Categories: Google

Google to Prompt Other Mobile Ads Networks Buys

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 23

Even post its recent acquisition of AdMob, Google is far from dominant in mobile ads, though it does control the largest, 24% slice of the market, according to a Nov. 23 report from consultant IDC. Google and AdMob should report $68 million in mobile ad revenue this year, IDC estimates. But Millennial Media, with its $51 million in sales, is nipping at Google’s heels. And Yahoo and Microsoft are firing on on all cylinders in mobile ads as well.

Google Buys Teracent to Boost Display Ad Push

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 23

If anyone doubted Google was serious about online display advertising, those doubts surely were quashed today. This morning, Google announced the acquisition of Teracent, a startup that helps advertisers format…

In Factery Labs’ Search Engine, Facts Trump Links

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 17

Despite Google’s inexorable gains in Internet search market share, search startups (and behemoths) keep trying to improve upon the search giant’s results. Factery Labs, debuting early Nov. 17, aims to…

LinkedIn Boards the Twitter Train

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 09

These days, it seems that everyone wants to be pals with Twitter, the microblogging phenom. On the morning of Oct. 21, Microsoft announced a deal for its Bing search engine…

Google Buys AdMob in Bid to Boost Mobile Ads

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 09

In its third-largest acquisition to date, Google announced it’s buying AdMob, a provider of mobile ad technologies, for $750 million in stock. The purchase, announced this morning, could give the…

Google Dashboard: Control Panel for Your Data

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 05

Early this morning, Google is launching a new feature that lets you view what data is being stored on a range of Google services. Google Dashboard also will let you…

Google Maps Takes All the Marbles

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on October 28

The inclusion of the free Google Maps Navigation app on the new Verizon Droid isn’t the only thing shaking up the until-now lucrative mapping and business. Google, which seems to…

Google Maps Navigation: Another Shot at iPhone

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 28

Amid rising competition between Google’s Android mobile operating software and the iPhone, Google this morning is sending another shot Apple’s way. It’s debuting a free beta version of a new…

Google Voice Lets You Use Your Own Phone Number

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 27

Google Voice, the phone management service the search giant launched the invite-only service earlier this year, has gotten some rave reviews, as well as its share of controversy. You can…

LIVE: Yahoo Beats Q3 Earnings Forecasts; Q4 Outlook Up

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 20

Yahoo managed to beat third-quarter profit forecasts easily on slightly higher-than-expected revenues. Shares rallied in after-hours trading by about 3% 6% (the higher number coming as the conference call proceeds)….

LIVE: Google Beats Q3 Earnings Expectations

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 15

Google beat third-quarter earnings expectations easily, posting a 7% rise in net revenues excluding payments to advertising partners, to $4.38 billion. Profit was $5.89 a share, handily beating forecasts. Google…

Search Ad Spending Improves—and Boosts Google Shares

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 12

Hit by the economy early this year, search advertising looks to be on the mend. For the second quarter in a row, two search marketing firms say U.S. spending on…

AT&T vs. Google: Updating the Status of Call Blocking

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on October 12

The history of the dispute over carriers blocking calls to some rural phone exchanges to avoid high fees is somewhat more tangled that what I described in an earlier post….

Google Voice, AT&T, and the FCC: Fighting Over the Wrong Thing

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on October 11

What do Google Voice, AT&T, sex chat lines, and New Deal efforts to provide rural telephone service have do do with each other? Quite a bit, it turns out; the…

Can VoIP Providers Block Certain Calls?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on October 09

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission sent a letter to Google, asking the search giant to explain how its Google Voice service works, how many people are using it, and how much money it makes — information Google has not disclosed publicly. The inquiry was launched a couple of weeks after AT&T sent a letter to the FCC, alleging that Google may be “systematically blocking telephone calls…. in certain rural communities.”

Google Books: Back to the Drawing Board

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on October 07

A mountain of objections to Google’s proposed book settlement prompted New York District Court Judge Denny Chin on Wednesday to call for a revision. Google and its ally in the…

Matt Cutts: How Google Deals With Web Spam

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 04

It’s up to Matt Cutts and his team at Google to keep search results as free as possible from Web spam, those pages full of Viagra ads or even malware….

Google’s Scott Huffman: Many More Search Features Coming

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 03

Scott Huffman runs one of the least-known units at Google: the evaluation team that measures the impact of every little proposed change to the leading search engine. And with some…

Google Search Guru Singhal: We Will Try Outlandish Ideas

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 02

Inside Google’s search quality group, Amit Singhal runs the core ranking team, which is responsible for those algorithms you hear so much about. The team ran some 6,000 experiments last…

Google’s Udi Manber: Search Is About People, Not Just Data

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 01

Udi Manber, Google’s vice-president of technology for core search, joined the company almost four years ago after stints running Amazon.com’s A9 search project and serving as chief scientist at Yahoo….

Can Google Stay On Top of the Web? An Inside Look

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 01

Google’s search engine is often described as a black box thanks to the veil of secrecy the company places over the mathematical formulas that determine what results we see in…

AdSense Oddity: Gizmodo Burial Urns

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on September 30

Google AdSense is the service that puts “Ads by Google” display advertisements on many Web pages. It usually does a pretty good job of serving ads relevant to the content…

Rubicon Project Buys Others Online in Audience Data Play

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 15

There’s an emerging trend in online advertising that I only flicked at in an article last February on ad networks: As data about people’s online activities grows, it’s allowing advertisers…

Google Fast Flip: Reading Online a Bit More Like Print

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 14

Print has its advantages. In addition to its portability, a magazine or newspaper is easy to flip through to find what you’re looking for, or run across articles or…

Interview: Google China’s Kai-Fu Lee Debuts Innovation Works

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 06

Kai-Fu Lee became famous in 2005 when the engineering whiz left Microsoft, where he had created Microsoft Research Asia, to head search giant Google’s operation in China. Microsoft sued, charging…

Google China Head Kai-Fu Lee Leaves to Start New Venture

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 04

The head of Google’s China operation is leaving four years after his acrimonious departure from Microsoft, the search giant is announcing Friday. Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google’s Greater China operation,…

CONFIRMED: YouTube Negotiating With Studios to Rent Movies Online

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 02

YouTube is negotiating with major Hollywood studios on a plan to stream rented movies on Google’s popular video-sharing site. If an agreement is reached, still an uncertainty, it would be…

Consumer Groups Call for Online Privacy Guarantees

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 01

A group of 10 consumer and privacy watchdog groups this morning called for Congress to clamp down on online tracking of people’s behavior to target advertising to them as they…

One-Off Viral Videos Now Can Make Money on YouTube

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 25

Ever since Google’s YouTube video sharing unit started trying to make some serious money in late 2007, it has mainly tried to place ads on videos produced by people who…

Cloud War: Google’s Schmidt Resigns Apple’s Board

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 03

In a move that many observers believed was long overdue, Google CEO Eric Schmidt today resigned from Apple’s board. The two companies have clashed recently on the issue of Google’s…

“No Bull——”: Ballmer & Bartz on Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 29

Soon after announcing their deal to combine forces on Internet search and search advertising, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked with BusinessWeek about how the deal…

Microsoft and Yahoo Announce 10-Year Search Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 29

And so the deal is finally done: Microsoft and Yahoo early this morning announced a 10-year deal that provides a united front against search giant Google. As we wrote last…

Microsoft Search Deal With Yahoo Finally Here?

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 28

At long last, Microsoft and Yahoo appear to be very close to a long-awaited deal on Internet search. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Boomtown blog,…

LIVE: Yahoo’s Q2 Earnings, Q3 Outlook Disappoint

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 21

Yahoo’s second-quarter earnings are out now amid muted expectations. Its profit rose to $141 million, or 10 cents a share, from $131 million, or 9 cents a share a year…

Will Yahoo’s Q2 Earnings Report Defy Low Expectations?

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 21

Yahoo will report its second-quarter earnings today, and few investors are looking for much cheer in the results. Yahoo is expected to report a profit before special charges of 8…

Google Beats Earnings Forecast But Investors Unimpressed

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 16

Google managed to beat expectations for its second-quarter results. Here’s the release, but on first glance, it looks like Google met expectations on revenues but beat handily on profits. All…

All Eyes on Google As Second-Quarter Earnings Report Looms

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 16

Search giant Google will report its second-quarter earnings shortly after 1 p.m. Pacific time today, at a time when investors will be wondering which way online advertising is going. While…

Google’s Chrome Operating System: We’ve Got It All Wrong

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 11

“A real rival to Windows.” “Google drops a nuclear bomb on Microsoft.” It all sounds so dramatic and exciting, the kind of story we journalists love. But I can’t help…

Chrome OS: What Is Google’s Goal?

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on July 08

Google’s announcement that it is working on a lightweight, Web-based operating system for netbooks, to be called Chrome OS, is a surprise only in its timing. As I wrote last…

Google Announces Plans for PC Operating System

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 08

Google announced plans late Tuesday night to develop operating software for personal computers, initially the downsized PCs called Netbooks. An outgrowth of the Internet search giant’s Chrome Web browser, Chrome…

Microsoft Adds Some Twitter Updates to Bing Search

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 01

In a nod to the increasing importance of real-time search, Microsoft has started adding Twitter updates to its Bing search engine. For now, the Twitter-related results are limited only to…

LIVE: Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz’s First Annual Meeting

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 25

I’ll be liveblogging the Yahoo annual meeting this morning at the Santa Clara Marriott in Silicon Valley, network willing. This year’s meeting is sure to have less drama than the…

Collecta Launches *Really* Real-Time Search Engine

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 18

Remember not so very long ago how amazed you were that Google could return so many useful search results in just a split-second? Today, that kind of speed isn’t…

Maybe Google Isn’t Losing Big Bucks on YouTube After All

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 17

Ever since Credit Suisse came out with a report in early April estimating that Google’s YouTube will lose as much as $470 million this year, many people have been predicting…

Watching Sergey Wander: A Sliver of Insight Into Google?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 28

Sometimes it’s the littlest things that reveal the most, and I had that experience today just watching Google cofounder Sergey Brin walk a couple of San Francisco city blocks. For…

At Least 18 Android Phones Coming This Year

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 28

Speaking at a Google conference, executive Andy Rubin has just announced that 18 to 20 smartphones based on cell-phone operating system called Android will arrive later this year. They’ll be made by eight to nine different manufacturers.

Yahoo Plugs Search Progress: Toward a Web of Objects

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 19

With Microsoft set to relaunch its search engine as early as next week, its rivals have been talking up the new and upcoming features of their search engines. Google held…

Google’s Outage Affected More than Google Users; Other Sites Hit Too

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 15

Much of the kerfuffle over Google’s hourlong outage for some users today centered on the impact to those direct users—the people who were trying to search or get their email…

UPDATED: Google Outages Resolved, Blamed on Data Traffic Jam

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 14

UPDATE: Google has now explained, sort of, what happened on the company blog: This is your pilot speaking. Now, about that holding pattern… 5/14/2009 12:15:00 PM Imagine if you were…

New Google Search Features: We’re Not Dead Yet; Not Even Resting

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 12

Amid a flurry of Internet search developments by other companies recently, Google today sought to demonstrate that it’s not ceding any leadership in the Internet’s most valuable territory. At the…

Google: Government Barks, Company Tempts Fate

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on May 12

I’m in San Mateo, Calif., hosting the 3rd annual Tech Policy Summit, so I’m spending more time than usual thinking about tech policy. It happens that the opening day of…

LIVE from Google’s Annual Meeting

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 07

Wireless gods willing (and they’re a little recalcitrant right now), I’m going to blog the highlights of Google’s annual meeting at the Googleplex, starting at 2 p.m. Pacific, as well…

Google + Wolfram?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 06

Here’s a post from my colleague and editor Peter Elstrom, who spoke with British mathematician and entrepreneur Stephen Wolfram two days ago about his new search technology effort, called WolframAlpha:…

Google: Don’t Brush Off Antitrust Concerns

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on May 05

It’s time for Google to be very careful not to make the same mistake Microsoft made in the 1990s. Microsoft failed to understand that its growing market power would draw…

Another Google Ad Exec Leaves; Tidbits from an Interview with David Rosenblatt

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 29

Google has lost yet another top ad executive. David Rosenblatt, president of global display advertising for the search giant, emailed friends and colleagues to say he’s leaving the company a…

Google Book Search Deal Probed By Justice Department

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 28

The Justice Department is looking into whether a 2008 settlement between Google and authors and publishers over the search giant’s Book Search service could be anticompetitive. Reports in the New…

LIVE: Yahoo Second-Quarter Earnings Just OK, Q2 Guidance Light; 5% Layoff Announced

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 21

Yahoo managed to hit earnings expectations on slightly lower-than-expected first-quarter revenues. It also announced it expects to lay off about 5% of its staff. Based on the 13,600 employees as…

LIVE: New Stuff from Google Labs

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 20

Today, Google’s introducing some early-stage new products and services coming out of Google Labs at a press gathering hosted by R.J. Pittman, director of product management in search properties. I’ll…

Google Book Search and the Dog in the Manger

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on April 18

The proposed settlement of a lawsuit against Google Book Search by publishers (including the McGraw-Hill Companies, owner of BusinessWeek) and the Authors’ Guild has drawn a lot of fire from…

YouTube: New Look, Old Content

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on April 16

In its most recent bid to make YouTube more attractive to advertisers, Google is introducing new sections to the online video site that will be reserved for TV shows, movies,…

LIVE: Google’s First-Quarter Earnings: Revenues Down, Profits Beat Forecasts, Investors Yawn

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 16

Google’s first-quarter earnings are out, and while it managed to beat profit expectations thanks to cost-cutting, revenues were down 3% from the fourth quarter, about what analysts had forecast. From…

Google Goes to Carnegie Hall

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on April 16

As I settled into my seat Wednesday evening for the debut of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, New York’s most regal of music venues, I had no idea…

OpenX Launches Online Advertising Exchange

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 16

Online ad exchanges, which work like the Nasdaq stock exchange to match buyers and sellers of ads, are nothing new but they’re starting to heat up again. In the past…

More Layoffs Coming at Yahoo

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 14

Well, nobody really thought new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz would simply dial up Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer with a deal proposal and leave it at that, did they? And so…

Marketers Cut Search Ad Spending But Reap Higher Returns

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 14

As investors look ahead to Google’s first-quarter earnings report Thursday, they’ll be looking for further signs of how much search advertising has been hit by the tanking economy. Here’s an…

Yahoo and Microsoft CEOs Finally Talking About a Search Deal; Maybe More?

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 10

In a development that can’t be too surprising but may help revamp the Internet landscape, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer have started talking about forging Internet…

Report: Google in Talks to Buy Twitter? Update: Probably Not

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 03

Google is in talks to buy the hot microblogging service Twitter, according to Mike Arrington at TechCrunch, who cited two unnamed sources in a post late Thursday. How far along…

A Sign of Slowing Search Ad Spending

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 02

Search advertising is finally feeling the full impact of the weak economy, according to a new report out this morning from online marketing analytics firm Covario. In fact, search spending…

Google Reveals Some Data Center Secrets.

Posted by: Peter Burrows on April 02

For years, Google hid details regarding the type of servers it uses in its data centers to deal with all those queries as though it were a government hiding launch…

Another Google Killer Dies

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 31

When Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales launched his search service Wikia Search in late 2006, he was hoping to “fix Internet search by working to free the judgment of information from…

Google Forms Venture Group to Find “Next Big Thing”

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 31

Once companies grow large, it’s always tough for them to come up with great new innovations like the one that built them. As Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen has…

Google Lays Off 200 More, But Still Surprisingly Selective

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 26

By now, it’s apparent even Google is no longer unaffected by the economy, and now the company has announced further cuts in its staff—the third reduction this year. In a…

Pixazza “Product in the Picture” Service: AdSense for Images

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 25

Pixazza is looking to turn Web photos into money. It might just work. The startup, staffed by Netscape veterans with a $5.75 million Series A venture capital round, on Wednesday…

Wrike: Making T-Mobile G1 Work for Business Users

Posted by: Olga Kharif on March 24

A start-up called Wrike has announced an important product today that could make Android-based smartphones more attractive to business users.

Google Keeps Tweaking Search Results, Leaving Little Room for Rivals

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 24

Google just announced two new refinements to its search engine today, continuing to leave little room for competitors to get a foothold. The tweaks, announced in a Google blog post…

Why Wait? Google Replaces AOL-Bound Sales Exec with Vet Dennis Woodside

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 17

Just days after Tim Armstrong, a top Google sales executive, announced he’s leaving to become CEO of Time Warner’s AOL unit, the search giant has already replaced him. Dennis…

One Number to Ring All Your Phones: Google Resurrects GrandCentral Service

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 12

With no news for so many months after Google bought GrandCentral Communications in July 2007, a lot of people thought it might be one more Google acquisition that ended up…

Google To Start Behavioral Ad Targeting

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 11

Google today will step into an emerging but controversial method of targeting ads to people’s interests and online behaviors. This morning, the company announced it will begin offering these ads…

Android: Great for the Enterprise?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on March 06

At this year’s Cebit, Reinhard Clemens, CEO of Deutsche Telekom’s large businesses division T-Systems, criticised Windows Mobile — while giving thumbs up to rival Android software for mobile phones. The comments are interesting, as they seem to shed new light on the future of Android as software for corporate users vs. only consumers. They also may show that Microsoft’s corporate supporters are starting to look elsewhere, to alternative software and devices like the iPhone, which also offers access to corporate e-mail.

The Gmail Outage: How Reliable Is Reliable? (UPDATED)

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on February 24

Update, Thursday Feb. 26 I can’t claim credit for this, but Google has followed my suggestion and implemented a status dashboard for its various services. (Thanks to TechCrunch for the…

Gmail Back After Major Outage

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on February 24

Gmail service seems to be mostly restored after a major worldwide failure took it down for more than three hours this morning. Although a status update on the Gmail…

Major Gmail Outage (Updated)

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on February 24

UPDATE: 8 am EST Gmail seems to be partially back up, with many users reporting strange errors. I just got in but only after filling out a CAPTCHA because Google…

Antitrust Suit Filed Against Google

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 17

Google is fast replacing Microsoft as everybody’s favorite antitrust target. Even the U.S. Justice Department last fall indicated it was ready to file an antitrust lawsuit against the search giant…

Android Market to Debut Paid App

Posted by: Olga Kharif on February 13

Today is a big day for makers of software for Android, an operating system developed by a consortium of companies lead by Google and used in cell phones and other devices. Android Market — the portal where users of Android-based devices can download applications — announced that it’s now accepting paid applications from U.S. and U.K. developers. First paid apps will become available in the U.S. starting mid next week and will use Google Checkout for payment.

Google Switches Off Radio Ads (But Not TV Ads)

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 12

In what would be more of a surprise had Google not already exited its Print Ads project late last month, the search giant just announced it’s tuning out of its…

Yahoo Search Pad: Making Online Research Easier

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 04

When you’re researching something online, whether it’s a place you want to vacation or (like me) a subject you want to write about, it’s still not easy to collect…

Google Latitude: Tell Your Friends Where You Are

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 04

Ever wonder where your friends or your spouse or your child is? That’s the question Google hopes to answer for you with a new service launching Wednesday called Google…

Google Earth’s Deep Dive

Posted by: Aaron Ricadela on February 02

Google trotted out some eclectic star power Feb. 2 to show a new version of Google Earth that spotlights the world’s oceans. At an event at the California Academy of…

T-Mobile to Launch More G Phones in 2009

Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 30

A T-Mobile G2 could be coming out soon. A T-Mobile USA exec recently said that more “G series” phones will be coming down the pike this year, “in the coming weeks and months.”

LIVE: Yahoo’s Fourth-Quarter Earnings Beat Forecasts; Bartz Says “Not for Sale”

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 27

Yahoo managed to outpace dour expectations for its fourth quarter, beating profit expectations handily. Despite showing a net loss of $303 million thanks to the costs of layoffs and office…

LIVE: Google’s Fourth-Quarter Earnings Beat Expectations

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 22

Google’s much-anticipated fourth-quarter earnings are out, and it appears to have beat expectations that were muted thanks to the struggling economy and Google’s own recent cost-cutting moves. Google earned a…

Coming Shortly: Economic Acid Test for Google and Search Advertising

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 22

Now that Microsoft has an early answer to its fourth-quarter earnings—bad—tech investors turn their attention to the other behemoth that will report its earnings today: Google. Thanks to a flurry…

Google Drops Print Ads Program

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 20

Not having heard much at all in the past year about Google’s Print Ads program, which let advertisers bid to place ads on hundreds of newspapers using a Google auction…

What New Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz Really Told the Troops

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 15

Yahoo’s stock fell more than 6% today as investors digested reports on what new CEO Carol Bartz told employees during an all-hands meeting yesterday. Some reports indicated she said her…

Google Hunkers Down: Lays Off Recruiters and Possibly Engineers, Cuts Projects

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 14

Even Google gets the blues. In what might be seen as its first “real” layoffs, Google is cutting about 100 recruiting jobs, though some of those people may find other…

Confirmed: Carol Bartz Named Yahoo CEO: Can She Turn It Around?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 13

UPDATED: After a two-month search for a new CEO to replace cofounder Jerry Yang, Yahoo has chosen Autodesk Executive Chairman Carol Bartz to get the embattled company back on track….

Google Loses Verizon Mobile Search Deal to Microsoft—But How Big a Loss Is It?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 08

Google just lost a big mobile search deal to Microsoft. On late Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the software giant’s Live Search will be the default search service on…

Google’s Android Gains More Powerful Followers

Posted by: Olga Kharif on December 09

Today is a dark day for Nokia and Microsoft: Telco Vodafone, equipment maker Ericsson and handset maker Sony Ericsson have joined Google’s camp in making rival cell-phone software.

Kosmix, “Your Guide to the Web,” Gets $20 Million, Launches Beta

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 08

Armed with an additional $20 million in funding, Kosmix is looking to expand its vision of how best to provide people a map to the World Wide Web. No, Kosmix…

Google’s Search Advertising Going Mobile on iPhone, T-Mobile G1

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 08

Well, if Google’s revenues are going to come in a little light this quarter, as many people are speculating, it won’t be for lack of Google trying. Today, the search…

Power.com: One Ring to Rule All Social Networks?

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 01

With what looks to be a fair amount of fanfare, a company virtually unknown in the U.S. is aiming to disrupt the fast-growing social networking business. Tonight, Rio de Janeiro-based…

Hmm, Could Search (Meaning Google) Actually Buck the Economy?

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 25

Two new reports appear to indicate that search—and by extension Google—might do better despite the tanking economy than investors may think. And investors are bearish indeed. Google’s stock fell again…

Google Launches SearchWiki for Customized Search Results

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 20

After almost a year of testing and some recent early sightings, Google today is planning to launch SearchWiki, a way for searchers to edit their own search results. When you…

Jerry Yang to Step Down As Yahoo CEO; Will Microsoft Return?

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 17

Yahoo co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang will step down as CEO as soon as a successor is found, the embattled Internet company just announced. The release (quoted in full after…

Google Ends Search Advertising Deal with Yahoo

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 05

After four months of wrangling with the Justice Department, Google has ditched its search advertising deal with Yahoo. The move, announced unilaterally by Google, had been widely expected in recent…

Searching for a New President: Obama Wins on Search Engine Optimization

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 04

If Barack Obama wins the election today, will it be because his Web geeks know how to do search engine optimization, commonly known as SEO? Of course not, but apparently…

Report: Google, Yahoo Revise Search Advertising Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 03

Google and Yahoo have made major concessions in their proposed search advertising deal in hopes of getting the Justice Department to go along with it, according to a Wall Street…

Will the Google-Yahoo Deal Happen? Who Knows?

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 30

According to a just-posted story in the Journal, the likelihood that Google and Yahoo will walk away from their controversial search advertising deal has risen, as talks with the Justice…

Google Settles Book Search Lawsuits with Authors, Publishers

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 28

UPDATED with more detail throughout… After three years of wrangling, Google has settled two lawsuits from publishers and authors that claimed its book search program violated their copyrights. Under the…

Why I Stopped Using Google’s Chrome Browser… and Why I’ve Started Again

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 23

Like a lot of people, I loved the speed of Google’s Chrome browser, so I used it a fair amount when it came out. But soon I discovered that it…

Google’s Android Market Jockeys For Carrier Support

Posted by: Olga Kharif on October 23

Google just announced that it will share revenues from Android Market with wireless carriers. Developers will get 70% of the revenues from selling their applications through the marketplace. And, once Google’s costs are covered, carriers will get the rest. That’s quite different from Google rivals’ business models. As you’ll recall, Apple pockets that 30% revenue share from selling apps on its iTunes service.

LIVE: Yahoo Earnings Not As Bad As Feared, But Layoffs to Begin

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 21

Not surprisingly, Yahoo just reported third-quarter earnings that were weak but not as awful as some might have expected. However, the company said layoffs of at least 10% of the…

Handango: The First Third-Party Android Store

Posted by: Olga Kharif on October 16

Handango just made a brilliant, counter-intuitive move. This independent provider of applications for BlackBerry devices as well as for Windows Mobile- and Symbian-based smartphones just launched its own marketplace for applications for phones based on Android software.

LIVE: Surprise! Google Beats Third-Quarter Profit Forecasts

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 16

UPDATE: More from the call after the jump, which I’ll keep updating as it proceeds… Google just reported third-quarter results, and it managed to defy skeptics who thought it might…

Jimmy Wales’ Wikia Search Project Launches Apps

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 08

In the latest of many attempts by a wide variety of players to improve search results beyond Google’s iconic 10 blue links, the community information service Wikia Inc. on Oct….

YouTube Debuts Click-to-Buy: E-Commerce for Video

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 07

When even Google CEO Eric Schmidt and cofounder Larry Page admit their YouTube video sharing site might take awhile to make more money than the sub-$200 million in revenues…

Google, Yahoo Delay Search Ad Deal, Still Discussing With Justice Department

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 03

Google and Yahoo, which had been slated to start their controversial search advertising deal in the next couple of weeks, have agreed to a “brief delay” to continue talking with…

T-Mobile G1: Early Orders Indicate Strong Demand

Posted by: Olga Kharif on October 02

T-Mobile USA has stopped taking orders for T-Mobile G1, the first phone based on Android software. Last week, the carrier said that customers who preorder the device will find it at their doorstep as early as Oct. 22. Supposedly, T-Mobile has run out of its first batch of units within a week of the G1 announcement.

Google’s Green Agenda

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 02

A few hours after Google issued a clean energy manifesto, CEO Eric Schmidt on Wednesday night held forth on the search giant’s plans and hopes for setting an entirely new…

Google’s Andy Rubin on Android Market

Posted by: Olga Kharif on October 01

Andy Rubin, who heads up Google’s Android efforts, spoke to me yesterday about his vision for the Android Market. In particular, we talked about how the market will be different from Apple’s iTunes App Store and some other efforts, which also peddle software for cell phones.

Yahoo’s Display Ad Platform APT Launches; Will It Matter?

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 24

Yahoo just launched its long-awaited display-advertising system, now called APT. As I wrote in a story last week, the system, known more recently as AMP, is Yahoo’s latest (maybe…

Google’s Sergey, Larry and Eric Talk Yahoo, Energy, Android, and Floating Data Centers

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 17

A week after Yahoo executives defended their controversial search advertising deal with Google, the search giant joined the fray today with its own rationale. The deal, announced in mid-June, faces…

Android Sales Guessing Game Begins

Posted by: Olga Kharif on September 16

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, this year, HTC expects to ship 600,000 to 700,000 units of the first smartphone based on Android operating system and due out this fall. Android is a software package built by Google and a number of other companies, a package that a lot of developers are super excited about. HTC estimate is way above analysts’ estimates of 300,000 to 500,000 units sold. So who is right — HTC, or the analysts?

Brand Marketers Keep Spending Online

Posted by: Catherine Holahan on September 15

With Wall Street in crisis and a recession looming, it follows that marketers would slash budgets—particularly for newer forms of brand promotion such as social network advertising. Not so,…

Yahoo Defends Google Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 11

As part of a three-hour media day today, a Yahoo executive offered an interesting defense of the company’s pending search deal with Google. That deal, which was supposed to start…

VIDEO: Marissa Mayer on Newspaper Archives, Future of Google Search

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 09

Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products & user experience, introduced a new Google feature Monday, a project to bring historical print newspaper archives online. Using the scanning technology…

Is Justice Planning to Go After Google?

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 08

So it sounds like in a story in the Wall Street Journal, which says the Justice Dept. has just hired a hotshot litigator to look into Google’s power in online…

Is the Google-Yahoo Deal Really a Bad Thing?

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 08

That’s what advertisers think, according to the trade group Association of National Advertisers. The ANA on Sunday filed a letter to the Justice Dept., recommending against the deal under which…

VIDEO: Sergey Brin on Why Google’s Launching a Browser

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 02

Google’s Chrome browser is now officially available here. I’m afraid I haven’t had a chance to try it, though I hope to a little later; meantime, here’s an early review…

LIVE from the Googleplex: Chrome Browser Launches

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 02

Google’s about to brief a gazillion of us reporters about its much-discussed Chrome Web browser, now ready for download here. I wrote my initial thoughts yesterday, and you can get…

Google to Release Web Browser Tuesday; Should Microsoft Worry, or Mozilla?

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 01

In its latest bid to remain ascendant on the Internet, Google is about to release its own Web browser, long a key online battleground. It just announced its plans for…

Is Microsoft’s Vision of Search Enough to Catch Google?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 19

Short answer: No. Not even close. Not for a long time, anyway. But it’s sure trying hard, and it would be dangerous for anyone to write off Microsoft. Its…

Google’s Upcoming Phone: More Details

Posted by: Olga Kharif on August 15

The first mobile phone based on Android, which is software supported by Google, will debut this fall. Moe Tanabian, senior principal at IBB Consulting, has been able to give me a lot of details today on the software inside the device.

Will New Directors Help or Hurt Yahoo?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 14

As expected, Yahoo has just appointed former Viacom CEO Frank Biondi Jr. and former Nextel Partners CEO John Chapple to its board. They’re two of the slate proposed by activist…

GMail Crashes - For Many

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on August 11

Just tried to sign into my personal email account via Google Hosted Apps and it’s down. Then tried my backup GMail account. It’s down too. Turns out there’s a systemwide…

LIVE from Yahoo’s Annual Meeting

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 01

Yahoo’s long-awaited (or long-dreaded) annual shareholders meeting is about to begin, and wireless gods willing, I’ll be liveblogging the proceedings—even if they aren’t expected to be very exciting. You can…

Um, Hasn’t Google Been Investing in Startups Already?

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 31

Google is mulling the creation of a venture-capital investment arm, according to the Journal. But while I gather that is true as far as it goes, I don’t get the…

Cuil: Another Google Challenger Launches—to a Cool Reception

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 28

Just weeks after the last highly touted Google challenger, Powerset, was snapped up by Microsoft, a new one is launching Sunday night. Cuil (pronounced “cool” and previously sporting an additional…

Google Launches Knol for All (Just Don’t Call It a Wikipedia Killer)

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 23

When I wrote about Google’s announcement of Knol last December, I said it wasn’t the Wikipedia killer many people were rushing to call it. One reason was that Knol, which…

Yahoo (YHOO) Second-Quarter Earnings Fall Short

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 22

Most people had expected Yahoo to pull out all the stops to make its second quarter, but if it did, the pulling didn’t work. In its just-released report, Yahoo said…

Yahoo Settles Proxy Fight With Icahn; What’s Next?

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 21

After months of battle with activist shareholder Carl Icahn, Yahoo has finally settled the proxy battle that had roiled the company for months. (Full text of the release and the…

Bolstered by Major Shareholder’s Support, Yahoo Comes Out Swinging

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 18

With its annual meeting looming in just two weeks, Yahoo is ratcheting up its defense against Carl Icahn’s proxy fight with an energy critics wish they’d seen for the…

A Rare Miss for Google (GOOG) on Second-Quarter Earnings

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 17

My quick take on Google’s second-quarter earnings (full release after the jump and updates from conference call below): It’s a miss, though not a huge one. My full story is…

Google Second-Quarter Earnings Coming Up

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 17

I’ll have a quick take on Google’s second quarter earnings as soon as they’re released shortly after 1 p.m. Pacific time. I’ll add key comments from the conference call and…

Yahoo Fires at Microsoft Again

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 17

As the days wind down to Yahoo’s Aug. 1 annual meeting, you can expect an escalating war of words among Yahoo, would-be dealmaker Microsoft, and corporate activist Carl Icahn. The…

Microsoft Still Searching for Yahoo Search Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 15

Despite Yahoo’s rejection of a new search deal offer from Microsoft last week—one that went over like the proverbial turd in the punchbowl with some shareholders—the software giant this time…

Tit for Tat: Microsoft and Icahn “Set the Record Straight”

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 14

Yahoo came out swinging yesterday and today with an impassioned defense of its rejection of Microsoft’s latest offer, an improved bid for Yahoo’s search operations. Now, Microsoft has fired back…

Fancy That: Yahoo’s Actually Getting Some Support for a Change

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 14

After months of getting reamed out by shareholders and assorted pundits for supposedly blowing the Microsoft deal, Yahoo finally has managed to get some sympathy. It may simply be that…

Yahoo Rejects Microsoft-Icahn Search Bid—But Was It a Serious Bid?

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 13

Yahoo has rejected yet another bid to buy its search operations, this time a combined, take-it-or-leave-it offer from Microsoft and activist investor Carl Icahn. The embattled Internet pioneer said the…

Yahoo Debuts “Build Your Own Search Service”

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 10

As Google keeps growing its share of search queries, it’s hard not to wonder if anything’s going to slow it down. Tonight, Yahoo is throwing up a long pass in…

Microsoft: We Might Buy Yahoo If Shareholders Fire Board

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 07

The pressure for Yahoo to knuckle under and do a deal with Microsoft just keeps rising. This morning, Microsoft said in a statement that it’s willing to return to the…

Yahoo’s Reorg Goes Down: Less of the Same?

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 26

Despite advance criticisms involving the words “deck chairs” and “Titanic,” Yahoo today announced the reorganization of its management ranks that had been expected for more than a week. Rising to…

Yahoo to Stockholders: We Know What We’re Doing, Really!

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 25

As Yahoo’s top management prepares for a last-ditch roadshow to persuade big investors they should reject Carl Icahn’s slate and vote for Yahoo’s existing board, the company has released a…

Microsoft-Yahoo Buyout Talks Back On? Not Yet.

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 24

Mike Arrington at TechCrunch is reporting that Microsoft is again talking with Yahoo about a full buyout, though Arrington admits his information is “thin.” One source I talked to, however,…

Yahoo Loses Another Exec—and Another and Another*

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 16

This will be no surprise to anyone following the continuing Microsoft-Yahoo saga, but another top executive of Yahoo has departed for less scorched pastures. Jeff Weiner, executive vice president…

Has Microsoft Really Given Up On Yahoo As Google Search Deal Looms?

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 12

UPDATE 2: After the jump, below, is a draft of a story that will run later tonight. The key takeaway: Google wins big again. The other takeaway: Yahoo’s not getting…

Glassdoor.com:TripAdvisor for the Workplace

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 11

If you’ve ever wondered what your officemates really make, Glassdoor.com may be what you’re looking for. The free Web site, which bills itself as a “career and workplace community where…

Gmail Labs: Google’s Next Innovation in Innovation

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 05

Google will start to release tonight at 6 p.m. Pacific a new set of features for its Gmail email service, called Gmail Labs. They will be earlier-than-beta features, 13 of…

More News on the Google Travel Front?

Posted by: Catherine Holahan on June 05

I’m going to virtual Disney World! No, I’m not talking about Disney World in Second Life… though it wouldn’t surprise me if such a thing existed. I’m referring to the…

Yahoo-Microsoft Lawsuit Unsealed: Did Severance Plan Kill Deal?

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 02

A Delaware judge has unsealed details in a shareholder lawsuit against Yahoo for allegedly taking undue steps to block Microsoft’s unsolicited bid for the company. You can see the lawsuit…

Google I/O: Window Into the Real Future of the Web

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 28

Google’s Web-based applications such as Gmail and Google Docs often look to casual observers like a tiny sideshow to the company’s main event, which overwhelmingly remains search. Some folks even…

Yahoo Delays Annual Meeting, Again

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 22

Yahoo just announced in an SEC filing this afternoon that it’s delaying its annual meeting to the end of July, from a previously scheduled date of July 3. Yahoo also…

Google’s Travel Plans

Posted by: Catherine Holahan on May 22

Google has travel plans. The search giant is expanding its travel offering. Could GTravel be in our future?

Microsoft Tries to Get Search Traffic by Paying Users

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 21

Microsoft on Wednesday is launching its latest attempt to make a dent in Google’s dominant market share in search and raise its currently single-digit percentage of search queries: Live Search…

If Microsoft Is in the Driver’s Seat, Why Isn’t It Driving the Car?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 19

At Google’s Zeitgeist conference in Hertfordshire, England, today, the search giant’s trio at the top said they’re meeting tonight to discuss how to respond to the new possibility of a…

Microsoft Proposes Search Deal With Yahoo

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 18

Microsoft has proposed to Yahoo that it ally on a “transaction” that is something short of the full acquisition that Microsoft abandoned on May 3. Although the companies aren’t detailing…

Yahoo Fires Back at Icahn: Carl, You Ignorant Slut…

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 15

Just hours after billionaire financier Carl Icahn launched a battle to replace Yahoo’s board and get the Internet icon back into talks with onetime suitor Microsoft, Yahoo has fired back….

Not-Just-A-Search-Engine Powerset Launches Beta

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 12

After a couple of years of anticipation, the upstart search engine-plus Powerset is launching on Monday to the public in limited form—limited not just in being in beta test but…

LIVEBLOGGING: Schmidt, Page, and Brin Happy About Failed Microsoft-Yahoo Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 08

I’m sort of liveblogging a talk that Google honchos Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin and Larry Page is having with reporters before the company’s annual meeting. I’ll post their comments in…

That Cash Sure Is Burning a Hole in Ballmer’s Pocket

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 07

After deciding not to spend $22 billion or so of its cash to buy Yahoo, now there’s word in Kara Swisher’s Boomtown blog that Microsoft is interested in buying the…

Jerry Yang Speaks: Mixed Feelings on Microsoft Pullout, Doesn’t Rule Out Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 05

I got a few minutes to talk with Jerry Yang today, so in the interests of passing along his so-far rare thoughts ASAP and provide Yahoo’s side at a…

Will Yahoo’s Stock Plunge Send Yang Crawling Back to Microsoft?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 05

After Microsoft pulled its offer to buy Yahoo for at least $33 a share, Yahoo’s stock has fallen this morning from Friday’s $28.67 close to around $24.50 a share. That’s…

Microsoft Drops Yahoo Bid—At Least For Now

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 03

Microsoft announced it’s dropping its unsolicited bid to buy Yahoo late Saturday afternoon. (The announcement and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s letter to Yahoo CEO and cofounder Jerry Yang, as well…

Microsoft May Go Hostile, Yahoo May Announce Google Search Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 01

After a pretty quiet several weeks, the Microsoft-Yahoo battle is suddenly getting a lot louder. After Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said early Thursday he might walk out on its offer…

Microsoft’s Silence on Yahoo Has to End Soon

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 29

When there’s no news, journalists (including bloggers) write about the lack of news. Sorry to say, today I can’t resist the urge either. I just can’t help thinking that Microsoft…

Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell on Yahoo Bid: We’re Standing Firm

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 24

Overshadowing Microsoft’s somewhat disappointing report on third-quarter results were questions about its unsolicited bid for Yahoo. The gist of Microsoft’s comments was pretty much the same: We’ve offered plenty, so…

Will Ballmer Walk?

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 24

In a word, no. As Sramana Mitra notes, and as we’ve been saying for awhile, Yahoo’s fate as a Microsoft vassal was sealed the day the software giant made its…

Yahoo Ekes Out a First-Quarter Beat—and More Leverage Vs. Microsoft?

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 22

Yahoo had to turn in at least respectable first-quarter results today if it was to have any chance of getting Microsoft to up its unsolicited $31-a-share offer to buy the…

Google Defies the Naysayers

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 17

The quick take on Google’s earnings, just out minutes ago: Never mind. All that talk about Google potentially turning in an awful quarter didn’t come to pass. Google’s shares were…

Something’s Fishy About This Yahoo-Google Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 17

Oh, please. An initial test of outsourcing Yahoo’s search to Google showed positive results, according to an account in the Journal. Hold it; didn’t that test just start this week?…

comScore crowns AOL King of all Digital Advertising

Posted by: Catherine Holahan on April 14

comScore crowns AOL King, but what about Google’s market share

Open-Sourcing Online Ad Targeting

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 10

There’s a glut of online ad networks out there, hundreds of them, each using their own particular flavor of targeting technologies—from Google’s contextual AdSense to many others that track people’s…

Jerry Finally Gets Busy: Now Yahoo Could Hook Up With AOL

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 09

After all these weeks and months of trying to find alternatives to Microsoft’s bear hug, finally Yahoo seems to have gotten a move on. Just hours after announcing plans for…

Google App Engine Goes Up Against Amazon, But That’s Not the Point

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 07

Sure, Google App Engine, the service Google’s announcing tonight, looks pretty similar in concept, if not details, to the trio of Web services Amazon.com offers, including the EC2 computing engine,…

Microsoft’s Patience Finally Wears Out: Issues Deadline to Yahoo

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 05

Microsoft just dropped the bomb on Yahoo. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today sent a letter (in full after the jump) giving Yahoo’s board three weeks before it initiates a proxy…

The Real Reason Behind Google’s Challenges

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 04

Forget about the economy. I just discovered a new reason why Google might be slowing down. It’s those lefties running the place. Here’s a sampling of some astute analysis from…

Yahoo, MySpace and Google Get Social

Posted by: Catherine Holahan on March 25

Yahoo joins OpenSocial, makes new friends.

Google’s Plans for the Space Between Your TV Channels

Posted by: Catherine Holahan on March 24

Google appeals to the FCC to open up “white space”

Of Course Google Lost the Spectrum Auctions!

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 20

I always thought it was crazy talk, all this speculation that Google was going to run a wireless network by buying up billions of dollars worth of spectrum. Why would…

Social is the New Black

Posted by: Catherine Holahan on March 19

Social networking isn’t just for social networks. The folks at Google believe social networking tools will soon extend beyond the likes of Facebook and MySpace to nearly every site on…

European Commission OK’s Google-DoubleClick Deal

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 11

It was expected by now, but the European Commission has just approved Google’s $3.1 billion bid for ad serving firm DoubleClick. Even though competitors such as Microsoft and privacy advocates…

A Few Answers on Ask.com’s New Strategy

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 05

Update below… Another Google competitor bites the dust: Ask.com basically has thrown in the towel on competing with the search giant, laying off 8% of its work force, or 40…

Jotspot Returns As Google Sites: Wiki-Style Collaboration

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 28

Ever since Google bought the wiki-based online application startup Jotspot in late 2006, people have been wondering if it had disappeared forever inside the bowels of the search giant….

Has Google Peaked?

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 26

That seems to be the central question on investors’ minds today as they digest news from comScore that clicks on Google’s paid search ads were down 12% in January from…

Microsoft-Yahoo Water Torture Trickles On—But For How Long?

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 19

So now, Microsoft’s putting out signals that it’s ready to rumble, with plans to authorize a proxy fight to replace Yahoo’s board if it doesn’t accept Microsoft’s first and only…

Vultures Feast on Yahoo Before It’s Even Dead

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 13

The feeding frenzy around Yahoo seems to intensify with every new daily development, making me wonder when this injured animal is going to make the one-way transformation into a…

Mobile World Congress—Hands On With Android

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on February 12

Here I was, wandering through the halls at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow in Barcelona, waiting for my moment in the sun. Chip licensing company ARM Ltd, you see, was…

Google Tries to Turn Microsoft’s Yahoo Pursuit to Its Advantage

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 03

The ironies keep piling up, but Google’s blog post today about Microsoft’s unsolicited bid to buy Yahoo looks to me like a smart chess move by the search giant. In…

Microsoft Finally Makes Its Move on Yahoo

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 01

For all the reasons a Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo! doesn’t make sense, one factor trumped them all: a bargain. Early this morning, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid for the Internet…

Google Earnings: Yet Another Internet Miss

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 31

Google didn’t miss Wall Street’s fourth-quarter earnings estimates by much, but it’s Google and every little shortfall matters. The miss was enough to send its stock falling about 7% in…

Will Online Advertising Finally Take a Hit Now?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 11

So far, online advertising doesn’t seem to have been hit in the economic troubles growing out of the credit crunch, and forecasters are looking for 25%-plus growth this year. But…

How Long Will Advertising Remain More Effective Online Than Off?

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 26

A new study by Simmons, a unit of Experian Research Services, indicates that people who view TV ads online are way more engaged with those ads (and with the content,…

FTC Clears Google Purchase of DoubleClick

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 20

Google just passed the first but not last hurdle in its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, as the Federal Trade Commission this morning gave the go-ahead on a 4-1 vote….

Google’s Knol: No Wikipedia Killer

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 14

Funny how people always want to declare whatever Google announces as a [insert name here]-killer. Today, Google’s new tool called “knol,” which will give people a way to write “authoritative”…

Erase Your Search Tracks

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 11

Most people probably don’t realize that their online searches are tracked by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. With a new feature called AskEraser, Ask.com is hoping to…

Google Goes It Alone on Spectrum Bid

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 30

After leaving us months to speculate, Google just announced it will indeed bid in the auction for a piece of the 700 MHz spectrum, filing Dec. 3 with the FCC….

Google’s High-Stakes Wireless Network Gambit

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 16

Or should I just call it poker? With fresh speculation in the Journal today, as well as BusinessWeek, that Google may be preparing to go it alone in a bid…

Will Email Really Be the Next Social Network?

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 14

That’s what Saul Hansell suggests in his blog post about Google and Yahoo leveraging their email systems to create social networks. On the surface, it makes a lot of sense,…

Google’s Android: A Wish List

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 06

Google-lead Open Handset Alliance is hoping its efforts will result in a slew of new, innovative applications and services for cell phones. The alliance’s Web site posts some new applications ideas — from kids. But what kind of applications would you like to see? What’s on your wish list?

No Gphone, but Google Announces Mobile Platform

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 05

After months of speculation, Google has finally announced—no, not the much-anticipated Gphone, but an operating system for mobile phones. Andy Rubin, Google’s director of mobile platforms, whose company Android that…

Confirmed: MySpace Joining Google’s OpenSocial

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 01

Now, it’s getting interesting: News Corp.’s MySpace is joining Google’s just-announced OpenSocial program. That’s Google’s shot at one-upping Facebook in the race to get outside software developers to create programs…

Google’s OpenSocial: Take That, Facebook!

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 30

Google has just announced its long-expected blast back at Facebook, whose social applications platform has taken off like wildfire since its debut in May. Google tonight outlined plans for a…

Microsoft Nets Piece of Facebook

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 24

OK, the deal’s done: In one of the most anticipated tech deals in recent years, Facebook just forged a deal with Microsoft Corp. that values the privately held social networking…

Google Enlists Nielsen in TV Ad Push

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 23

We haven’t heard much of Google TV Ads since it was announced last April, with a deal to run ads on EchoStar Communications’ DISH network. The search giant is hoping…

Mark Zuckerberg: Financing “Almost Wrapped Up”

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 17

On the $15 billion question of the moment, that being the valuation Facebook is believed to be seeking in a private funding, Mark Zuckerberg had some brief but interesting answers…

YouTube Intros Video I.D. System; Will Studios Go Along?

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 15

YouTube, under fire from movie studios and television networks for letting pirated versions of their creations loose on the popular video site, finally is announcing a system to help content…

Rubicon Project Aims to Automate Online Advertising

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 08

Fivetime entrepreneur Frank Addante is hoping to shake up online advertising even more than Google did with his new company, Rubicon Project. Today, he’s launching it in beta with 500…

Prime Time for Google Apps

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 02

Starting Oct. 3, companies using Google Apps Premier Edition, the for-pay version of Google’s suite of online office-productivity applications, will see a new button to add security and compliance services…

Google’s Search Rivals Keep Trying Harder

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 01

… or are they just tilting at windmills? In recent weeks and months, Google’s major rivals, such as Microsoft and IAC’s Ask unit, not to mention upstarts like Powerset…

Proximic Aims High with New Search and Ad Technology

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 01

We’re all so trained to typing a couple of keywords into Google that we forget there are other ways of searching for and finding stuff online. A few upstarts such…

Yet Another Social Networking Invite. Kill Me Now.

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 12

Just got an invite to Yet Another Social Networking Service, called Quechup. I’d heard some buzz about it, so I decided to check it out. Ack, a dating site. Oh,…

Targeting You: Yahoo Moves Deeper into Behaviorial Targeting with BlueLithium Purchase

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 04

With the $300 million purchase of ad network BlueLithium today, Yahoo! is moving further into targeting ads based on people’s online behavior. Behavioral targeting, as it’s known, helps marketers track…

Who’s Afraid of Google Cover Stories?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 31

Hmm, haven’t I seen that headline and story in the Economist before? (Actually, Wired can claim the headline first, as far as I can tell, though not on a…

George Reyes to Retire as Google CFO

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 28

… But since he’s only 53 years old, I bet we haven’t seen the last of him. The chief financial officer of Google will leave by year-end, replacement to be…

YouTube Launches Video Ads

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 21

People have been wondering how the popular video sharing site YouTube would make money, even as it has grown to 130 million unique users a months viewing upwards of 3…

Google and Walled Gardens

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 09

There’s a big kerfuffle on TechMeme, appropriately enough, about Google’s new plan to allow some comments on news stories in Google News. In particular, at least at first, it’s allowing…

Google Mobile is Hiring

Posted by: Olga Kharif on August 01

Google is hiring for some 81 mobile-and wireless-related positions. What is the search giant up to?

Jimmy Wales’ Search Project Gets a Grub Stake

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 27

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is moving another step closer to creating an open alternative to Google’s search engine. Announced last December, the Search Wikia project is committed to “fix Internet…

Fancy That! Google Misses on Earnings

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 19

Everybody knew Google was spending big bucks on everything from data centers to acquisitions. But investors, who have bid the stock up 20% so far this year, clearly had been…

If You Thought Google Wasn’t Serious About Apps, Think Again

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 09

When we wrote about the launch last February of Google Apps Premier Edition, some analysts I talked to questioned how serious the search giant was about its online office applications…

eBay Vs. Google: So Much for Coopetition

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 13

Strangely adolescent behavior from these two Web giants. Google decides to throw a party at eBay Live, the online marketplace’s annual memberfest, protesting eBay’s (admittedly hard-to-justify) ban of Google Checkout….

Openads: An Alternative to Google Ad Hegemony?

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 13

Openads, an open-source ad server, just got $5 million in funding. Since the company’s been around for years, one might wonder if this is simply an opportunistic play on the…

Fire in the Belly? “Absolutely,” Says Yahoo!’s Terry Semel

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 12

That’s the word at Yahoo!’s annual shareholders meeting today, not that you’d expect the CEO to say anything else. After last month’s standing-room-only annual meeting at Google, I was a…

Are Advertisers Spending Too Much on Search Ads?

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 11

Yes, according to a new study (soon to be posted here) by Atlas, the digital marketing technology unit of aQuantive, which was just bought by Microsoft for $6 billion. The…

Ask3D: Ask.com Answers Google With Something Different

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 04

You have to hand it to Ask.com. It’s not rolling over in the face of Google’s rising dominance in search, even as some folks wonder if other rivals like Yahoo!…

Google Gears Up to Take Web Services Beyond the Web

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 30

Google just can’t seem to resist baiting the 800-pound gorilla in Redmond. With Google Gears, just announced minutes ago, it’s providing Web developers a way to take their online services…

Will Microsoft Really Buy Yahoo!?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 04

So it appears [Update: or not—see below] from the stories in the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal. And usually where there’s smoke, there’s fire. But I wonder…

Google To Viacom: Sorry, You’re All Wrong

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 30

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but today Google filed an answer to Viacom’s copyright lawsuit against Google and its YouTube video sharing service. As one person at…

iGoogle: It’s Your Google

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 30

Google has offered a personalized home page since 2005, but tonight it’s getting a major revamp. For one, it’s getting an uncharacteristically catchy new name, iGoogle. But the most…

More Google Power

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 25

First, Google’s sites (including YouTube) pass Microsoft’s family in traffic. Then it lands the crown as world’s most powerful brand, again taking Microsoft’s place. (“Physical property is not included,” a…

Ho-Hum—Google Blows Away Earnings Expectations Again

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 19

The search giant earned $3.68 a share, not including stock compensation and other onetime expenses. That’s way over the $3.30 analysts expected, on a better-than-expected $3.66 billion in sales for…

Froogle No More

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 19

Realizing that a pun does not a good brand make, Google has rechristened its shopping search service Google Product Search. I guess no one can be unclear about what that…

Google Completes Office Suite with PowerPoint Product

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 17

Google CEO Eric Schmidt used his brief appearance at the Web 2.0 Expo today to announce the company this summer would add a PowerPoint editing tool to Google Apps, its…

Doubleclick Deal: Did Somebody Say Google’s Too Powerful?

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 13

After a week or two of speculation, the deal’s done. It’s Google’s biggest deal ever, by far, and all cash—a good chunk of Google’s $11 billion in cash and short-term…

Will Google Star on TV?

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 04

Not according to BWOnline’s story today. I’m uncertain about how much of an impact Google can make in print and radio, but TV? Given the potential (if not yet the…

More from Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, on whether Google is too powerful

Posted by: Peter Burrows on March 30

Google is winning today, but they might lose it tomorrow…Unlike other companies in the past, they can’t assume success based on bundling or tying or creating a walled garden of some sort. That’s not their business model.

Is Google Too Powerful?

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 29

That’s what the BW cover story this week is asking—or more accurately, my story examines the deeper meaning behind complaints about Google’s power and influence online. Those complaints are…

Will the Studios’ YouTube Killer Fly?

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 22

It looks like the long-rumored alternative to YouTube will actually happen, as NBC Universal and News Corp. team to provide TV show clips and even full-length movies to a new…

Google Moves Beyond Pay-Per-Click Ads

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 20

Google just announced that it’s testing what it call Pay-Per-Action ads. Basically, advertisers will pay not for every click, as they do now, but only when someone buys something, fills…

Google Logs New Data Privacy Policy

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 14

Google and other online services have long been criticized for collecting unimaginable amounts of data on its users, such as what they’ve searched for. And many of them keep that…

Where Are the Flying Cars and Digital Watermarks?

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 14

I talked with a copyright lawyer, Gregory Rutchik of The Arts and Technology Law Group in San Francisco, today about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube. His main question:…

Viacom Brings the Hammer Down On YouTube

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 13

OK, so now Viacom’s really serious. It’s suing Google and its YouTube unit for $1 billion. Clearly, this is a negotiating tactic, since it seems unlikely Viacom could reasonably expect…

What’s Up With Microsoft’s Attack on Google?

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 06

That’s the question roiling the blogosphere today, following a speech today (masterfully leaked in advance for maximum publicity) by a Microsoft lawyer to the Association of American Publishers, slamming Google’s…

Google Fights Click Fraud—Perceptions, Mostly

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 28

Google soon will introduce some new tools to fight click fraud, such as the ability to blacklist suspected fraudsters and prevent them from even viewing ads to click on. But…

Google Apps Go Corporate

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 22

A few weeks ago, I wrote that the launch of a for-pay version of Google Apps for Your Domain was nigh. Now, it’s here. And Premier Edition, a package of…

Google Loses, or Did the Belgian Newspapers?

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 13

Google has lost a case brought by Belgian newspapers, potentially forcing it to exclude the newspapers’ material from Google News, at least in Belgium. John Battelle and Danny Sullivan have…

Search Upstart Powerset Teams with PARC Vs. Google

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 09

Powerset, the natural-language search startup I wrote about in my story on Amazon.com’s digital-utility initiatives, has signed a deal with the (former Xerox) PARC in an attempt to one-up Google…

FAST Offers Publishers a Google AdSense Alternative

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 05

Google has offered struggling newspapers and other publishers a Faustian bargain. Through the search giant’s AdSense programs, ads get placed on their sites, bringing in revenue that they wouldn’t have…

Google Apps: More Than Meets the Eye?

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 02

It looks like Google Apps for Your Domain soon will come outta beta with a paid version for enterprises. The one thing I wanted to explore in the story I…

Google’s Fourth Quarter: Victim of Its Own Success?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 31

The search giant blows away earnings, but investors knock the stock down 2% in after-hours trading. Maybe they’re disappointed the revenues came in only a little above analysts’ estimates? Here…

Yahoo Disappoints Again… Oops, Strike That. Panama’s on Track

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 23

After a year of trying to gain lost ground on the likes of Google and MySpace, Yahoo’s still not out of the woods. Despite posting better-than-expected earnings of 19 cents…

Search Ads: Is the Little Guy Getting Left Behind?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 12

That’s the conclusion of some small and medium-sized online retailers I talked to recently. Andy Beal, whom I quoted in a magazine story this week, takes the trend to its…

Yahoo!’s Big Shakeup

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 06

Here’s the story. (And here’s Terry Semel himself on a Yahoo blog, a little more real than the jargon-filled press release.) I don’t know if all these moves will do…

Click Fraud’s Secret Problem

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 05

My colleague Ben Elgin has an interesting story about why it’s so hard to fight click fraud: Battling it in court means companies such as Google would have to reveal…

Google Rival Hopes for Its Turn

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 06

Who’s crazy enough to try to take on Google’s fearsome ad network? A little startup called Turn Inc., which my colleague Steve Baker had written about way back in February….

Google Moves Further Into Print

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 06

As if its commanding role in online ads isn’t enough, Google is driving further into print ads with a new test of a system to let advertisers bid on space…

Google Gobbles JotSpot

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 31

Search giant Google has bought yet another hot startup that had hoped to be one of the next big things (and no doubt still does). JotSpot, the company started three…

Pimp Your Google Search

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 24

Google on Tuesday will announce a way to customize your Google searches through a new feature called Google Co-op: Build and customize your own search engine * Specify the…

Google Rolls On

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 19

It seems like nothing can stop the search juggernaut. Third-quarter profits grew 92%, sales up 70%—and even after a 2% stock uptick before the report, after-hours trading has shares up…

Google Reader: I’m a Convert

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 11

I’ve been frustrated in my blog reading the past few months because my preferred method of reading RSS feeds, MyYahoo (quit laughing, Mike), broke once I tried to read more…

Google’s “Not Office” Launches

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 11

Google has just launched “Docs & Spreadsheets,” notes TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington, one of the bloggers who got an early look. Yeah, yeah, they’re not trying to do an online version…

GooTube for Real

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 09

Not surprisingly, Google has indeed bought video sharing phenom YouTube. Although a lot of people, like Mark Cuban, thought it was a bad idea, the deal’s done. It is quite…

GooTube? I Wouldn’t Be Surprised By Anything These Days

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 06

Big talk today is whether Google will buy the Web video phenom YouTube. On the heels of Mike Arrington’s rumor that Google might buy YouTube, the Journal has someone else…

Deep 6 for A9 Features

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 03

Amazon.com is throwing in the towel on at least some features of its A9 search site, a perennial underformer in the search engine wars. Its Yellow Pages, with millions…

Growing Concerns over Click Fraud

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 22

My colleagues Brian Grow and Ben Elgin take a fascinating dive into click fraud, concluding: A BusinessWeek investigation has revealed a thriving click-fraud underground populated by swarms of small-time…

Wait, Now It’s Google + Apple. Or Is It?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 29

Lots of speculation about what it means that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is joining Apple’s board. Marshall at TechCrunch muses that Google’s just-announced online office suite on Apple computers might…

PR in the Internet Age: Same As It Ever Was?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 29

Robert Scoble finds it kind of strange that Google chose to brief only a few, mostly print news outlets on its Google Apps For Your Domain, and pass up the…

Now, It’s Google + eBay

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 28

This is what Ray Noorda invented the word coopetition to describe. I have a feeling an eBay-Google relationship is going to be, let’s say, dynamic….

Google Vs. Microsoft, For Real

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 27

So Google’s moving forcefully at last into the business software market, at least in a test version. Google Apps for Your Domain, will let small businesses, nonprofits, and universities use,…

The Real Web 2.0 Bubble

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 21

John Battelle, riffing off a Paul Kedrosky post, puts his finger on the problem with the proliferation of Web 2.0 companies. A lot of folks insist it’s not a bubble…

GoogleBay?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 10

A group of fed-up eBay merchants is petitioning Google to start an auction site, following eBay’s decision to hike rates on eBay Stores, according to a report in AuctionBytes. Those…

Dailies Strike Back: Too Little Too Late?

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 14

My colleague Jon Fine has an interesting column this week that breaks news about discussions between Yahoo! and newspaper publishers MediaNews (owner of the San Jose Mercury News) and Hearst…

eBay’s Google Checkout Ban: Hold the Rotten Tomatoes

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 07

eBay has come in for a lot of criticism for its decision to exclude Google Checkout from the online marketplace’s list of accepted payment methods. But a number of folks…

Investors: Thumbs Down on eBay Management Shuffle

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 06

eBay investors apparently don’t like the just-announced departure of Jeff Jordan, president of eBay’s PayPal unit. The stock’s down almost 5% this morning. Given the relative success of PayPal—as well…

Baynote: The Search Beat Goes On

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 13

Lots of people assume Google will be the last word in search, but I think it’s kind of early to assume that. One more sign that search ain’t over yet…

eBay Gets into the Ad Game, Sort Of

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 11

I couldn’t make it early enough to the eBay Developer Conference in Las Vegas to hear the company announce eBay AdContext, which at first sounds like a competitor to Google’s…

The Next Big Thing: Spreadsheets?

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 09

What is it about spreadsheets these days? JotSpot recently released a way of creating online spreadsheets that can be shared, called Tracker. Then Google announces one this week. Now, the…

Silicon Valley Is a Very Strange Place, Chapter 437

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 01

Are you a Googlehead too?…

eBay-Yahoo Deal: Less Than Meets the Eye?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 25

It’s no merger, as at least one overeager analyst had suggested, but this morning eBay and Yahoo announced a fairly wide-ranging deal to work with each other. Looks like a…

The Future of eBay

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 04

Most of the stories on eBay’s analyst day today focused on the the company’s vow to grow faster than e-commerce at large—and how that’s a big challenge given its size…

eBay Takes the Express Train

Posted by: Rob Hof on April 21

During eBay’s earnings call this week, CEO Meg Whitman said the company’s new eBay Express site, which I wrote about a couple weeks ago, would launch next week. But…

What Will Google Use $2 Billion For?

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 29

As if it doesn’t already mint money, Google’s raising $2.1 billion more in a new offering. You sure don’t need this kind of money to develop Web services, do you?…

If Selling Out to Google Isn’t a Good Business Model…

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 09

… why does it seem to work so well? The latest to get scooped up: Web-based word processing startup Writely. I agree with the many folks who worry that there…

Google Ratings: More Chips at eBay’s Armor

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 06

Scot Wingo, CEO of the online merchant services firm ChannelAdvisor, notes that Google appears to be developing a reputation system for Google Base, which many folks already think is a…

Is Google’s Gbuy Almost Here?

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 24

So it seems from a post on the Google Base blog, plus some background on Google’s main blog. According to Google: For buyers, this feature will provide a convenient and…

Google Steals CEO at Amazon’s A9

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 07

Via a post from John Battelle, I see that Udi Manber has left as CEO of Amazon.com’s A9 search operation in Palo Alto to join Google. Amazon just put out…

Google to Get AdSense Competition From Amazon?

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 05

Chris Beasley says it looks like Amazon is considering an ad network to compete with Google’s AdSense. Beasley, who’s an Amazon Associate—meaning he gets commissions for referring his Web site…

Google Plunges, No Joke

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 31

Only a month ago, I made some mock predictions, though I actually expected this first one on the list to happen—just not so soon: * Google’s stock price will fall…

Interesting New Microsoft Browser Feature…

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 27

… as imagined by Naval Ravikant: Made me smile, anyway. (Via Munjal Shah)…

Has the Web 2.0 Crash Arrived?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 18

Steve Rubel thinks so, based on the severe reaction to Yahoo’s earnings miss on Tuesday. Much as I see a lot of signs of a bubble, I think it’s a…

The Google Pack Gotcha

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 07

I’ve been wondering about the real reason behind the just-announced Google Pack, a rather disparate mix of (admittedly good) software programs that are pretty easy to get elsewhere. (As for…

Maybe Some Gardens Have Walls for a Good Reason?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 04

According to Search Engine Roundtable, the popular online classified-ad site Craigslist may be blocking search engines such as Google from crawling its site. Search experts like John Battelle make a…

Google at $600? Welcome Back, Henry—Er, I Mean Safa

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 03

Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy raised his target price on Google today to $600 by year-end. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s reminded of former CIBC Oppenheimer (then…

When Betas Go Bad

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on December 22

A few months ago BusinessWeek’s Steve Baker reviewed Gmail calling it a bit too quirky. While his points were very well taken—and a good many people agree—I was already a…

Riya: Not for Sale (At Least Not Yet)

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 19

A few weeks ago, seemingly every A-list blog had Google buying the photo service Riya, which won’t even launch to the general public until the Demo conference in February. (You…

Why Was Google So Desperate for AOL?

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 18

I don’t get it. Here’s a company that seems to have everything going for it—absurdly high revenue growth and profits and a $127 billion market cap. But according to this…

New Ideas in Online Advertising: Who Needs Google?

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 06

Heard a couple of new buzzwords—or are they incipient markets?—at the When 2.0 workshop presented at Stanford today by Esther Dyson’s ReLease 1.0 and Stanford’s Media X program. * “user-generated…

Ganging Up on Google

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 18

Is it me, or does it seem like Google-bashing is the newest sport? People everywhere seem to be finding lots of shortcomings in the Internet search giant’s dealings lately. And…

Google Base Goes Live

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 16

As of tonight, the much-anticipated Google Base is live. Having just landed home from a conference, I haven’t had time to try it out, so for now, I’ll have to…

Microsoft: 1995 redux?

Posted by: Steve Hamm on November 01

Today’s San Francisco briefing by Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie bears an eerie resemblance to a fateful day almost exactly a decade ago: Dec. 7, 1995. That was the day…

Rearden + Google = Interesting, Even If Unlikely

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on October 28

Bruce Richardson, AMR’s chief research officer, bemoaned to me at breakfast a few weeks ago that he could write alerts about cool startups all day long, but no one would…

Google Base: A New Rival for eBay and Craigslist?

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 25

ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo notes that some folks in Europe caught a screen shot of Google Base, which looks to be a potential rival to eBay, before Google apparently took…

Lawsuit Against Google Print: The End of the Internet?

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 21

Kevin Werbach has an alarming view of the lawsuit against Google Print by publishers, including BusinessWeek owner McGraw-Hill. I don’t know who’s on better legal ground, but Werbach notes: On…

Finally, Better Blog Search?

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 14

TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington got what appears to be one of the first looks at Sphere, a new blog search service that the general public won’t be able to see for…

Gada.be Searching

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 11

Chris Pirillo has debuted a new meta-search engine, gada.be. Apparently, it’s getting hit pretty hard, so the performance isn’t yet up to snuff, but if he gets that straightened out,…

Sergey Speaks

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 07

A surprise guest has just showed up at the Web 2.0 conference: Google cofounder Sergey Brin. Guess he got tired of hearing everyone takes potshots at his company. Unfortunately, he…

Google Debuts RSS Reader

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 07

Jason Shellen of Google Labs is demonstrating the latest of the search giant’s gazillion services at the Web 2.0 conference: Google Reader. I’m just trying it out for the first…

Terry Semel: Google’s No. 4

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 06

In a conversation with John Battelle at Web 2.0 this morning, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel is spending almost as much time talking about a little rival named Google as he…

Will Higher Gas Prices Spark More E-Commerce?

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 19

Shmuel Gniwisch, the CEO of the online jewelry store Ice.com, thinks so. He doesn’t have hard evidence that the cost of driving to stores will drive people online, but he’s…

Google, Vonage, Skype: Peas From The Same Pod?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on August 30

Rumor has it, Google will introduce a Web calling service soon. If that’s true, VoIP providers Vonage and Skype have got to hassle with their respective IPO and sale.

A New Approach to Searching Photos

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 25

Munjal Shah, onetime cofounder of the auction services firm Andale, finally let slip on his new blog what he’s been working on since leaving last year. As he writes: “I…

More Mash-ups with Google Maps

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 27

The mash-ups keep on comin’, and Google Maps is leading the way. O’Reilly Radar has a roundup, including one tracks the space shuttle. ApartmentRatings.com just let me know that…

Lessons from eBay Live

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 27

After spending three days up close and personal with 11,600 of eBay’s members, I’m beginning to think the conventional wisdom about its recent decline is wrong—or at least behind the…

More Fun with Google Wallet

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 21

Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li has some interesting thoughts about what Google might do with the online payment system it’s supposed to be working on. I’m not so sure many…