Internet News

Google's Flops

Let’s Celebrate Google’s Biggest Failures!, Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land (Aug 5)

Can you name some of Google's flops? Just recently - Google Wave. But do you remember these services? Some had potential, some had loyal users - and others didn't stick or weren't supported.

+ Search Wiki - shape your own results - I liked that one - but the improved bookmarking system works just as well.

+ Google Audio Ads - huh?

+ Google Video - long history of services started and stopped

+ Dodgeball - social networking space

+ Jaiku - microblogging service crowded out by Twitter.

+ Google Notebook - a great loss, but some of capability is being added to Google Bookmarks.

+ Google Answers - another loss - it was a QnA worth using.

For several of these Google acquired the service by buying out a company, launched it under a new name, and then let in languish. There will be more.

What the Google Metaweb deal might mean

Google Metaweb Deal: Is Google’s Internal R&D Not Delivering? , Stephen E Arnold, Newsbreaks (Jul 26)

Stephen Arnold probably has more insight into the strategies of Google than any other analyst - here's his take on Google's purchase of Metaweb.

"Google's recent purchase of semantic database start-up Metaweb may suggest a broken research program. Google bought a company with a large open source term list known as Freebase and technology to identify people, places, and things. Google invested in next generation content processing with its hiring of high profile IBM researcher Ramanathan Guha and a promising content processing company several years ago. With the deal for Metaweb, are Google's internal engineering solutions not up to snuff? Has the rise of Facebook tightened the thumbscrews on Google's paws? Or is it more of a managerial issue?"

What Google Wants

Google's search for superiority , Omar El Akkad, Globe and Mail (Jun 19)

"What they have their sights trained on is the holy grail of search: Figuring out what you’re looking for, even if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Meeting that challenge will cement Google’s No. 1 position among search engines. Failing to meet it will open the door to rivals that want a piece of one of the planet’s most lucrative businesses. "

Exalead Acquired by Dassault Systèmes

Dassault Systèmes Acquires Exalead press release, Exalead (June 9)

Exalead, the search company we know from its web search engine, has been bought by Dassault Systèmes.

About Exalead - "Every month, over 100 million people rely on Exalead for information search, access and reporting, including people in companies like Sanofi-Aventis and World Bank for business use, and Friendster, Lagardère Active and ViaMichelin for contextual consumer search. Exalead provides the industry's only platform designed from the ground up to apply advanced semantic processing to Web-scale data volumes and usage. Exalead brings unique scalability, agility and usability to industries such as Banking, Retail, Publishing, Business Services, Life Sciences and Consumer Services where an easy access to information is essential."

Future directon: ""Everyone is looking for simplicity with intuitive applications ("life-like") which value the rich information available inside and outside companies. With Exalead and its partners, we can provide a new class of search-based applications for collaborative communities." "

Google's reach

A graphic display of what Google knows,
Posted by John M. Simpson, Inside Google (Jun 4)

Scott Cleland created a one-page graphic of the information that Google amasses.

"Cleland says he pulled the graphic togeher to “to help you picture both the enormity and unprecedented power of what Google knows about you and the world’s information—public, private and proprietary.”"

It is amazing and will make you pause: Personal identifying information, personal location, market information, personal intentions, personal associations, and world's information (which has numbers on pages, number of books etc)

Google vs Facebook

Will Facebook Be Tomorrow’s Google, and Google Tomorrow’s Microsoft?, by Bindu Reddy, TechCrunch (May 15)

Bindu Reddy, ex-Google-employee, finds some chinks in the Google business armour, manly concerning product promotion. Facebook knows a lot about people and, she says, can do a better job of directing bits of interest to you - as well as ads (which is the point).

"Want to see pics of your cousin’s wedding? Want to know what movies your co-workers are watching this weekend? What music your friends “like”? You need to go to Facebook. The bottom line is that you are now trained to go to Facebook to discover things. With the growth of the Facebook app platform and support (so far) from apps like Farmville and Mafia Wars, Facebook has also grown into the number one destination on the web for entertainment and spending time."

I am not so enamoured with Facebook, but it could be the company I keep. If your friends are there, you have to be too.

Google may not be as adept at delivering relevant ads.

"Google’s ad business models are based on intent and relevance and not on discovery. The performance based AdWords and AdSense models are easier to measure and appeals to the logical / analytical minds at Google. The power of influence, discovery and brand advertising needs more right-brain thinking than Google’s left brainers are used to."

I might have ignored this article had it not received a recommendation from the very astute Stephen Arnold - Sharper Than the Tooth of a Serpent, A Xoogler Analysis of Google

Arnold says more in an earlier posting - Social Networks, Testosterone, and Facebook (May 13)

He writes of the advantage of searching social networks over the wide web - networks such as delicious, and stumbleupon - to get fewer, but relevant and more recent results. Facebook is the biggest - a Google of the social scene - and has the power to disrupt search.

"To sum up, Facebook has some real potential to disrupt Web search with its social methods. The company can index Web sites its 400 million members say are important. Within Facebook, it might be easier to ask friends and then run a query across Web sites Facebook members “like”. Is this objective search? Not in a million years. But that’s not the point. The impact is that search traffic bleeds from some vendors and flows to Facebook. That cost advantage may be trivial right now, but going forward it may become a larger factor. That’s the point in my Information Today column. Also, the testosterone factor is important. Facebook is what Google was. I know this makes me giggle, but your reaction may be different. Instead of being Googled, now a company can be Facebooked. New verb."

Google Closer to Leaving China

Google Is Leaving China, Jacob Friedman, The Next Web (Mar 13)

Google is likely to leave China - or as the Financial Times reported - 99.9% sure. Google declared it would run the search engine censorship free - and China said no.

"Google CEO Eric Schmidt was quick to emphasize that Google would not be quitting China entirely. “It’s very important to know we are not pulling out of China,” He said. “We have a good business in China. This is about the censorship rules, not anything else.” However, there is a growing fear among other Google executives that backlash from this decision will make staying in the Chinese market entirely untenable."

Threats to Google

Four Things That Scare Google, by Chris Dannen, bNet (Feb 7)

They are:

+ The investor - believing in the company

+ US Department of Justice - opposition to Google Books' digitlzing and making the orphan books available (books are out of print and the rights holders can't be found).

+ China - not a market anyone can afford to lose

+ Facebook - and its expanded relationship with Microsoft

+ But not Apple and its iPad.

Bonus: The ad that Google used in the Super Bowl. Reminds me of something Ask.com used to do. It nicely shows the ability of Google to respond to questions concerning place, finding a cafe, translation, flights, jobs - but these are all day to day things - not tough research questions.

Content is to be experienced

What Murdoch Still Doesn't Get About the Internet by Kevin Keller, Business Week (Feb 7)

Startling statement - addressed to Rupert Murdoch and other media moguls who think that content is king.

"Content isn't a product anymore, it's a service. Because for consumers, content is less and less a thing they buy and more a thing they experience."

The iPad is presented as evidence of this turn.

"It's no accident that Apple has been thriving in this chaos. And it's no surprise that the iPad was designed to enhance the experience of Web media in ways that are more immersive and intuitive than either laptops or smartphones. In fact, the iPad seems to be built on the blunt assertion that content is now something to be experienced rather than possessed. Selling content—whether it's news, music, books, or something else—as a product on a tablet is setting yourself up for disappointment."

TV Alert - Google World

What would happen if Google knew everything? , by R.M. Vaughan, Globe and Mail (Feb 5)

Television alert - documentary on Google World by Ted Remerowski - CBC Doc Zone - Thursday, Feb 11, 2010 at 9 pm.

"Ted Remerowski's documentary traces the information powerhouse's rise from its establishment in 1998 to its confrontation with the Chinese government in January, 2010, and wonders whether it's living up to its corporate motto: Don't Be Evil."

Watch the trailer. [1:36 min]

Trends for 2010

Some Search Predictions for 2010, AltSearchEngines (Jan 7)

"In this Kosmix blog post, product manager Sailesh Ramakrishnan provides his top Search trends for the new year. In it he identifies five main trends for 2010 – Media as Search Results, Apps Everywhere, Search with a Social Flavor, Demand Response and the emergence of possibly more than one new search giant. "

Paula Hanes Recap on Trends

Review of the Year 2009 and Trends Watch—Part 1 , by Paula Hane, Newsbreaks (Jan 4)

Paula Hane reviews 2009 in Part 1 and makes some predictions for 2010 in Part 2.

Looking back - "Last year I speculated that 2009 would be the year of the new frugality. It looks like that did happen. Other trends I mentioned that have carried through the year include increased interest in the mobile web, enterprise social networking, open source solutions, book digitization, ebook readers, etc. In fact, the trends I said I'd be watching in 2009 have all proven to be important drivers during the year."

Others that are sure to continue into the next year or two.

+ changes in content distribution: newspapers in trouble, more ebook distribution and new ebook devices.

+ cloud computing - "No. 1 on Gartner's list of the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2010"

+ "The good enough revolution" - "we're now focused on three things: ease of use, continuous availability, and low price."

+ information overload - not new but may be getting worse. Recommends reading AIIM's 8 Reasons You Need a Strategy to Manage Information-Before It's Too Late that argues for the strategic imperative to manage information effectively.

Review of the Year 2009 and Trends Watch—Part 2 (Jan 7)

Facebook, Twitter, real-time search, other socially related topics, and mobile are some of the trends. Especially watch Google Wave.

Links to other forward looking articles on content and information technology.

Add to your reading list Seth Godin's ebook - What Happens Now - ebook, 82 pages.

Update on Microsoft-Yahoo

2009: The Microsoft and Yahoo saga - Companies finally agreed a search partnership this year, by Rosalie Marshall, V3.co.uk (Dec 22)

Succinct account of the agreement Microsoft and Yahoo came to for revenue sharing in the search business.

"Under the terms agreed, Microsoft's Bing will power Yahoo search, while Yahoo will use its solid relationship with advertisers to become the "salesforce" for both companies' search advertisers."

We'll see the changes in 2010.

November Search Market Share

Hitwise: Google Near 72% Of All US Searches, Matt McGee, Search Engine Land (Dec 9)

Google's search market share in the US climbs again - continuing to take away from Yahoo, and now nibbling at Bing.

+ Google 71.57%
+ Yahoo 15.39
+ Bing 9.34%
+ Ask 2.65%

About Google

Where Google Goes From Here, Part 1 by Editors, New York Times (Dec 2)

AlsoPart 2.

Ken Auletta, Fred Wilson, and John Markoff discuss Google strengths and vulnerabilities.

+ "A potentially more efficient threat will come from a vertical search, which social networks like Facebook and Twitter might provide." Auletta

+ "But Google is very vulnerable to changes in the current Internet search paradigm. You can already see this effect in social media." Wilson

" "John, at Google, social networks like Facebook are seen as a threat for several reasons: They can offer social search or expand search options, both of which siphon users from Google. They hog attention, capturing their users in an alternate universe. And Facebook is allied with Microsoft, one of its primary investors." Auletta on social search

+ "The government bear is a greater threat to Google than it is to Microsoft or Amazon, and not just the U.S. government. Google juggles three atomic issues: concentration of power, privacy and copyright." Auletta

+ "Google is very much a friend of journalists and journalism. It is also a friend of newspapers although the newspapers don’t see it that way. Hitwise recently reported that over 25 percent of the Wall Street Journal’s traffic comes from Google. Each of those visits are worth money to News Corporation and so Google is driving revenue for them." Wilson

Web in 5 years

Google's Eric Schmidt on What the Web Will Look Like in 5 Years by Marshall Kirkpatrick, Read Write Web (Oct 27)

Google's Eric Schmidt is one of the people who will shape the Web over the next 5 years. There is a video excerpt of 6 minutes from a presentation he did to business leaders.

I'm hoping for instant login to everything, seamless applications, tools for finding what I found before that work, quality checks on information, no duplication of search results, true date range searching for web results, and no celebrity news and other trivia to weary my eyeballs. None of those are on his list except possibly some aspect of seamless.

Sergey Brin Interview

Video Of Google’s Sergey Brin At Web 2.0 by Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Land (Oct 26)

Sergey Brin talks with John Battell ate Web 2.0 conference in this 18 minute video.

"In summary, he talked about his thoughts on Twitter’s deal, Google’s Social Search, also a little bit about Bing and even Yahoo giving up on search. He actually touches on about a couple dozen topics within this short interview."

Yahoo's Q3

Yahoo profits up, revenue still declining, Tom Krazit, Webware (Oct 20)

Yahoo is doing its utmost to cut costs and that has shown in improved profits, but there is a slowdown in revenue due to a drop in advertising.

"Search advertising declined by 19 percent in the third quarter to hit $354 million on Yahoo's owned and operated sites, while display advertising declined 8 percent to $399 million. The good-news/bad-news scenario here is that while the rate of decline in the display business is slowing down, the rate of decline in the search business is increasing, perhaps fallout from Yahoo's decision to enter into a pending agreement with Microsoft to outsource search on Yahoo sites."

The Google Goliath

Google: we're not evil and we're no monopoly, either , by Omar El Akkad, Globe and Mail (Oct 17)

Google's motto is "Don't do evil", but many worry that it will do just that if it is allowed to pursue its plans for digitizing books.

"Opponents maintain that it would give the Web giant a monopolistic stranglehold on the digital book market. Google, by contrast, is framing it as a vision of public service, shaped not by the potential for profit, but by all those cross-country book-shopping trips."

The fear that Google will have an unfair advantage affects its operations in nearly every sphere of activity. Aware of this, Google presents several arguments that it does not impede competition - and might even be promoting it, and that it does not lock users into its services.

It's going to be a long road.

Search Marketplace

Searcher Behavior and Search Marketplace Mature by Virginia Nussey, Bruce Clay (Oct 14)

Two points:

+ Search statements are getting longer. In September, Hitwise data for the US showed that 52% of queries had more than 2 words.

Virginia Bussey speculates that this may be because web searchers are more experienced or, with the huge increase in content, it's the only way. Better use of search engine optimization at sites might be a facto as well.

+ SEM industry may be in stage 3 of the maturity cycle - "During stage three, growth slows down, and from that, success is redefined from percent of growth to percent of market share. "

Noted the difference between Google and Yahoo: Google has volume (70%) of searches; and Bing has better conversion rate (for ads) in the areas it concentrates on (travel being one of them).

Inside Google and Googlenomics

Can Google Stay on Top of the Web?, By Robert D. Hof , Business Week (Oct 1)

Google does have competition - Bing, Twitter, social search, real time search - but it have hundreds of engineers and scientists studying search to find better ways. This article shows that it won't be toppled from top position soon.

Also has a slide show to Google's 20 Hottest Tools. Starts off with the latest, Sidewiki for commenting on web sites, Fast Flip for looking at news pages, and Wave for full collaboration.

Lastly, refers to Secret of Googlenomics: Data-Fueled Recipe Brews Profitability by Steven Levy, Wired (May 22, 2009)

Google made nearly $22 billion in revenue on 2008 from its search advertising system. This is a giant economy it itself with macro and micro economic aspects.

"The macroeconomic side involves some of the company's seemingly altruistic behavior, which often baffles observers. Why does Google give away products like its browser, its apps, and the Android operating system for mobile phones? Anything that increases Internet use ultimately enriches Google, Varian says. And since using the Web without using Google is like dining at In-N-Out without ordering a hamburger, more eyeballs on the Web lead inexorably to more ad sales for Google.

The microeconomics of Google is more complicated. Selling ads doesn't generate only profits; it also generates torrents of data about users' tastes and habits, data that Google then sifts and processes in order to predict future consumer behavior, find ways to improve its products, and sell more ads. This is the heart and soul of Googlenomics. It's a system of constant self-analysis: a data-fueled feedback loop that defines not only Google's future but the future of anyone who does business online."

Microsoft Yahoo ctd

With Yahoo search gone, content becomes king by Tom Krazit, Webware (July 30)

Yahoo will be a media company with some web-based service applications (Email, Flickr etc). CEO Carol Bartz said ""It's where people find relevant and contextual information," ... "It's news, it's sports...home page, mail. It's a fabulous place.""

Breaking down Microsoft and Yahoo's search deal by Tom Krazit (July 29)

Has the details one what each gets, and loses, and what's next. Includes Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, Advertisers, and Consumers.

Microsoft Yahoo Agreement

Microsoft and Yahoo Reach Deal on Search Partnership by Steve Lohr, New York Times (July 29)

Finally an agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo. Yahoo will use Microsoft search engine (Yahoo search will say "powered by Bing") and keep its own web services (finance, news, email etc). Microsoft will use Yahoo's search advertising for premium search advertisers, while keeping its own ad center for smaller customers.

"Under the deal’s terms, the advertising work will be split. Yahoo will be the exclusive ad force for premium search advertisers who bargain to negotiate deals. But the Microsoft Ad Center automated search market will be used for smaller customers, whose prices for search advertising are set by an automated auction process."

Agreement is for 10 years. Full implementation is expected within 24 months after regulatory approval. Should start to see changes in 2010.

Also Microsoft, Yahoo! Change Search Landscape, press release (july 29)

Of interest - A Search Eulogy For Yahoo by Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land.

Tells the history and the analysis of how search leader Yahoo folded its cards to concentrate on other assets and abandon search.

Links to more coverage.

Google's Long Term

The long term plans for Google world domination, Pandia (July 10)

Pandia describes a Google that sets long term goals and works to strategies to achieve them. It wasn't just an experiment for Google to scan print catalogues for Google Catalog (since closed), it was a conscious step in a longer term plan to digital print. Google Translate may be another example, and Chrome OS certainly is.

We can learn more about Google's activities and indirectly its strategies from Stephen Arnold and the postings tagged google.

How Google is Good for Journalism

Google: We're good for journalism, by Stephen Shankland, Webware (May 7)

Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Google Search Products and User Experience, spoke to the Senate subcommittee on communications, technology, and the Internet hearing on the future of journalism.

From her presentation:

First, I'd like to discuss how Web search acts as a conduit for journalism by connecting individuals to the news stories they are seeking.

Second, I'll address our commitment to create economic opportunity for publishers and to provide tools to create more engaging presentations of their content.

And finally, I'll talk about how the very structure of the Web itself represents some challenges to, but also opportunities for, the future of journalism.

Microsoft and Yahoo Talking Again

Search end near?, International Business Times (April 17)

Yahoo and Microsoft are still talking - this time on how to work together on internet search advertising. It might be good for Microsoft who would run the search, and Yahoo might benefit from running the display ad business.

"Analysts say that co-opting Yahoo's search assets represents Microsoft's best hope to turn around its money-losing online business and to challenge Google Inc's (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) dominant and growing share of the U.S. search market.

But handing search over to Microsoft would be fraught with risk for Yahoo, which would cede what is believed to be a profitable and increasingly vital plank in its online business. Search data is increasingly used to custom-tailor display advertisements for Web surfers."

OCLC and EBSCO work together

New Discovery Tools for Online Resources From OCLC and EBSCO, by Paula J. Hane, Information Today (Apr 16)

"OCLC (www.oclc.org) announced that it signed an agreement with EBSCO Publishing (www.ebscohost.com) that makes it possible for libraries that subscribe to both the WorldCat Local and EBSCOhost services to provide their users with online access to the full text of a wide range of authoritative electronic content through the web. As part of the WorldCat.org Partner Program, EBSCO's content will be more visible to library patrons through WorldCat Local, the OCLC service based on the WorldCat.org platform that connects library users to local, regional, and global library resources through a single search box. The agreement is for indexing the metadata in databases that EBSCO publishes; OCLC is working on separate agreements with other database producers and has already signed 30 or so. EBSCO in turn will provide its EBSCOhost users with seamless access to WorldCat content."

Ownership on the Web

Who Owns What on the Web?, by Virginia Nussey, BruceClay (Apr 7)

We have a mess of content and copyright issues in our future. Here is one writer trying to untangle traditional media, from social media, from basic user content.

Google and Twitter?

There are rumous that Google is seeking to buy Twitter - no confirmations from the principals, but no denials either.

Google in talks to buy Twitter? by Stephen Shankland, Webware (Apr 2)

"Google's origins, core technology, and profits come from search, but Twitter would fit in neatly with the company's somewhat lackluster attempt to become more of a social hub too. Facebook, which attempted to acquire Twitter in 2008, is the exemplar of just how rich a medium the Internet can become for social interactions. Social sites, though, have had a hard time showing they can mean revenue and profits as well. "

LiveWire in VIP for Info Pros

News from Gary Price that he posted to ResourceShelf

"I’ve expanded my role with FreePint, the publisher of ResourceShelf, to include vendor and product coverage for VIP, particularly the LiveWire (http://web.vivavip.com/forum/LiveWire/ ). You can find industry comment on the LiveWire from VIP’s team of contributing editors.

Get a weekly digest of headlines emailed by subscribing to the LiveWire Digest: http://www.vivavip.com/order/digest/"

Good to follow.

Something Brewing

Potential Trouble for LexisNexis and Westlaw by Stephen Arnold, Beyond Search (Mar 2)

If the US made public legal documents free, what would the effect be on Thomson Reuters WestLaw and Lexis Nexis both of which make money from packaging that information, and Google which plans to start indexing?

Reviving Yahoo

Why Yahoo chief prefers Google Maps by Juan Carlos Perez, IDG via itWorldCanada (

Yahoo's new CEO Carol Bartz is setting sights on pulling Yahoo out of the doldrums - accretions of age (if one can say that on such a new industry) and neglect.

"End-users want a "wow experience" from Yahoo services, so that they feel compelled to check Yahoo throughout the day. "We want to be their home on the Web," she said at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, where she answered questions from a financial analyst and from attendees.

"We owe them a fun, easy experience, that is also non-frustrating," she said, criticizing the company for having products that have been neglected and abandoned "floating like debris in space." "

Google as the Model

What Would Google Do? by Nick Summers, Newsweek (Jan 27)

What would Google Do is the title of Jeff Jarvis' book in which he advises that ".... pretty much everyone—you, your company, entire industries, and the U.S. government—to study and ape the online juggernaut, or risk getting buried"

Has a nice bit in which Jarvis itemizes the way he has used Google in the last 24 hours.

"Oh, can I count them all? My mail is on Google, so every time I've pinged it, I'm on Google. I've searched for news of various sorts; I used Google Maps to find restaurants in Munich, I used Google Maps to get directions; I used Google search to find movie listings, and then I used it to find reviews. I watched a mess of Google videos."

No Next Google

What would it take to beat Google? by Don Reisinger, Webware (Jan 22)

Latest stats on Google's market share supremacy.

"According to research firm Hitwise, approximately 69.5 percent of Internet searches in the U.S. were completed on Google's service during 2008, representing an 8 percent increase over 2007.

Yahoo and Microsoft, the second- and third-place search engines, respectively, didn't fare nearly as well. Yahoo captured 19.2 percent of the search market during 2008, representing an 11 percent drop for the year, while Microsoft accommodated just 5.9 percent of all searches during 2008, a decline of 32 percent since"

It's not impossible that another search engine could challenge Google, but its prevasiveness in browsers and at web sites, its brand and range of products, and its hold on advertising makes it unlikely.

Trends Watch for 2009

Get a rapid fire view on trends to watch from Review of the Year 2008 and Trends Watch—Part 2 by Paula J. Hane, Newbreaks (Jan 8)

More mobile, more social, more mashups, but the two I seized on as a searchers were:

"# Further developments in semantic technologies and applications, increasing the context of content
# Enterprise search becoming increasingly more discovery-oriented, with easy browse and navigation powered by faceted metadata "

Also links to other reviews and predictions related to web, IT, personal technology, and lastly world affairs, which is the grimmist of the lot.

Microsoft Yahoo Thing Again

Looks like we are into another year of rumours and reports about Microsoft seeking to buy Yahoo Search. I hope they both move on, and make their own search products work with their other web services.

Microsoft is going after Yahoo - again, Pandia (Jan 12)

"In an interview with the Financial Times Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says that the company will try to get hold of Yahoo’s search business. Microsoft is no longer interested in the whole company. Pandia believes this a strategy that will help neither Microsoft nor Yahoo!"

Information Overload Worse

Report: Information Overload Costs U.S. $900B by David Needle, Internet.com (Dec 29, 2008)

If you have been feeling more overloaded by information, you're not alone.

"Every year, research firm Basex calculates the cost of information overload and the numbers keep going up by a staggering amount. For 2008, Basex estimates information overload cost the U.S. economy $900 billion in lost productivity. For 2006, that figure was $588 billion."

Basex provides an Information Overload Calculator for companies and a free copy of its report with some recommendations.

There's a video too about a conference call - very amusing about wasted time - calls or conferences like this aggravate the overload problem further.

Trends for 2009

Future Trends in Personal Technology by Reid Goldsborough, LinkUp Digital (Jan 1)

Read excerpts of a report from the advertising agency, JWT, "10 Trends for 2009."

+ email declining
+ cloud computing growing
+ mobile devices proliferating
+ netbooks / notebooks spreading
+ computer / television converging

NewsBreaks Review of 2008

Review of the Year 2008 and Trends Watch—Part 1 by Paula Hane, NewsBreaks (Jan 5)

The topics covered in NewsBreaks and found to be popular give us an interesting view of 2008. Two I note from this list are the many news items about Google Book Search (great expansion last year), social search tools (seems unabted), and cloud computing - definitely a trend to watch.

Paula Hane also gives a brief recap of key company acquisitions involving Proquest, Dialog, Gale, Highbeam.

Important trends for 2008 according to Forrester concern Enterprise 2.0 technologies - social networks and wikis are hot, blogging cooling down, rss not understood, podcasting dying.

Other trends: semantic search technologies, twitter, use of gadgets, iPhone and mobile.

Wikipedia Secure

Wikimedia Foundation raises $6.2 million for Wikipedia, by Don Reisinger, Webware (Jan 2)

Future of Wikipedia seems to be secure for some time -- "With the help of over 125,000 donors from around the world, the Wikimedia Foundation raised a total of $6.2 million, sustaining Wikipedia for the foreseeable future. The money will be used to maintain and grow the foundation's technical infrastructure." That certainly shows support.

About Sergey Brin

Enlightenment man, The Economist (Dec 4)

"Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google, believes knowledge is always a good thing—and that more of it should be shared"

Update on Lycos

I haven't followed the various divisions and re-organization of Lycos for years, but this notice seems to signal the end of Lycos Europe.

LYCOS Europe N.V. announces the results of strategic review process (Nov 26)

"As a result of this strategic review process the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of LYCOS came to the conclusion that the best available option of the company is to (i) strive for a sale of its domains, Danish portal and shopping activities and (ii) to discontinue the portal and webhosting activities."

Seemingly powerful market leaders do fail. Lycos was a major player in the early 1990s.

There is still a Lycos.com and Lycos.ca. From the About page -- "Lycos is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daum Communications Corp., a leading search and Internet portal in Korea, and has its U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts."

Overflight - Google in RSS

New Google Watching Service Launched by ArnoldIT.com

It's is possible that nothing says Google like Google. Stephen Arnold knows Google, probably as well as its chief executives, and has a sharp eye for trends. He has made his aggregator pages of feeds public. The one for products has the most news from and about Google.

"Blogger and technology expert Stephen Arnold has launched a free service (www.arnoldit.com/overflight) that aggregates the headlines from Google’s own blogs. Overflight, "An ArnoldIT.com Intelligence Service," is an RSS aggregation service that aggregates the headlines from Google’s 74 weblogs. The most recent headlines are grouped using the same categories that Google favors. A fee-based service offers more bells and whistles."

Yahoo Travails Continue

The New Yahoo CEO: Let The Speculation Games Begin by Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land (Nov 18)

Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo, is stepping down. What happens next?

Demand for Data Protection

Privacy Laws Trip Up Google’s Expansion in Parts of Europe , by KEVIN J. O’BRIEN, New York Times (Nov 17)

Google is very big in Europe, but Europe is adamant about data protection. Some countries bad the use of Street View.

"But almost five years into its expansion into Europe — where it has a headquarters in Dublin, large offices in Zurich and London, and smaller centers in countries like Denmark, Russia and Poland — Google is getting caught in a web of privacy laws that threaten its growth and the positive image it has cultivated as a company dedicated to doing good."

And -- "Google says it needs the data for nine months to hone its search engine to reflect the constant changes in contextual meaning caused by news and events. Before October, Google retained the records in the European Union for 18 months. Yahoo keeps records for 13 months and MSN, Microsoft’s search service, for 18 months. European officials are trying to persuade Google and the others to comply, but have not ruled out asking the commission to intervene."

Yahoo Pushes On

Google pulls out of Yahoo advertising partnership by JOELLE TESSLER AND MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP via Globe and Mail (Nov 5)

It's over - Google and Yahoo will not partner for Internet advertising and probably just as well.

"Google and Yahoo combined would have controlled more 90 per cent of the U.S. search advertising market"

Jerry Yang: I'm a fighter by Caroline McCarthy, Webware (Nov 6)

But Jerry Yang, the CEO and co-founder, is not daunted. In an interview with John Battelle. he hung on to the view that the Microsoft deal was wrong for both companies. He stressed the record of innovation that Yahoo has and its work today to build a "developer friendly open platform".

"Even though Battelle, moderating the "conversation," brought up just about every ghost from Yahoo's recent past--from the "peanut butter memo" to the Microsoft takeover debacle to corporate raider Carl Icahn's attempt to shake things up--the talk proved less than electrifying. The CEO kept driving home a single point: that Yahoo is a growing company and that he fully expects it to weather the storm regardless of the situation."

Search Market Share in France

comScore Releases French Search Rankings for August 2008 (Oct 28)

"In August, Google Sites increased its lead as the leading search property in France to 82 percent of all searches. Microsoft Sites ranked second with 2.7 percent, followed by French property Groupe Pages Jaunes (2.7 percent share), Yahoo! Sites (2.3 percent share), and another French property, Groupe Spir Communication (2.0 percent share)."

Yahoo Update

Over 1,000 jobs on the line at Yahoo by Mark Sweney, Guardian (Oct 20)

Update on Yahoo's cost cutting - target is to cut 15% from costs and that may mean 1,000 from its work force of 14,000. Also, Carl Icahn is still on Yahoo's board and has not given up on looking at "strategic options" such as a merger with AOL.

Mahalo, Squidoo etc

What is The Future of Human Powered Search? by Bernard Lunn, Read Write Web (Oct 8)

Can general purpose human powered search engine succeed? Lunn looks mainly at Mahalo where people are paid for content, and Wikipedia which dominates the wiki scene. I would add to this the example of Open Directory Project as one of the first human powered sites. None of these is a true search engine - they depend on individuals providing content and exercising judgement. Some do this better than others. I wonder how long volunteers will have the enthusiasm and time to continue the effort.

At Risk

11 troubled Web companies: The next Kozmos? by Rafe Needleman,Webware (Oct 10)

"Here, in no particular order, are 11 online services companies that could face a similar fate. Several of them are 2008 Webware 100 winners. Like I said, popularity isn't enough. "

Ask.com is on the list as is Skype.

Google at Ten

Google is ten years old. From the little engine that bested Altavista and Yahoo, to the giant media company it is today, the story of Google's rise to dominate search, advertising, and media has been a fantastic story. But where it was once admired for saying it would do no evil, it is now distrusted in many quarters.

The press is on this.

Google celebrates 10 years, looks ahead by Michael Liedtke, AP via Seattle Times (Sep 6)

"A "Star Wars" analogy can just as easily be used to depict Google as an imposing empire. It holds commanding leads in both the Internet search and advertising markets. The company processes nearly two-thirds of the world's online search requests, according to the research firm comScore, and sells about three-fourths of the ads tied to search requests, according to another firm, eMarketer."

"Google draws upon a gargantuan computer network, nearly 20,000 employees and a $150 billion market value to redefine media, marketing and technology."

Google @ 10 by MATT HARTLEY AND GRANT ROBERTSON, Globe and Mail (Sep 5)

And this is how it makes money -- "Google's model of selling advertising is based on a simple premise that a million ads sold at a penny are worth a lot more than selling a few hundred ads at a higher price, which has always been the model of traditional media. Though Google had always declined to call itself a media company in its early days, the company had certainly become that when it introduced its AdWords program, which sold keywords, and AdSense, which would place contextually relevant commercial messages next to searches, based on a Google scan of that content."

Article has a time line to show the key events.

Google at Age 10 by Miguel Helft, New York Times (Sep 4)

Blog entry that compares Google's number to Microsoft's. Microsoft still holds a substantial lead in size and revenue but Google has a revenue of $1 million per employee to Microsoft's $672,000.

As Google Turns 10, Enterprise Success in Question by Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service via PC World.

Google is taking aim at the software and enterprise search business. Can it do this when 98 percent of the company's revenue comes from consumer search advertising? Some wonder.

""It's hard to break into the enterprise business," Koplowitz said. "Will Google sign those big customers that represent big revenue and continued investment in this area? Google certainly can afford it, but that doesn't mean they won't decide to refocus their resources in their core business. That's definitely a fair question to ask of Google. I don't think Google is having cold feet yet but time will tell if they're in this for the long term.""

Keyword Search

The Future of Search? It’s Here. by Stephen Arnold, Altsearchengines (Aug 12)

Keyword search has been with us since 1965 and all the other methods are just layers of features like classification or semantic analysis. Stephen Arnold has a diagram to show this. According to Arnold, who really is an astute observer and analyst of the search scene, this is not going to change.

"I don’t see any major improvement in search and content processing in the near term. What we have will make incremental gains, but I don’t see a “red shift” in this market sector like some optimistic investors."

There are efforts to interpret or divine user intent - "The hot search engines today figure out what a user wants and either [a] provide suggestions that are hot linked to information or [b] use math to generate a result that most [previous?] users found helpful."

All in all, the layering and added complexity is making enterprise search, for one, harder to manage and maintain. There will be business implications. Sticking with pure key word search would be easier.

Google at Ten

The Guardian recognizes the 10th anniversary of Google with an examination of Google's current reach into organizing information and drive to know more about its users in order to serve up better results along with more relevant advertisements.

Google, 10 years in: big, friendly giant or a greedy Goliath? by David Smith (Aug 17)

David Smith examines the implications for privacy in Google's vast collection of information in general and of the searchers who use Google.

Andrew Keen is quoted - Google has revolutionized information access but at a high price in personal privacy.

"'Every time I think of it, I'm amazed at every level. They're absolutely in the business of revolutionising the nature of knowledge; search has become integral in the way we think and act. ... They have amassed more information about people in 10 years than all the governments of the world put together. They make the Stasi and the KGB look like the innocent old granny next door. This is of immense significance. If someone evil took them over, they could easily become Big Brother.'"

Google's advertising revenue - "The formula [paid placement] is said to account for 99 per cent of Google's annual revenue of $16.6bn and profits of $4.2bn."

Is too much Google a bad thing? presents a short history and asks "In the age when knowledge is power, is it really healthy for any one organisation, particularly a profit-driven company, to have quite so much information at its fingertips?" Several people joined in debate.

Into the future: Pros and cons of a Google world has points of view from six people who work with media and communications. Some comment on aspects of freedom of information (censorship of Chinese content as an example), privacy (what Google knows about us), and social consequences.

Of interest: From Adam Curtis - "The millions of searches that engines like Google record and store reveal the shifting desires and fears of individuals. They're leading to a new fragmented sensibility among millions of people in the way they see and experience the world."

Yahoo's Sagging Fortunes

At Yahoo, a Threat from Within by Robert D. Hof, Business Online (Jul 2)

If you are still following the affairs of Yahoo, this is as good a story as any for an update -- "Fleeing executives' gripes: the Microsoft saga, the Google deal, and cumbersome decision-making" -- doesn't sound good.

Microsoft Yahoo ctd

Microsoft seeks allies for new Yahoo move: report, Reuters via Washington Post (July 2)

Microsoft will not give up - or maybe it's the press that won't. Lots of talk about Microsoft talking with others but no agreements. Meantime Carl Ichan is working to replace Yahoo's Board.

Microsoft buys Powerset

Microsoft buying Powerset, a start-up for Web search Reuters via International Herald Tribune (July 2)

Microsoft is buying Powerset - "Microsoft said Powerset's software, together with similar semantic Web tools developed by Microsoft Research, can help it develop products that understand the intent of a user's word choices in each Web search."

"Powerset technology looks beyond words to try to understand conceptual relationships to get closer to what a user is looking for, analyzing sentences and whole documents to do so."

Will Microsoft be using this for its enterprise search product, Sharepoint, or for web search, or both?

Also - It's official: Microsoft acquires Powerset, Webware (July 1)

Key line: "During a conversation after the announcement, Pell {Powerset co-founder and CTO Barney Pell} told me, "Natural language search will be the center of innovation for the next 20 years." It will likely take 20 years to engineer the semantic, natural language Web that Tim Berners-Lee envisioned in his 2001 essay in Scientific American."

Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, IHT

Thomson Reuters braces for showdown with Bloomberg By Ian Austen, International Herald Tribune (June 23, 2008)

Thomas Glocer, the head of Thomson Reuters, has his sights set on Bloomberg.

"The companies are in a dead heat: Thomson Reuters has 34 percent of the market for financial data and Bloomberg 33 percent."

"Glocer thinks he can go after Bloomberg on price but, more importantly, flexibility. While privately held Bloomberg generated about $5.4 billion in revenue last year and has about 10,000 employees, it still offers, for the most part, a single product: the Bloomberg terminal coupled with its vast array of data."

And - International Herald Tribune has a new web design - video, ads, most-emailed, and various options to change display, email, print,m listen, translate, share. Also add comments. Have to have a tolerance for a lot of information on the home page - but is much easier to navigate and see in one long look.

Google Won

Google grows stronger in Microsoft-Yahoo fallout By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP via mywire (june 13)

Google won in every possible way.

Of interest: "Google currently has about 75 percent of the U.S. search advertising market followed by Yahoo at 9 percent, according to the research firm eMarketer Inc."

View for Investors

Yahoo, Google, Microsoft: The Morning After by Eric Savitz, Tech Trader Daily - Barrons (June 13)

Is it really over? Talks between Microsoft and Yahoo broke down (again), and Yahoo has signed an agreement with Google to show search-related Google ads.

"Google is the big winner here; it is now in cahoots with one rival, while a second tries to figure out how to be a significant player in the game."

Article lays out what this may mean for shareholders of all three.

What should US GOV sites do?

Study: .gov web sites should focus on RSS, XML—not redesigns By Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica (June 3)

Novel proposition - probably has merit --

"A new paper from researchers at Princeton University suggests a different strategy. David Robinson, Harlan Yu, William Zeller, and Ed Felten, all of Princeton's Information Technology Policy Center, suggest that government officials abandon the dream of developing usable web sites, and instead focus on providing raw public data such as regulatory decisions, Congressional votes, and campaign finance data in open, structured formats such as RSS and XML. This raw data would be made freely and publicly available to anyone who wanted it and could be used for any purpose."

Has examples of sites in the US private sector that do a better job of dressing up and delivering than the government sites.

Except - will the private sector charge for data collected with taxpayers' money.

And then there were two

Internet will shrink to two strong players: report ERIC AUCHARD, Reuters via Globe and Mail (June 3)

"An Internet analyst for a major Wall Street firm argues in a new report that Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. will be long-term winners, while Yahoo and IAC InterActiveCorp fall by the wayside and eBay Inc. becomes a merger target."

Microsoft needs Yahoo

Can Yahoo save Microsoft? by Fred Vogelstein, Los Angeles Times (June 1)

Challenges to Microsoft from Google just as Bill Gates steps down.

"Most people think of Google as just a great search engine. But, like a swarm of termites, it is also eating away at the foundation of Gates' software empire. Like Microsoft, Google is a software company. Its products are not software in the Gatesian sense -- that is, they're not programs that you buy in a store and install on your PC. Instead, Google engineers write the programs, install them on the company's servers and let users interact with them over the Internet through their browser. The programs allow you to do the same things as Microsoft's: Send an e-mail, build an address book, create Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, produce PowerPoint presentations and on and on. The scary part for Microsoft is that Google lets people use its software for free and pays for it all with advertising."

Microsoft needs Yahoo -- "What Microsoft hopes is that by combining its struggling online advertising business with Yahoo's, it can quickly create a true Google competitor, something neither company has been able to do on its own."

IAC and Ask - new direction?

Ask.com Settling Down as Reference Site? by Barbara Quint, Newsbreaks (May 27)

Will Ask really become a reference site as a result of acquiring Dictionary.com and other reference resources through its acquisition of Lexico Publishing?

"After months of turmoil within Ask.com (www.ask.com) and its parent, IAC/InterActiveCorp. (www.iac.com), the acquisition of Lexico Publishing Group, LLC (www.lexico.com) and its reference properties, including Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com, could help distinguish Ask.com as a reference site."

IAC, Ask's parent, has been doing some culling of less productive businesses and adding new: "The web startup sites new to IAC include a personal finance site called FiLife with a blog from Dow Jones & Co. (now owned by Murdoch’s News Corp.); InstantAction.com, a gaming platform; RushmoreDrive.com, a search engine aimed at African-Americans; a news aggregation site in partnership with Tina Brown; and a virtual world site aimed at children and adolescents with an emphasis on environmental concerns. Dictionary.com and Reference.com already receive a lot of use by children for homework, and IAC has just bought StarNet Interactive, owner of the GirlSense.com virtual world service. IAC’s web services also include Pronto.com for comparison shopping and a comedy news site."

Microsoft - Yahoo on again

It's not over.

Microsoft proposes to buy Yahoo search: source by ANUPREETA DAS, AP via Globe and Mail (May 20)

"Microsoft Corp. has proposed to buy Yahoo Inc.'s search business and take a minority stake in the Web pioneer, stopping short of a full-out merger, a person familiar with the discussions said on Monday."

Microsoft-Yahoo: Desperation Sets In Business Week (May 20) -- "The latest talks clearly suggest Microsoft lacks a Plan B to compete with Google in search, while Yahoo is feeling the heat from Carl Icahn"

Microsoft in talks with Yahoo over scaled-down takeover by Andrew Clark, The Guardian

Google Top Property

Google Overtakes Yahoo as Most-visited US Web Site Linda Rosencrance, Computerworld.com (May 16)

"Google reached the pinnacle of the Top 50 U.S. Properties in April, with an audience of 141 million visitors, according to data from comScore's monthly analysis. In April, more people used Google's job search, career resources and television sites, according to comScore."

The Icahn - Yahoo story

Can Icahn Or Microsoft Stop Google's "Natural Monopoly" by Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land (May 14)

Compilation of stories about Carl Icahn's purchase of Yahoo shares. Speculation is that it is to put the Yahoo - Microsoft deal back in play. But for what purpose? Sullivan reiterates his view that Microsoft does not get search and should hand reins to Yahoo.

And yet, who can counter the huge headwind that Google has now?

Sullivan concludes -- "The bottom line is this. I don't think Google will have a "natural monopoly" forever in search, as a reporter asked me about today. My response was that I'm sure they're going to climb higher because search remains at their core and both their main competitors are pretty troubled. Maybe they will hit the 90% share in the US that Jason Calacanis predicted earlier this year."

And then what?

What's next for Microsoft

What's Microsoft's Move After Yahoo's Rebuff? Rafael Ruffolo, ComputerWorld Canada (May 10)

Microsoft doesn't do search well. Charlene Li, vice-president and principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc., said. "What Microsoft needs to do is redefine the game."

"Li said the fact that Microsoft has such a large user base with MSN and its other communication properties, gives it a good starting point to differentiate itself from Google."

Mention of MSN always floors me. Why on earth did Microsoft do all that rebranding to Live and still keep MSN? Why Live at all?

There's a rumour that Microsoft would be interested in AOL but AOL has a contract with Google.

What's next for Yahoo?

Yahoo working to stand alone after Microsoft deal's demise Tom Abate,Verne Kopytoff, San Francisco Chronicle (May 11)

Yahoo is strong in several web categories - "It has the most popular e-mail service, along with news, financial information, sports and music, according to online data measurement firm Hitwise."

"Yahoo visitors averaged a little more than 3 hours and 12 minutes on the site in March" - and Google's users averaged 1 hour and 16 minutes.

But Google has 68% of the search market, and Yahoo about 20.

What will Yahoo do now? Work with AOL? Amazon? New products?

Google was the spoiler

Google's Shadow Hung Over Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Juan Carlos Perez, PC World (May 3)

Google was the wrench in the works in the Microsoft - Yahoo merger. Yahoo didn't intend this to be the poison pill but it worked just as well.

"In the end, Google played a significant part in the undoing of Microsoft's bid for Yahoo, the latest example of Google's ability to interfere with Microsoft's attempts to boost its online advertising business.

While the main reason Microsoft dropped its bid was a disagreement over price, Google served as the ammunition that Yahoo needed to discourage Microsoft from launching a hostile takeover.

At least, that's what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer maintains. As outlined in the letter he sent Saturday to his Yahoo counterpart, Jerry Yang, Microsoft discarded the option of a hostile takeover when Yahoo threatened to outsource part of its search advertising to Google."

Also see Ballmer's Withdrawal Letter to Yang
(May 3)

Yahoo Saved

Microsoft Withdraws Its Bid for Yahoo by Miguel Helft and Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times (May 3)

Whew - this is probably a good thing for competition in Web search and services but how long will it last?

"Microsoft said Saturday that it was abandoning its blockbuster bid to acquire Yahoo after the two companies could not agree on a price." .. "But the breakdown in the talks is likely to send Yahoo's shares plunging and generate uncertainty among investors about the company's management. Yahoo has been exploring alternatives to Microsoft's bid, including a search advertising partnership with Google, which could lift its profits and perhaps its stock price, analysts say."

Cloud Computing - new paradigm

WWW2008 Beijing: Dr. Kai-Fu Lee (Google) - “Cloud Computing” by John Breslin (Apr 23)

Report on presentation by Kai-Fu Lee is Vice President of Engineering at Google on cloud computing.

Cloud computing: "Data is stored in the Cloud, on some server somewhere that is not necessarily known by the user, but it’s just there and accessible. Software and services are also moving to the Cloud, usually accessible via a full-featured web browser on the client device."

Contributing factors: "Driving forces behind cloud-based computing include: (i) the falling cost of storage, (ii) ubiquitous broadband, and (iii) the democratisation of the tools of production. This is beginning to make cloud-based computing more like a utility."

Benefits: "In terms of benefits, everything should just work, changing the way we work and play. IT should become “simple and safe”, by outsourcing IT to a “trusted shop” via a browser. Entrepreneurs should have new opportunities with this paradigm shift, being freed from monopoly-dominated markets as more cloud-based companies evolve that are powered by open technologies. Governments should leverage such “innovation-enabling platforms”, where people can effectively program tens of thousands of machines themselves. With $540 million of venture capital infused into China last year, Kai-Fu sees cloud-based computing as being a catalyst of economic growth. He finished up saying that cloud computing has arrived. “Embrace the Cloud!”"

Visual on the Yahoo Play

A visual guide to the Yahoo mating dance by Dan Farber, CNet (Apr 10)

A picture really does tell us in a glance the important relationships. Look at this one showing Microsoft - Yahoo - Google - AOL - and other players.

Yahoo's Options

Andrew Goodman does a thoughtful examination of the state of search and of Yahoo's options in Yahoo-AOL "Surgical Merger" Not as Crazy as It Sounds, Traffick.com (Apr 10)

Some interesting points.

+ "Rich Skrenta, founder of a stealth startup called Blekko, complains that Google “was built to index a web that no longer exists... a web where people still engaged in social linking behavior, for one thing.”'

+ "... a company like Yahoo may be able to create more consumer-friendly search by working towards an embrace of open formats and “interoperability” and “participation in a trusted metadata scheme,” but will bias the voice so that a certain “trusted universe” of publishers may be featured, as it were. "

+ "But a hefty once-a-year fee per domain ($500) might make sense – it would weed out the silly high-volume spam, and encourage registrants to make the most of their participation in a new ‘publisher environment.’"

He presents three scenarios for Yahoo: alone, AOL, and Microsoft - and leans to Microsoft.

Yahoo-AOL Take Two

Yahoo Goes Scorched Earth by Michael Arrington, TechCrunch (April 10)

As the world churns with a menage a trois - Yahoo and AOL renew their friendship, while thwarted Lothario Microsoft lays down an ultimatum. Google plays a joyful mandolin to lure Yahoo into using Google AdSense

Also - Report: Yahoo & AOL Approaching A Deal by Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Land.

Exploding Digital Universe

And you thought you were overloaded today. That's nothing to what it will be in 2011

This new IDC White Paper from EMC on The Diverse and Exploding Digital Universe [pdf] (March 2008) presents "an updated forecast of worldwide information growth through 2011".

Some excerpts from this fascinating study --

+ "The digital universe in 2007 — at 2.25 x 1021 bits (281 exabytes or 281 billion gigabytes) — was 10% bigger than we thought. The resizing comes as a result of faster growth in cameras, digital TV shipments, and better understanding of information replication."

+ "Fast-growing corners of the digital universe include those related to digital TV, surveillance cameras, Internet access in emerging countries, sensor-based applications, datacenters supporting “cloud computing,” and social networks."

+ "Of that portion of the digital universe created by individuals, less than half can be accounted for by user activities — pictures taken, phone calls made, emails sent — while the rest constitutes a digital “shadow” — surveillance photos, Web search histories, financial transaction journals, mailing lists, and so on."

Huge implications for business, for information, for energy use and environment.

Interactive Corp Breakup

Diller Wins His Court Battle - But Can IAC Succeed? SeekingAlpha (Apr 1)

"Now Diller can finally go ahead with his plan to break up InterActive Corp. into five pieces—HSN, Ticketmaster, Lending Tree, Interval International, and the new IAC (Ask.com, Bloglines, Citysearch, Evite, iWon, Match.com, BustedTees, Vimeo, GarageGames, and CollegeHumor). "

Microsoft-Yahoo

Microsoft would integrate Yahoo's Internet services Bloomberg via MercuryNews.com (March 7)

This is very clear -- "Microsoft will either combine or shut down duplicate Internet services after purchasing Yahoo, Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said. "We shouldn't have two of everything," Ballmer said at a Microsoft conference in Las Vegas Thursday. "It won't make sense." Microsoft and Yahoo own competing search engines, advertising programs, and e-mail and instant-messaging services." -- but it would be a huge job. Wonder if users of the service-to-be-closed would jump over to another provider?

What will Yahoo do?

Yahoo Celebrates Its 13th Birthday; Will There Be A 14th? Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land (Mar 5)

13 years - that long.

"Unless or until a concrete alternative for Yahoo emerges the most likely scenario is still a Microsoft takeover. Many in the press and technology community have assumed that Microsoft will prevail and speculated about the integration challenges that would likely follow."

Power to the User

FAST Forward to the User Revolution by Paula J. Hane, Newsbreaks (Mar 3)

The theme at the FASTforward ’08 conference, hosted by Fast Search & Transfer, was the impact of "The User Revolution" -- "a set of trends in internet usage and behavior that are impacting businesses of all kinds—and presenting opportunities for those companies which can embrace the changes. Basically, power has shifted to users, and businesses that can respond with customer-centric solutions will find success in the market".

Six trends identified by Safa Rashtchy, financial analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co --

1. The emergence of a new activity, communitainment (community + communication + entertainment) 2. The increasing popularity of Usites (sites with user-generated content) 3. Mainstreaming of the internet (it’s part of our daily routine) 4. Declining use of traditional media (no surprise here) 5. Fragmentation of content consumption (proliferation of options and multitasking) 6. The evolution of user-generated brands (work with users to create brand loyalty)

Bill Gates looks to the future

Newsmaker: Gates explains why Microsoft needs Yahoo by Ina Fried, CNet (Feb 20)

"Gates spoke to CNET News.com on Tuesday about how Microsoft needs Yahoo's engineering talent, how Windows 7 will make the keyboard and mouse less essential, though far from obsolete, and what journalism will look like in the future."

Market Dominance Stats

Microsoft and Yahoo!: Putting the Offer in Perspective Bill Tancer, Hitwise Intelligence (Feb 1)

Charts on this page compare two measures of dominance for the search engines / portals - one for search, where Google leads by a mile at 65.98% of US searches in January 2008 (Hitwise data); and the other for properties where Yahoo is strongest at 13.2% of visits. MSN and Yahoo would account for 15.6% together. The point is - "the combined content of Yahoo! and MSN properties yields an impressive list of top sites by industry category" - a chart shows who leads in the several category of web service: portal, email, music, maps etc.

Yahoo Grasping

Yahoo! set to revive merger talks with AOL after rejecting hostile takeover Times Online (Feb 11)

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang rejected Microsoft's bid on the ground that it undervalued Yahoo and is seeking other mergers to revitalize the company.

"It is also understood that one option being explored is to restart merger talks with AOL, the online business owned by Time Warner. Tie-ups with groups such as Google or Disney are also being considered. Although Yahoo! and AOL previously failed to join forces because of differences over price, it is hoped that the urgency created by an unwelcome approach from Microsoft and an impending economic downturn will spur the two into new talks. Google, which offered support to Yahoo! when the Microsoft approach was made public, also has a 5 per cent stake in AOL."

Might say that Yahoo is grasping at straws.

Yahoo is Big Business

What is Yahoo anyway? Jack Kapica, Globe and Mail (Feb 8)

Yahoo changed from a tech company to a big business. This requires different qualities from its executives, and, as Jack Kapica sees it (likely correctly) co-founder and "engineering doctoral dropout" Jerry Yang isn't up to the demands of being CEO.

"It no longer really matters what Yang thinks about the Internet, or the future of digital communications. The moment his shareholders and board lose faith in his ability to run a multibillion-dollar profit-maker, he doesn’t stand a chance. For my money, he’s reached that point. "

The internet has changed - it's big business now.

Google's Annual Report

Google Revenues Up 51 Percent, Social Networking Monetization "Disappointing" Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land (Jan 31)

Revenue figures from Google's Q4 2007 report.

"Google posted Q4, 2007 revenues that represented 51 percent growth vs. 2006. Quarterly revenues were $4.83 billion, compared with $3.21 billion a year ago. However, earnings and revenue per share fell short of analyst consensus estimates."

Amazon buys Audible

Amazon.com to Acquire Audible.com EContent (Feb 1)

Nice addition to the Amazon collection of audio books- "Amazon.com, Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire Audible Inc. Audible.com is an online provider of premium digital spoken word audio content, specializing in digital audio editions of books, newspapers and magazines, television and radio programs, and original programming."

Microsoft bids for Yahoo

Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion for Yahoo By MIGUEL HELFT and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, New York Times (Feb 1)

Here's the offer everyone has been waiting for -- "In a bold move to counter Google’s online pre-eminence, Microsoft said Friday that it had made an unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo for about $44.6 billion in a mix of cash and stock."

Also On Eve of Microsoft Offer, Semel Steps Down From Yahoo Board By Betsy Schiffman, Wired (Feb 1)

Terry Semel had been CEO until June 2007 - read Why Terry Semel Really Got the Axe as Yahoo's CEO (June 18, 2007) -- he didn't see that Google was a powerful media company through the software and function it provides.

News about Yahoo

There have been several articles about Yahoo cutting staff and hitting harder times with a much reduced market cap.

Yahoo profit decline prompts 1,000 layoffs, Michael Liedke, AP via Globe and Mail (Jan 29) -- "The Sunnyvale-based company disclosed the upcoming 7 percent reduction in its 14,300-employee work force Tuesday while reviewing a 23-per-cent drop in fourth-quarter profit and a cautious 2008 outlook. The bad news sent Yahoo shares skidding to their lowest levels in more than four years."

Yahoo still standing at fork in the road Jon Swartz, USA Today (Jan 29) -- CEO Jerry Yang demonstrated new Yahoo products and indicated a new direction at the Consumer Electronics Show. ... "Yang, who co-founded Yahoo in 1994, is engineering a broad strategic overhaul in the recent tradition of other high-tech titans who have returned to their struggling companies. Whether he is as successful as Steve Jobs was at Apple (AAPL), for example, remains to be seen."

Yahoo's Search for a Vision by Robert Hof, Business Week (Jan 22) -- Should Yahoo give up on search and pay Google? Or should it sell out to Microsoft? Neither seems too likely.

How To Dig Out Yahoo!'s Treasures Sramana Mitra, Forbes (Jan 29) -- points out areas of excellence at Yahoo: Yahoo Finance, sports coverage and ads, Yahoo mail, News, and it has areas it can exploit such as photo sharing at Flickr.

Predictions for 2008

What Will--And Won't--Happen in 2008 Dan Tynan, PCWorld (Jan 17 2008)

More predictions for 2008 -- "Everybody has a prediction for what the new year will bring. We look at the most common forecasts for the tech world, and separate the sure things from the hooey".

Here are five:
+ The internet is not going to melt down but maybe it will be slower.
+ Social networks may have a rough ride - more of them, security problems, and maybe (I've added this), just maybe, fatigue?
+ Green tech that saves energy and uses safer materials looks good this year - companies might buy into it.
+ Google could stumble but it won't crash.
+ Microsoft - will it buy Yahoo?

Microsoft Acquisitions

Microsoft made two announcements that will certainly change the playing field for enterprise search and web apps and maybe the life of the Internet consumer.

Making Fast work of search By Benjamin J. Romano, Seattle Times (Jan 21)

Microsoft has made an offer to acquire Fast Search and Transfer, the company that developed Alltheweb search engine years ago (and Yahoo bought). Why - "It's a broad set of technologies and talent that could help Redmond in key areas, including the broader Internet search market where Google's huge lead."

Microsoft builds virtualization vision by Benjamin Romano, Seattle Times (Jan 22)

Microsoft is acquiring Calista Technologies which has been working on desktop-virtualization technology. Ah - might that mean we can return to dumb (and inexpensive) terminals and be online all the time?

"Virtualization uses software to isolate various layers of a computer system, including hardware (desktop computers or servers); software (operating systems and applications); and other elements (data, networks and storage)."

Trends to watch: Looking back (2007) and forward (2008)

Review of the Year 2007 and Trends Watch by Paula J. Hane, Newsbreaks (Jan 17)

Reviews the year 2007 through most read articles in Newsbreaks, trends in the industry for products and services, product news and cool tools. Looks forward to 2008 and refers to predictions of prominent others.

For 2007 the biggest changes were in growth in social networking (Facebook was very hot and companies are looking into internal corporate social networking tools), open access initiatives, and digitization of books (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, OCA).

Will 2008 be the year of Information Overload?

The Google Story

Google’s Eric Schmidt: “What kills a company is not competition but arrogance. We control our fate.” by Dan Farber, ZDNet (Jan 9)

This blog posting and the New Yorker article that Farber is commenting upon tell us a lot about how Google's executives relate to government bodies in Washington DC, Google's business strategies and how the company's activities are viewed by others.

"Ken Auletta’s “The Search Party: Google squares off with its Capital Hill critics” article in the recent New Yorker has some good tidbits about how Google operates. He sits in on a product review meeting and speaks with numerous people at Google and close to company to paint a picture of Google “think.”"

Arnold on Google 2.0

Google 2.0 as ‘Calculating Predator’ by Paula J. Hane, Information Today (Jan)

Quick digest of Stephen Arnold's latest study of Google - Google Version 2.0: The Calculating Predator - that examines Google's strategies, successes, vulnerabilities, and current work in a variety of markets. It's a juggernaut.

"Google version 2.0 is a new type of company, according to search industry expert Stephen Arnold in his new study, Google Version 2.0: The Calculating Predator. Google 2.0 combines hardware and software engineering in a “network-centric application platform.” Since the company’s inception, Google has discovered that its solutions to search problems were applicable to other “interesting problems.” The result is a construct that supports the advertising business model, a wide range of applications for individuals and organizations, and incursions into markets far removed from search, including telecommunications, retail, publishing, and more."

2007 People’s Choice Awards

A Salute to the Winners Information Today (Dec 3) Introduction by Barbara Brynko; Profiles by Jamie Babbitt

Winners of the 2007 People’s Choice Awards - categories relate to content management, social networking, information services, search and retrieval.

+ Research and Retrieval - Google
+ Social networking - Digg
+ Top new social networking - Facebook
+ Information Service - Answers.com (interesting categorization)
+ New technology - Newstex blogs

IAC splits into five parts

IAC/InteractiveCorp to split into five companies --
Diller looks to break 'conglomerate discount' that has hobbled valuation -- Dan Gallagher, Market Watch (Nov 5)

"Under the plan, Web properties such as Ask.com, Match.com and Excite will remain under the IAC banner, while other business such as Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster and LendingTree will spin off into their own separate entities. Another company will be created out of the firm's vacation-planning services."

Conglomerate indeed - IAC had web, travel, loans, retail. ticket selling. The Web part will retain the IAC name -- "IAC -- This unit will own Web sites such as Ask.com, Match.com and Excite as well as several other Internet properties including Bloglines, Citysearch, Gifts.com and CollegeHumor and investments in sites such as Active.com, Points.com and Brightcove"

Information Services in the Future

Thomson's challenge: Make data smarter GRANT ROBERTSON, Globe and Mail (Oct 8)

Michael Wilens, Thomson 's chief technology officer, sees an "intense technological race" with rivals such as Bloomberg in the creation and delivery of new, and more powerful, information products.

+ Using artificial intelligence: "The coming decade will see extensive amounts of time and money invested by companies like Thomson and Bloomberg to develop artificial intelligence capable of crunching the vast amounts of information circulating throughout the world each day."

+ Building new products: “The war of the future, in all information services and on the Internet, is going to be fought around data, about data,” Mr. Wilens said last week. “The ability to build products quickly and get them into the market faster than competitors is really critical.”

+ Some examples of new analytics -- "Reuters has already started work on programs that crunch financial news with an eye to automated stock trading. Meanwhile, Bloomberg's News Heat service lets users track which headlines on its terminals are being read most, which could offer a glimpse into upcoming trading patterns."

Book: Mastering Information

Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages by Alex Wright, John Henry Press 2007

Love history, love information, want to see the connection? This book about information through the ages, one that James Burke of Connections fame commended, promises to help us understand man and information systems better.

Website has an excerpt, a very long bibliography which may entice you further, some reviews, and the index. Looks like this year's book for people fascinated by information systems.

Alex Wright keeps a blog too.

Business Information Resources Changing

"Business Information Trends: Locking Down and Opening Up Content" By Pam Foster, Freepint (Aug 9)

Foster covers many topics of interest to the business researcher in this article.

+ information companies Hoover's, McGraw Hill (Business Week) and ZoomInfo have been adding to what they provide for free.

+ it's getting more difficult to obtain embargoed research through intermediaries. The brokers are selling directly rather than through services like Investext.

+ there's more linguistic analysis / text mining of news to spot patterns, trends, sentiment. Specifically, Reuters is using Corpora. There are others.

+ Lots of merger activity.

Google Backlash

The Google backlash begins, Chris Taylor, Business 2.0 (July 20)

It's not always smooth sailing for Google - many, including those in government, worry about its clout, competitors aspire to bring out a "google killer", and it did miss a profit forecast. This article recommends four steps to "stem the fallout".

But it can't be that bad. U.S. presidential candidates are making Google headquarters a campaign stop to see what's happening at the "best place to work in America" and be seen as "hip".

A Campaign Stop With a Hip, Innovative Air, Jose Antonio Vargas, Washington Post (Jul 22)

"The Googlers, for their part, are used to the attention from presidential candidates eager to add a hip, online-savvy, we-get-it aspect to their résumés, as well as to wrap themselves in the aura of one of the nation's great business success stories."

Google Mega Inc

Google: No Limits? by Jon Brodkin, Network World via PCWorld (July 10)

"Analysis: The search giant seems insatiable when it comes to deals, acquisitions and new ventures." Google has a chaotic business model that goes well beyond search into unrelated fields, but there could be one thread - advertising - and video is a growing piece.

Google's Products

Map Of Google's Products, Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Land (Jul 6)

Scharwtz found a huge map of Google's products done by Zorgloob in French. How long will it stay up to date?

State of Yahoo

Yahoo! 2.0: Its Reorganization and Future by Emre Sokullo, Read / Write Web (June 27)

Does a mini SWOT on Yahoo and finds that there are a "number of positive and promising signs at the company".

TBI Sells Off

Thomson Business Intelligence Divests Profound and NewsEdge by Marydee Ojala, Newsbreaks (July 2)

Marketresearch.com bought Profound, and Acquire Media is taking NewsEdge, once a leader in desktop delivery of news. Hope that these both fare better in their new homes.

Thomson Corp and Reuters Group

Thomson and Reuters Confirm Their Deal by Paula J. Hane, Newsbreaks (May 21)

This will change the information landscape.

"Now, the companies have confirmed that The Thomson Corp. has wooed and won Reuters Group plc with a $17.2 billion takeover bid. It seems that Thomson has been working toward this transaction for the last 2 years."

Google Magna

Is Google Too Powerful? by Rob Hof and others, BusinessWeek Online (Apr 9)

In 2004 there was a faux documentary video that projected online worlf for information to 2014. The scenarios in EPIC 2014 may be coming true today as Google amasses more influence and reach.

But for now those alternatives, whether they be a struggling Yahoo or Microsoft or the new NBC-News Corp. video network, by all accounts pale next to the Google juggernaut. More than anyone else, Google is defining the new architecture of media and commerce in the digital world. The unruly expanse of the Internet and its opportunities cries out for a map, and that's what Google is building out of tens of thousands of server computers around the world that handle quadrillions of bytes of data. With each new search whose data refine that map, with each new business that links its own digital explorations to the search engine, Google gains more knowledge and more power. As a result, it's in a position not only to define what this new world looks like but also to chart where it goes and even determine which will be the prime destinations and which will become backwaters.

There's how much data?

Wading through the backwash of digital data by Dan McLean, Globe and Mail (Mar 15)

There's how much digital data? Dan McLean pulled some information from an IDC white paper.

"In an attempt to quantify the volume, the researchers suggest defining a byte of digital data as one character on a page. They reckon there was enough digital data in 2006 to theoretically fill 12 separate stacks of novels, each of which would extend the 93 million miles from the Earth to the sun. By 2010, the accumulation of digital data would further extend these 12 stacks of books to reach from the sun to Pluto and back."

+ estimates that electronic business information accounts for about 25 per cent of the world's digital data - the remainder is music, videos, digital television signals and pictures.

+ By 2010, business portion will grow to 30 per cent

+ "E-mail alone accounts for about 3 per cent of digital data or six exabytes (one exabyte being a million million megabytes)".

Here's the clincher - "The IDC report makes the point that in 2007 the volume of information created and replicated will, in fact, surpass the storage capacity available to keep it. Storage media are expected to grow 35 per cent annually from 2006 to 2010. Unfortunately, the volume of digital information created and replicated is expected to increase by 57 per cent a year during this same forecast period."

How on earth are we going to deal with this?

"Too much digital information creates the problem of organizing it in a way that makes it useful. Many businesses have more digital data than they can intelligently work with and often can't extract what they need when they need it or create business intelligence from it."

Search Industry and Media

Piper Jaffray Maps Out Where the Search Industry is Headed By Greg Jarboe, Searchday (Mar 6)

Jarboe picked out 6 of the 12 main points made in a 425 page report from Piper Jaffray about the search industry.

#5: "The Golden Search. Search is the second most commonly used application on the Web with 550 million searches daily in the United States, and search marketing is a $15.8 billion global industry growing to $44.5 billion over the next five years. Piper Jaffray believes the five key trends in the search industry are: 1) Search is the new portal; 2) Search is becoming a branding tool; 3) Google's dominance is increasing; 4) Local search remains a looming opportunity; and 5) New search technologies are likely to expand the field."

Musings on the Size of the Web

The size of the World Wide Web, Pandia (Feb )

We do wonder how large the Web has become. There hasn't been a solid figure since 2000 when it was considered to be about 7 million sites. Sites were smaller and had fewer pages then. In 2005 Yahoo announced it had indexed 19.2 billion pages, and Google claimed that it had about three times that but wouldn't say exactly (and still won't). Was the Web 60 billion pages? Not likely - some large portion was spam and duplicates. What is it today? There might be around 48 million active sites according to Netcraft. If they average 1000 pages each there would be 48 billion pages. Pandia concludes between 15 to 30 billion.

2006 in Review

Info Today’s Paula Hane’s Year in Review Article: Wrapping Up 2006; Looking Ahead by Gary Price, Resourceshelf (Jan 10)

Gary riffs off Paula Hane's year-end article to talk about web 2.0, answer services, mobile and multimedia.

ContentAgenda for the Information Industry

An Infotainment News Portal: ContentAgenda.com from Reed Business Information by Barbara Quint, Newsbreaks (Jan 15)

"Reed Business Information (www.reedbusiness.com) has initiated a beta service called ContentAgenda (www.contentagenda.com) that can help eliminate some of the time spent immersed in news flows. The site combines news aggregation, commentary from industry experts, original reporting, and user-generated content from blogspace features. Another Reed Elsevier Group company, LexisNexis (www.lexisnexis.com), supplies ContentAgenda's news aggregation with items extracted from about 4,000 to 5,000 sources via the LexisNexis Publisher service. Editors at ContentAgenda evaluate the news flow and blog submissions, as well as moderate discussions."

More Predictions 2007

The future of the Internet - Commentary: Big media is not king, but video will be by Bambi Francesco, Marketwatch (Jan 9)

"Here are two predictions: On the Internet, a walled-garden approach, like Disney.com, will be a tough sell, and big media content won't be king (maybe queen or jack). Open platforms and video are king on the Internet. "

Article has some other predictions to tease us.

Content trends 2007

Themes for 2007 by Barry Graubart in Content Matters (Jan 4) - names 8 areas for growth or decline. Growth: widgets, RSS, integrated blogging tools, web advertising, and vertical search. Decline: usage of MySpace, newspaper readership. Also predicts further consolidation in the content industry - will AOL or Yahoo be acquired? Barry Graubart is Vice President, Product management for Alacra, a leading content technology company - chances are he has an insight track on this.

Trends 2006 and 2007

Wrapping Up 2006; Looking Ahead by Paula Hane, Newsbreaks (Jan 8)

"In our world, information providers tried to "kick it up a notch" to stay relevant for Google-influenced users—many of the vendors rolled out platform upgrades and embraced newer technologies, often through partnerships. Traditional media providers struggled to maintain audiences. Companies merged, acquired competitors, divested nonessential units, and reorganized. Librarians worked to reach users outside library environments, using tools such as Open WorldCat and Second Life. Librarians took up a number of causes: supporting the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) libraries, which have started to close; supporting open access to federally funded research; and backing the Net Neutrality movement. Digitization projects from Google and members of the Open Content Alliance marched forward. Copyright issues remained unsettled."

Through all of this it was the "world of 2.0" - web 2.0, library 2.0, enterprise 2.0.

For trends, Hane picks growth in video, blogs, and mashups. Also 2006 saw many new search engines and many new services / products from Google.

For 2007 watch for more collaboration through wikis, mobile computing, widgets, the "Google effect", and more Internet participation.

Hane points to several other pages of predictions and year-end analyses.

People who write about search engines

In the First Week of New Year’s, My SearchDay Gave to Me: By Greg Jarboe, SearchDay (Jan 2)

Lists speakers, bloggers, and journalists who are knowledgeable and perhaps influential on web search.

Google Predictions 2007

Google Predictions, 2007 by Garett Rogers, ZDNet (Dec 23) -- picks up some clues on what Google will do in 2007 - a fewer new products, maybe web storage, a medical scrapbook, Google Checkbook takes on Paypal globally, perhaps Google TV.

Yahoo's New Company Structure

Yahoo's Shakeup, BusinessWeek ONline (Dec 6)

"In the wake of criticism that the Internet portal is spread too thin, CEO Semel is revamping operations and putting more on Sue Decker's plate."

"Yahoo said it's reordering the company into three groups, effective Jan. 1: one focused on advertisers and publishers, another on Yahoo's base of more than 500 million users, and a third on technology."

Europe vs America

Exalead CEO Warns Of "Google Monster" & Closed Yahoo & Microsoft by Danny Sullivan, SEW Blog (Nov 28) - rumblings in Europe about the "Google monster" and practices of Yahoo and Microsoft. Partly it's over their agreements with newspapers. Sullivan thinks that CEO of Exalead, Bourdoncle was scaremongering when he said - "The press in particular should be worried about becoming sub-contractors of Google, he said. Whilst at present Google News brings plenty of traffic to sites under the brand names of the press outlets, this would change to Google’s brand in the future."

Free vs Fee

The Ongoing Struggle of Free vs. Fee, By Elisabeth Osmeloski, SearchDay (Oct 11)

The Ongoing Struggle of Free vs. Fee, Part Two, By Todd Malicoat, SearchDay (Oct 12)

Pair of articles from coverage of the ASIDIC Fall Meeting, September 10-12. It's rather a jumbled account but the point is what are workable revenue models.

"The prevalence of "good enough" information has shaken the premium content industry to its core, but also serves t increase the overall value of expert information and reducing the overall noise level. There is a fundamental need for traditional information providers to shift to more creative revenue models embodied by the new distribution channel of the web as it reaches mass adoption."

GooTube

How will customers react to GooTube? by SURYA BHATTACHARYA, The Star (Oct 11)

One of dozens of articles about Google's purchase of YouTube. Will Google enhance and improve YouTube? Will it run into more copyright problems? Will users face legal traps?

Of interest:

+ "The site now has consumers viewing 100 million short videos each day."

+ "Ajay Agrawal, professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, warns that YouTube now faces the liabilities of a publicly traded company, notably liability for copyright infringement."

Also, Matthew Ingram - So what's next for YouTube? (Oct 10) - Ingram and others see trouble ahead.

"One of the lingering issues Google has to confront now is what happens to YouTube if it can’t manage to convince the networks to let it use their material. Does it take it all down, or wait until it gets nasty letters from lawyers? And if it does the former, will YouTube lose some or all of its appeal?"

Yahoo feels Google's breath on its neck by Saul Hansell, IHT (Oct 11)

There's trouble in Yahoo. It tried to buy YouTube too. It's been loosing advertising and is upgrading its advertising systems.

Google's YouTube Move

Google and the myth of an open net
By Thomas Hazlett, FT.com (Oct 10)

Examines the implications of Google's purchase of the online video leader, YouTube. Notes that the purchase is in conflict with Google's espousal of "network neutrality" for free flow of information.

"Yet the capitalist engine that powers the internet demands something completely different, as Google’s acquisition of YouTube makes clear. That strategy is to integrate Google’s search and advertising sales with YouTube’s users, which could potentially impede access to one of the hottest technologies by other service providers. Jeremy Schoemaker, a net economy expert, sees the deal as superb for Google, “merging to form the biggest video network” and winning a “land-grab for publisher space”. Perhaps even better, it boxes out a rival: “This move is a total ‘in your face’ to Microsoft,” which had made YouTube an offer for an advertising agreement."

Search Trends

Interview with Danny Sullivan, WebMasterWorld PubCon 2006 (Sep 12)

Of interest:

"[Brett] What would you say are the top two trends in Search for 2006?
[Danny] Probably understanding the social aspect that's coming into search along with the greater verticalization of it. People continue to fixate that search is whatever comes up tops on Google by default. That's web search, and Google-specific. Search is more than this, and there are lost opportunities for those who don't understand that video, news, shopping and other types of verticals are more and more getting "default" treatment. Meanwhile, I think everyone is looking at how social sites are growing and wondering how that's going to come into search. It will, but the trend so far is that exactly how remains unclear. "

Is Danny speaking as a search engine marketer or as a searcher or both? For information professionals the value of social search is very unclear indeed. How many will group together over a common interest and take the time to form the networks and add the comments?

Verticals for news, video, shopping, they may be underappreciated and underused. While the news sites can be excellent, video offerings are largely amateurish and crude. They might entertain but they don't inform.

Google Inc

Inside Google's New-Product Process -
The philosophy is, try a bunch of ideas, refine them, and see what survives, says Marissa Mayer, the search giant's product-launch czar - Business Week ONline (June 30)

Of interest: "When I look at Google News, where I know we have a user base that is very concerned with current events and likes to see multiple viewpoints, that feels like a really good place to integrate in something like Blog Search and/or Finance. So, we're looking at how we can integrate some of those pieces of functionality. It is hard for people to remember more than 5 or 10 products from a particular company. If we can take each of the products we have and make them even larger and more meaningful to people, I think there's a lot of benefit that could be had by both the users, because they don't have to remember quite as much; and also by us, because we see increased traffic."

Search Engine Watch - 10 years

My Decade Of Writing About Search Engines, Danny Sullivan, SEW Blog (Apr 17) -- Danny Sullivan looks back on his involvement with search engines over the past 10 years - his fascination with search, the challenges of getting a site to show well in results, and the changes he has seen.

Notable:
+ Advice on how to place well in search engine listings.
+ List of Sullivan's article he has picked as being the most important 1997 to the present.

Primer on Web 2.0 and Library 2.0

The Terrible Twos: Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and More, Greg Notess, Online (May 1)

"Rather than debate the overall merits of the 2.0 movement, information professionals should explore the territory, techniques, and examples to find the most useful applications in your own work environment."

Provides an overview of the Web 2.0 movement - "The technologies often used in connection with Web 2.0 include Ajax, blogs, APIs, clouds, CSS, RSS, social networking, tagging, and wikis." Describes long tails and tag clouds well.

Trust and Information

In Google We Trust: Information integrity in the digital age by Lee Shaker, First Monday (April 2006)

Abstract: "This paper considers information safety and accuracy in the digital age using Google as an entry point. In doing so, it explores the role media play in shaping the relationship of information, privacy, and trust between Google and the public. This inquiry is undertaken using framing theory to guide a content analysis of the way Google is presented in New York Times articles from a two–year period ending in November, 2005. Analysis of the extensive coverage of Google’s share price and earnings reports leads to the conclusion that trust in Google is fostered in part simply by reports of its fiscal success. To the extent that this is true, meaningful public debate about information policies is inhibited."

Inside Microsoft

A Frank Interview with Gary Flake SearchBlog (Apr 5) -- John Battelle interviewed Gary Flake, formerly of Yahoo and now "founder and director of the new "Live Labs.""

Web2.0 - New Wave

The Net's New Age -- Technology that aims to revolutionize how surfers use the Web is fueling a new wave of Internet investment and challenging established media -- Business Week Online (Mar 13) -- Web2.0 applications are sprouting up everywhere. Google has picked up Writely, a word processing package that supports collaboration; Yahoo is expanding into social bookmarking; Microsoft is redeveloping MSN as Windows Live. All are working with web-based email systems that will feel and look like desktop.

"A lot of the innovations are powered by a new kind of Internet technology, much of which was developed by Microsoft itself. Many, but not all, Web 2.0 companies use a software platform known as Ajax. Until now, you had to reload a Web page every time you wanted to save a change. If you want to add a news feed to your homepage at a Web 2.0 site like netvibes, all you need to do is make a few clicks."

Newsvine is another example of Web2.0 - a news portal that the user can customize and add comments about stories.

Ask Gary Price

Congratulations to Gary Price - Gary Price Leaves Search Engine Watch For AskJeeves By Nathan Weinberg, Inside Google (Feb 9, 2006)

Gary will be joining Ask Jeeves to help develop products and to liason with libraries and educational communities for product use and design. This will be good for Gary, Ask.com and librarians. The AskJeeves blog describes the job as "he will be a close consultant to our product managers as they identify resources and implement them", and "will represent Ask in reaching out to important information constituents such as the librarian and education communities". He'll be leaving Search Engine Watch. but will keep up ResourceShelf and his speaking on the conference circuits.

Gary's announcement on the ResourceShelf

The Big Three

Web's Big 3 Jockey for First, By Leslie Walker, Washington Post (Feb 2) - It's all about Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. "Google is way out in front, with hints of tiring. Yahoo is a distant second, but gaining. Microsoft is the only other runner still on the track -- several lengths behind, no less -- but the aging champion won't quit."

Citation Tracking - Scopus and WoS

Elsevier’s Scopus Introduces Citation Tracker: Challenge to Thomson ISI’s Web of Science? by Barbara Quint, Newsbreaks (Jan 23)

Detailed descriptions of coverage and functionality of Scopus and ISI's Web of Science. There is strong competition between these two companies that is making citation tracking a "generic feature" and possibly leading to some price advantages for customers.

Info Tech 2005

Most Important Infotech Stories of '05 "From silicon photonics to social computing, Technology Review picks five of this year's most significant advances in information technology." By Kate Greene, Technology Review (Dec 2005)

"Social machines" - the Web2.0 kind of social networking (flickr, myspace.com, delicious) and social computing site (sites with blogging and filesharing) - is among the five. As is vertical search - special purpose search such as is offered for blogs at Technorati, or for product research at Become.com.

There are also the "anti-algorithm" search methods. Yahoo Answers is given as the example - but it remains to be seen how well these will do. Google has had Google Answers for several years and many so-called answer sites collapsed a couple of years ago.

Feeds and podcasting were also named.

2005 in Review through Newsbreaks

Wrapping Up 2005; Looking Forward by Paula J. Hane, Information Today (Jan 2) - sums up the Newsbreaks from 2005.

"The biggest drivers of the news were not traditional information industry companies but “GYM”—Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft. Of the 88 NewsBreaks posted this year on the http://www.infotoday.com site, 24 (or 27 percent) covered news from these three or another Internet search company, such as Ask Jeeves, AOL, blinkx, or Amazon. Another 12 articles covered content/service offerings from startups or other companies not considered to be “traditional” content providers, including companies like Newstex, Healthline, Inform.com, Answers.com, and PubSub."

Google, the "front-runner"

Just Googling It Is Striking Fear Into Companies by Steve Lohr, New York Times [subscription] (Nov 6) - everything Google is into. No wonder the stock price hit $300 a short while ago.

AOL's Suitors

Suddenly relevant - Commentary: Google, AOL, Comcast gets my vote by Bambi Francisco, Marketwatch (Oct 17) - Why is Time Warner selling AOL? Why are Google, Comcast, and Yahoo interested? What other suitors will appear? Who is the best suitor? Francisco has answers to these questions and more. She thinks that the Google - Comcast combo makes sense.

"As for Comcast's role, it might be able to help Google roll out free or very low-cost WiFi across the country. Google can be the home page and the search engine. Comcast may also be able to drive AOL's defecting subscribers to a combined Comcast/AOL broadband service. AOL's Time Warner relationship would also be able to provide the exclusive movies."

There will be many articles on this before the deed is done.

Outsell's Outlook for Information Industry

Outsell Forecasts Single Digit Growth for the Information Industry EContent (Sep 23) - summarizes findings from "FutureFacts: 2006 and Beyond, a comprehensive forecast of the trends and drivers fueling the Information Industry" by Outsell. Full report is available for download from Outsell - Future Facts.

New Thomson and Gale web sites

Thomson Gale Announces Redesigned Web Site EContent (Aug 30) -- "The new home page for Gale] is designed to help visitors find more targeted information by allowing them to select the part of the Web site they'd like to visit--public libraries, academic libraries, K-12 libraries government and special libraries."

Stephen Arnold on Google

The Google Legacy: How Google's Internet Search is Transforming Application Software by Stephen Arnold being published through Infonortics. Arnold is a brilliant observer and analyst of the Internet and the information economy. His analysis and views are original and insightful. He was among the first to spot the power of the Overture model for paid listings. His assessment of Google will be equally sharp.

"Google is not just about search: search is merely one application you can load on its processor. Although Google has been releasing a series of separate application programs, the company is starting to assemble the mosaic pieces into a bigger picture. Its future will be about leveraging its innovative hardware/software infrastructure. In so doing, just as Microsoft replaced IBM, Google promises to replace Microsoft as Network Computing comes of age."

Infonortics site has the table of contents and sample chapter.

Mamma Buying Copernic

Mamma.com Inc. Issues Update on Plan to Acquire Copernic Technologies Inc. - CCN Matthews via Investors.com (Mar 31) -- "Mamma.com Inc., (the "Company"), (MAMA) today stated that negotiations to acquire Copernic Technologies Inc. are ongoing and that the process of due diligence is nearing completion. "

These two companies both began in the Province Quebec and still have offices there.

Infotrieve LSRC

Infotrieve to Launch Life Science Research Center by Paula J. Hane, Newsbreaks (Mar 14)

Infotrieve, know as a document delivery service for STM (scientific, technical, and medical) markets, will be launching "a new Web-based “search and discovery” research environment for scientific researchers in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and other life science-related industries" on March 25.

See article for details on content and search features.

Borders at KeepMedia

KeepMedia Announces New CEO EContent Magazine (Feb 18) Louis H Borders will take over as CEO of KeepMedia, an online premium content site with news and articles from popular magazines and trade magazines.

Ingenta and Infotrieve

Ingenta Expands Relationship with Infotrieve Newsbreaks (Feb 14)

"Ingenta and Infotrieve, Inc. announced an expanded partnership that allows Ingenta-hosted content to be indexed by Infotrieve’s full-text crawler. This will enable Infotrieve to provide full-text article searches via its discovery research portals, thereby increasing resources for Infotrieve customers and generating additional document delivery traffic for Ingenta-hosted publishers."

Ingenta and Infotrieve

Ingenta Expands Relationship with Infotrieve eContent (Feb 8)"Ingenta, a technology and services provider for the publishing and information industries, and Infotrieve, Inc., a provider of content software technology and information services, have announced an expanded partnership that is intended to enable Ingenta-hosted content to be indexed by Infotrieve's full-text crawler."

Dialog To Divide (and Conquer)

Dialog Divides into Sci-Tech/Intellectual Property and Business/News by Marydee Ojala, Newsbreaks (Feb 7)

"Dialog and DataStar will shift to Thomson Scientific & HealthCare. Its general manager will be David Brown, who will report to president and CEO Vin Carraher. The remaining units (NewsRoom, NewsEdge, Profound, LiveNews, and Intelliscope) will stay as part of Thomson Legal & Regulatory. "

LexisNexis Adds Content

LexisNexis Adds Content for Academic and Library Community EContent (Feb 4) "LexisNexis U.S., a provider of legal, news, and business information services, has announced an expansion of its news and international content for the academic and library community."

My LexisNexis

LexisNexis Announces Customizable 'My Lexis' Start Page EContent (Jan 21) LexisNexis is launching a New Customizable Start Page, ‘My Lexis’ for small law firms, corporate counsel, tax professionals, and the US federal government.

Top 100 EContent Companies

EC100 List Fourth annual EContent 100 - "list of companies that matter most in the digital content industry" .

Covers blogging, classification and taxonomies, content management, knowledge management, content creation, content delivery, digital rights management, intranet and portals, Mobile content, and search engines and technologies.

Companies selected in the search technologies category were: anacubis · Autonomy Corporation, plc · Convera Corporation · Copernic Technologies, Inc. · Endeca Technologies, Inc. · Fast Search & Transfer · GlobalSpec · Google, Inc. · Onfolio, Inc. · Thunderstone Software LLC · Topix.net · Triplehop Technologies · Verity, Inc. · Yahoo!, Inc.

CSA Illumina

CSA Lights Up a New Platform: CSA Illumina by Paula J. Hane, Information Today - Newsbreaks (Dec 27) -- Cambridge Scientific Abstracts has released CSA Illumina, a new platform for online bibliographic and full-text searching.

"The new interface provides access to more than 100 databases published by CSA and its publishing partners. Notable examples include CSA Sociological Abstracts, the SAGE Full-Text Collections, CSA Materials Research Database with METADEX, BioOne, PsycINFO, CSA Technology Research Database, and ARTbibliographies Modern."

Dialog NewsRoom

Dialog Adds Sources to NewsRoom eContent (Nov 30) - Dialog has added 2000 new sources to its NewsRoom. "With the addition of the new sources, users can now search and retrieve materials drawn from a total of 10,000 sources based in 129 countries. "

Scopus from Elsevier

Scopus Launched UKSG Serials News (Nov 3) Elsevier launched Scopus, an "Abstract and Indexing (A&I) database, which covers 14,000 scientific, technical, medical and social sciences titles from 4,000 STM publishers." Has 167 million scientific web pages going back to 1960s. Scopus also uses Scirus, a search engine of scientific content on the public Web.

Infoglut and Privacy

Preparing for the infoglut By: Andy Rowsell-Jones CIO Canada (01 Nov 2004)

"Within the next 10 years the convergence of multiple technologies will thrust people into a world where nothing is secret. "

Foresees "ubiquitous monitoring" - uncontrolled by policies or laws. Mentats, a term taken from Frank Herbert's Dune, will be the filter and analyst.

Of interest -- "But search engines have two agendas, one overt, the other covert. The overt agenda is to present information that's precisely relevant to the user's interests. The covert agenda is to present information that's relevant and for which advertising fees have been paid."

Paid-for Information Affects Judgement

The Hidden Cost of Buying Information by Sean Silverthorne, Editor, HBS Working Knowledge, Harvard Business Review (Nov 8, 2004) - examines study by Francesca Gino, a Harvard Business School post-doctoral fellow in the Technology and Operations Management Unit. "She recently published a working paper, "Getting Advice from the Same Source but at a Different Cost: Do We Overweigh Information Just Because We Paid for It?" Her research so far indicates Yes!

Reed Elsevier and Google

Large Publisher Comments on Working with Google Search Engine Watch Blog (Nov 3) -- Reed Elsevier has come to some agreement with Google about indexing content - details are unclear. For web searchers it means they may find results that direct them to an article in one of the publishers e-journals or databases. Gary Price, in this posting, argues that it would be better for the seacher to use the Reed Elsevier tools directly.

Thomson Gale creates integrated service

Thomson Gale Introduces New Product Platform by Paula J. Hane. Newsbreaks (Sep 7) Thomson Gale has melded its many services into one platform with a common interface.

"In effect, the company is taking the one-stop model of the “resource center” (an aggregation of periodical, reference, and primary content pulled together) and expanding it to encompass all of its wide-ranging content. Users will still be able to limit searches to whatever slices of content they wish, and, more importantly, they will be able to create their own customized resources."

Hummingbird, LexisNexis, Plumtree

All the big guys get together -- Hummingbird Integrates with LexisNexis Total Search; Plumtree Software and LexisNexis Renew Strategic Alliance Agreement EContent (Aug 27)

Information Industry News

News About SLA, ProQuest, Search Technologies, and More by Paula Hane. Information Today (July 4 2004) reviews announcements from LexisNexis, Thomson, Nerac, ProQuest, and covers news about specialized search engines, desktop search, and enterprise search.

ProQuest Enhancements

People who are able to use ProQuest through the online web services of their public library may see some improvement in the search facility. ProQuest Online Information Service Introduces Smart Search eContent (July 23) "New features [from ProQuest Information and Learning) include Smart Search query analysis, enhanced email capabilities, and advanced browsing for better access to non-periodical content."

SwetsWise adds Publishers

SwetsWise Online Content Adds Publishers EContent (July 20)

"Swets Information Services has recently signed seven new publishers to SwetsWise Online Content. SwetsWise is a Web-based, modular service for the procurement, access, and management of subscriptions and online information. SwetsWise now carries a total of 8,325 full text ejournals from 309 publishers."

Research Tools for Infotrieve

Infotrieve and ISI ResearchSoft Announce Collaboration EContent (July 2) Researchers using Infotrieve for citations will be able to use the Thomson ISI ResearchSoft products for capturing articles and citations.

Gale uses xreferplus

Thomson Gale and xrefer Form Strategic Partnership EContent (June 25) xreferplus, the excellent reference product for libraries, will be added to Gale Virtual Reference Library as a ready-reference component.

Nerac offers a Newswire Feed

Nerac.com To Deliver Newswire Feed Twice Daily; Nerac Clients To Receive International Business News Through a Single Source Business Wire (May 14). Nerac provides information services to researchers in science and technology. It has recently joined with ProQuest Information and Learning to offer a Newswire Feed for business news from around the world.

Copernic partners with Infospace

Copernic to Deliver Site Search Through InfoSpace Distribution Network; New Offering Helps Increase Customer Retention and Revenue Growth Potential. Business Wire via CBS Marketwatch (April 13) -- "InfoSpace and Copernic will offer online businesses the power to affordably integrate Web and site search into their Web sites. This allows visitors to do broad Web searches as well as search for information contained on a particular site - without ever having to leave the originating site - to quickly find the information they're looking for. By offering Web and site search from the same search box, InfoSpace and Copernic are enabling businesses to retain customers on their sites, creating new opportunities for increased sales. "

Lessig's Free Culture

Righting copywrongs "Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig has turned the intellectual ownership debate on its ear" By DAVID AKIN Globe and Mail (April 12) -- Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School professor, has made his new book - Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and The Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity - available under under a Creative Commons licence. This licence, which Lessig helped to develop, "allows anyone to make and distribute a non-commercial audio performance of his book without even asking his permission." The results have been overwhelming - showing that free online content can coexist with print revenue-earning publications.

All About Microsoft

Business Week Online Technology section is all about Microsoft. (April 10) Cover story is Microsoft's Midlife Crisis. There's an online extra -- How Microsoft Is Clipping Longhorn to get it out the door.

Information Highways Conference

Presentations from the Information Highways Conference (March 23-24) are online at http://www.econtentinstitute.org/conference/presentations.asp

Sessions covered Knowledge Management, Collaboration, E-Government, Records Management, Business Intelligence Portals, Digital Libraries, Search Engine Optimization.

Specifically look for:

Create and Leverage the Power of Business Intelligence Portals by Mary Lee Kennedy

Put Search Engines to Work: Understanding the Business of Search Optimization by Rita Vine

Factiva iWorker

Factiva Combines World-Class Content with Simplicity of Free Web Business Wire via CBS Marketwatch. (March 22) Factiva has introduced Factiva iWorker Search Technology, a new way to search its premium content.

"Factiva iWorker Search Technology is a patent-pending system and method that seamlessly matches simple, keyword searches to the filtering capability embedded within Factiva's proprietary taxonomy. The taxonomy consists of company, region, industry, language, and subject codes that are universally applied to Factiva's entire content set to help ensure more precise and accurate results. In addition, the search experience is personalized as users set their preference for a specific region and industry, which influences the relevance of their results. "

Information Abundance

The "Weariness of the Flesh": Reflections on the Life of the Mind in an Era of Abundance Paul B. Gandel, Richard N. Katz, and Susan E. Metros. Educause Revies (March / April 2004) In an era of "information abundance" what do we do? Can information professionals help?

Dialog Unified

Dialog Technology Changes Foreshadow Improvements by Matthew J. McBride. NewsBreaks (March 15) - Dialog is enhancing its platform and interface.

"Dialog customers have long desired a more unified interface that permits comprehensive searching across related arrays of content, especially in the areas of business news, financial data, and market research, and it looks like the future is becoming a reality. Dialog Profound and Dialog NewsRoom are significantly improved in the upgrade process, and the integration of the recent acquisitions of Intelliscope and NewsEdge into the mix so quickly is certainly a good sign. "

Also Dialog Launches Strategic Platform EContent (March 16)

"The new platform features the launch of SmartTerms, Dialog's taxonomy. Developed especially for business information, news, and market research content, SmartTerms leverages both the Dialog NewsEdge Real-time Content Refinery (RtCR) and the Dialog Profound InfoSort taxonomy. RtCR is a background information classification, tagging and XML conversion system. SmartTerms offers more than 855,000 terms in five categories: industry, subject, geographic location, company, and publication. When developing SmartTerms, Dialog included acronyms, company abbreviations, colloquialisms, and slang. An additional benefit of SmartTerms is improved document hyper-linking features, which suggest additional research options and facilitate in-depth research without interruption."

Information and Technology

Capitalizing on Information by Clare Hart. CEO Factiva. Upgrade (Dec 2003 / Jan 2004) pdf file. Identifies four developments for ensuring "digestible amounts of relevant information are delivered to individuals at the point of decision" - "convergence of technology and content", "content in context", "intelligent tools", and "fast ways to analyze great quantities of information".

Web Citation Index

Thomson ISI and NEC Team Up to Index Web-based Scholarship; New Web Citation Index to use NEC Technology BusinessWire (Feb 25) -- "The new Web Citation Index(TM) will combine a suite of technologies developed by NEC, including "autonomous citation indexing" tools from NEC's CiteSeer environment, with the capabilities underlying ISI Web of Knowledge(SM). Thomson ISI editors will carefully monitor the quality of this new resource to ensure all indexed material meets the Thomson ISI high-quality standards. "

Online Services and 4 Major Newspapers

Leading World Newspapers Online by Bob Berkman. The Information Advisor (October 2003) [PDF File]- Identifies where 4 major newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times) can be found in the for-fee online services (Dialog, Profound, Lexis, Proquest, Factiva).

Source: The Resource Shelf

eLibrary Expanding

Alacritude to Add Gale Content Newsbreaks (Dec 15) Alacritude will be adding articles from Gale, a Thomson company, to eLibrary. This will increase its sources to 2,600. Alacritude will be introducing a new search engine in 2004 also that will include web and proprietarydatabase content.

See also press release -- ALACRITUDE ADDS MILLIONS OF ARTICLES TO ELIBRARY, ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT WITH THOMSON GALE

Swets Information Services

Swets Information Services Launched eContent Magazine ( Dec 2, 2003) Change from Swets Blackwell.

Information Literacy

Too much information By Nathan Cochrane. TheAge.com.au (November 11, 2003)

Report from Australia on the importance of information literacy and the difficulty under conditions of overload.

"Information literacy is viewed as a "prerequisite for participating effectively in the information society", according to the United Nations' Prague Declaration issued at the end of September. It is essential in reducing inequities, promoting tolerance and closing the digital divide, said the experts from 23 countries, including Australia, in a joint statement following talks in the Czech Republic. They suggested that information literacy should be given the same standing as the "Three-Rs"."

KeepMedia

KeepMedia offers low-priced access to articles from 150 publications. View publications by topic to see if KeepMedia has the titles you need. Cost is $49.50 US / year. Watch for new titles.

Dialog Portals

Dialog Releases Dialog Portals Service by Paula J. Hane. Newsbreaks (Oct 13) -" ... Dialog Portals, its new service for integrating content into enterprise portals. A major selling point for the new offering is that it is compatible with nine of the leading portal software providers, which Dialog says is the broadest array available from any information services company in the portals market. "

More information about Dialog Portals.

Infomart.ca Topic Classification

CanWest Interactive Automates infomart.ca's Classification Process with SonicBoomerang's Classification Software, ClassPro Business Wire (Oct 23)

"CanWest Interactive announced today that infomart.ca has gone live with ClassPro, SonicBoomerang Inc.'s state-of-the-art document classification software. With over 1,700 topics or geographies classified, this represents one of the largest topic classification systems implementations in the world to date. "

Thanks to RC.

Amazon and Microsoft

This is too much. Microsoft Office 2003 users will be able to order books from Amazon while deep in a Word document or Excel spreadsheet. It's part of the Research Task Pane in Microsoft productivity applications. How much volume are they really expecting? There are several applications that will allow the user to dispense with a web browser.

Amazon Partners with Microsoft Office NewsBreaks (Oct 13)

Infomart and Financial Post

Infomart, known for its large collection of Canadian news and business information, has expanded its service to include the Financial Post Datagroup suite of financial information products. New resources include investor reports, historical reports, industry reports, information on dividends, an Analyzer tool, and an archive of new issues. Current infomart users have access to these products on a free trial basis until October 22nd. Visitors to the website may view the list of companies by industry for free.

Website: http://financialpost.infomart.ca/

Google Images and Gale

Gale thinks highly enough of Google's image collection (425 million) to build a bridge between the Gale Infotrac information products and Google Images.

Gale Databases Link to Google Image Search by Barbara Quint, Information Today Newsbreaks (Oct 6)

Of interest -- "Before selecting Google, Gale looked into licensing content from commercial image suppliers, such as Corbis and Getty Images, but Paschal described the prices charged by those services as “ridiculous.” " The connection to Google will be free.

IBM and Factiva

IBM and Factiva Join Forces EContent Magazine (Sept 19)

"IBM and Factiva, a Dow Jones and Reuters Company, have announced an agreement to co-develop text analytics solutions built on the IBM WebFountain platform."

IBM's WebFountain can extract trends and patterns from unstructured and semi-structured text. Factiva will be using that technology on its publication base to track company reputation. What a tool this will be for competitive intelligence!

Factiva for Individuals

Factiva has added new subscription options for individuals and small companies. Individuals can use the Track function to get alerts on news stories, and make use of search interfaces in more languages. Customers can also get pay-per-view access to the articles from either Factiva or the Wall Street Journal Online. More is mentioned in Factiva's Powerful Business Information Service Now Packaged and Priced for Individual and Small Business Use Press Release, Yahoo Finance (Sept 3)

E-Books

E-Book Scenarios Updated By Mick O'Leary Online (Sept 2003) - Identifies four e-book trends. E-book formats are being deployed for reference and technical - not fiction, and bought by instititutions - not individuals.

"To summarize, e-books are finally beginning to act like other forms of proprietary online content. They are available in large comprehensive collections that support powerful reference applications; institutions provide access to for most users; subscription pricing is the rule."

Swets Blackwell

Swets Blackwell launches new name in December 2003 Press release (Sept 1) Swets Blackwell provides software for managing serial subscriptions and receiving table of contents alerts.