SmartAds are taking us into the future of interactive advertising on the web. My guess is it’s only a matter of time before other search engines (*cough* Google) take up a spot in the competition.

For more coverage, click here.

Roll out the red carpet for Apple iPhone premier

Today represents another breakthrough in modern technology as Apple releases the much-anticipated iPhone. With three-fold technological appeal, this cell phone / iPod / wireless internet device encompasses the elements many of us have come to regard as “necessary” for existence.

According to an Apple press release, the iPhone “will go on sale this Friday, June 29 at 6:00 p.m. local time at Apple® retail stores nationwide. All 164 Apple retail stores in the US will stay open until midnight, and customers can purchase up to two iPhones on a first come, first served basis.” The iPhone will be available in a 4GB and 8GB model for $499 and $599 respectively.

For now, iPhone will only be available through AT&T wireless services, which, is regarded as “the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 62 million subscribers.” This agreement has been ambiguously defined as “multi-year exclusive partnership”; as of now, there has been no news of future wireless network integration.

Barry Schwartz of SearchEngineLand.com accurately maintains that “the press and craze over this product is unprecedented.” In truth, the iPhone couldn’t be received by a more technologically-dependant atmosphere and audience. I have no doubt in my mind that despite the costly nature, iPhones will fly off the shelves, giving consumers a chance to determine whether or not the product lives up to its tremendous hype.

Yahoo Image Search now links to Flickr albums

In the great Search Engine Competition, Yahoo recently implemented photos posted by Flickr members in its image results, “ironically catching Yahoo up to Google, Microsoft and Ask.com -- all of which already included Flickr photos in their respective image search engines.” Striving to go one step further, these Yahoo! image results include a hyperlink to the Flickr album in which the image is located.

This is good news for Flickr users, who are in essence obtaining a free inbound link from Yahoo-- something that is sure to drive new traffic to their Flickr albums. But as far as Yahoo is concerned, some responses from the Internet community maintain that for a given search, “Yahoo Images still had plenty of crud.”

Click here for more coverage, as well as a postscript from Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief of SearchEngineLand.com.

Is Yahoo! too desperate to be on top?

Recently, News Corp has expressed interest in trading MySpace to Yahoo! in exchange for a 25% cut of all Yahoo! stocks.

But wait... on Wednesday I wrote about the changes (challenges?) Yahoo! has faced, primarily its new CEO Jerry Yang and the substantial drop in Yahoo! stocks over the past months. So amid all this tumultuous activity, why would a social networking site mogul like MySpace want to invest itself in Yahoo! at all?

One incentive could be the $12 billion News Corp would earn from the deal. Despite a decrease in Yahoo! stocks, the company is still worth an estimated $37 billion. Conversely, with a teammate like MySpace, Yahoo! could have a fighting chance against long-time competitor Google (with its famous YouTube partner), which reportedly “make[s] more money in a quarter than Yahoo does in a year.”

I don’t know about all this. It seems to me that Yahoo! is so intent on “trying to out-Google Google” (as Jim Breyer puts it) that tactics are turning from methodical to hasty. Still, this merge proposal was presented informally, and a partnership is far from finalized.

Furthermore, News Corp first introduced this proposal to Terry Semel, the very recently resigned Yahoo! CEO. As the new CEO, Yang may put MySpace on the back burner, and focus on organically boosting Yahoo! instead of taking on outside partners.

For more coverage, check out this New York Times article.

Yahoo! CEO steps down in time of need

After a 30% drop in its stock prices over the past 18 months, it’s safe to say that Yahoo! hasn’t been doing so hot. Now, it will have to carry on without CEO Terry Semel.

Semel, who has been the Yahoo! CEO for six years, has officially announced his resignation, though he will remain with the Yahoo! team as a non-executive chairman. Assuming the position of CEO is Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang, and Susan Decker, former Yahoo! executive VP, has been named Yahoo! president.

This isn’t the first time a Yahoo! CEO has handed the reins to someone else in troublesome times. In fact, Semel assumed the position in 2001 when the former Yahoo! CEO, Tim Koogle, stepped down after repeated drops in Yahoo! stock prices, among other company difficulties.

Yahoo! has long struggled to reclaim the #1 spot, but with “behemoth” competitors like Google and AOL, the battle is far from easy. Will Yang have what it takes to lead Yahoo! to success in the online world, or will he pass the torch when it gets too tough? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

To keep or not to keep? Wikipedia debates worth of Search Engine Marketing

Last Thursday, Wikipedia proposed deletion of the main entry for Search Engine Marketing, claiming that “the article is poorly written” and lacking independent sources. Wikipedia is looking to merge SEM with the entry for Search Engine Optimization, citing that “SEM is a subset of SEO work, [and] as such, it belongs in the SEO article."

Feedback from Wikipedia users has illustrated a noticeable divide; the dozen votes left since the proposal’s posting include six “strong keep,” one “keep,” four “merge,” and one “dunno” (undecided).

Naturally, this has caused an uprising of SEM advocacy among Internet marketers, masters and users. Editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, Danny Sullivan, voiced his opposition to the proposal, while deflating several arguments in favor of merging the SEM and SEO entries. Danny Sullivan “helped popularize and define the term ‘search engine marketing’ back at the end of 2001,” making him more than qualified to offer his two cents on the subject.

The main issues SEM advocates address in their comments are that SEM and SEO are significantly different, and the services offered by SEM and SEO specialists involve completely separate aspects of the Internet. To have the SEM article redirected to the SEO entry page would be presumptuous and, depending on the browser’s focus, unnecessary. Advocates believe that for these reasons SEM deserves its own Wikipedia entry. There is no date posted for an ultimate decision on the matter, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Google AdWords holds the cards in UK

This week, Google announced its refusal to host any gambling related ads in the UK.

Due to lengthy controversy surrounding the “recreational activity,” Google had often been hesitant to provide AdWords services for gambling related sites. While the previous Google AdWords policy allowed certain free gambling related sites to create advertisements, this new policy will not condone them.

An e-mail sent on June 6th from Google to UK AdWords advertisers stated that “[Google] will no longer take ads for sites that promote gambling related content or gambling tutorials or whose primary purpose is `playing for fun', gambling or casino games of skill.”

Despite the strict decision, a Google spokesperson affirmed, “we respect people's differing views on gambling - and support freedom of expression…”

So far, this prohibition seems contained in the UK, but for how long? Google and its inclusive applications—specifically AdWords— bear a strong presence in the online community. Could Google’s choice to prohibit gambling related ads go global, or influence other search engines to censor risky industries? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But for the advertisers of those “risky industries,” one thing is sure: e-Marketing just got a lot harder.

Alexa makes some cool changes

For all you Alexa fanatics out there, some changes have been made to the Alexa Traffic Rankings section that may be of interest to you.

Update Information for New Sites

For new sites that have no information in the Alexa database, the owner of the site can now add information about the site to help Alexa start tracking data on the site.

With this new feature, Alexa now allows you to:

1. Click a link to have your sites thumbnail updated (takes approximately 2 days)


2. Update your sites contact information (name, address, phone, email, etc)


3. Confirm your email address (must be an email address of that domain)


4. Click a link in an email they send you to approve these changes

After these few basic steps are complete, Alexa says your sites information should be update within a few days.

Top Visited Users from what Countries

Alexa now provides you with a graphical representation and percentages of where your sites users are coming from. The following is an example of what you will see:

Traffic Rank in other Countries

Another cool feature is Alexa now provides your sites traffic rank for other countries. The following is an example of what you will see:

Get a Custom Tee with your Stats

Alexa is now integrated with Zazzle, a customized products marketplace for consumer enthusiasts to share and celebrate their interests by creating apparel, posters, cards, stamps and more.

With the integration of Zazzle, you can now purchase the following tee shirts with your Alexa stats and ranking on them:

1. My Site Rocks (displays your percentage of Internet users who visit your site)


2. You will " (displays your traffic rank and says You will visit my site - You will give me better rank)


3. Rank Matters " (displays your traffic rank and says They say size doesnt matter, but rank does)


4. Dance for Rank (displays your traffic rank and says Will dance for better Alexa rank)

Yahoo! Local Adds Quick Business Listing Feature

Yahoo! Local announced today the launch of a new feature that allows any business to quickly add and edit their business listing on Yahoo! Local. Yahoo! states that their new quick listing feature empowers you to add your favorite new local business, alert others when an old favorite has closed, and add or change business info quickly.

The new listing feature is supposed to have your business listed or updated in less than 24 hours. To edit a business listing, look for the "Edit This Listing" link directly under the business rating. You may also want to claim your business, if it is listed, by clicking on the "Edit This Listing" link and selecting that option.

Lots of Changes Bubbling Over at Facebook.com

The popular social networking site, Facebook, has stirred up two major security and privacy concerns amongst their existing 9 million members.

The first concern was regarding a change Facebook made a few days ago that revealed a new feature which allow other users to keep tabs on changes to their friends' profiles, photographs and other personal information " is the latest example of increasing privacy concerns among social networking sites' predominantly young adult audience.

"We really messed this one up," Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in statement to members on the site. "We did a bad job of explaining what the new features were and an even worse job of giving you control of them," he said.

The outcry began Tuesday when the site introduced "News Feed," a feature which instantly notified users of friends' activities on the network, including who they contacted and how they changed their profiles. A second change, called "Mini-Feed," highlights changes on each individual's profile.

In protest, 700,000 Facebook members signed an online petition opposing the changes this week. The outcry took on the trappings of a political movement on college campuses, among a generation not known for its social activism.

The second concern, dubbed Expanded Registration was regarding a change to allow anyone with a valid email address, not just a .edu address, to signup as a member of about 500 regional networks, connecting them with others in their geographic area, but not to school networks. Their members are fumed because that was what the members liked about Facebook. They were fond of the intimate network that only allowed college students, with a valid college email address, to signup.

Facebook denies speculation that the expansion is designed to help the site keep pace with rival, less restrictive social networking sites like MySpace. But come on, with the popularity of MySpace lately, what else could Facebook be thinking. I was watching CNBC, On The Money, last night and they said that Facebook is already being valued between $700 million and $2 billion. Will their recent changes hurt them or will Facebook become the next MySpace? Only time will tell.

Yahoo Adds Blog Content to the Largest Business Website

The birth of the blog has led to an explosion in content on the Internet. Many blogs are receiving millions of hits, adding hundreds of articles and getting unbelievable exposure every single day. The attention some of these blogs are receiving has led to many larger companies paying for and adding the blog content to their website. This idea of using someone elses content for your own publishing purposes is referred to as Micro-publishing.

Yahoo Finance, the largest business site on the Web, on Tuesday began carrying content from SeekingAlpha.com, a financial blog aggregator started two years ago by an analyst who was laid off during the worst of the bear market.The move illustrates how financial blogs are rapidly maturing into a business that's starting to interest large media companies. More than 12 million people visit Yahoo Finance every month.The founder of Seeking Alpha states, As the founder of Seeking Alpha, I want to provide some personal perspective on this event."The impact of stock market blogs has only just begun," said David Jackson, the former Morgan Stanley telecommunications analyst who founded SeekingAlpha. "Micro-publishing will fundamentally change the face of financial publishing."He then goes on to explain how micro-publishing will change the face of financial publishing, Stock market blogs have reached the point where traditional financial media companies can no longer ignore them. TheStreet.com, MarketWatch and even The Wall Street Journal now frequently link to blog posts from their websites. But the impact of stock market blogs has only just begun; micro-publishing will fundamentally change the face of financial publishing in two key ways:

1. Bloggers and direct submissions to Seeking Alpha will now provide analysis of thousands of stocks that were previously neglected.


2. Investors write differently than journalists.

Since its inception, SeekingAlpha has grown into a considerable operation that now publishes nearly 100 articles a day on a host of stock-market related matters, from the outlook for Chinese shares to whether Vonage will ever generate enough cash to survive.

It also provides conference call transcripts and analysis of recent filings for initial public offerings, among other things.

Many of the site's 200 contributors are professional money managers who have their own blogs and want wider exposure for their views. SeekingAlpha employs a crew of approximately 10 editors to ensure the articles read well.Financial terms of the deal were unavailable.