Archive for the 'Google' Category

Google has plans for Digg

Published by
thinkdj
July 25, 2008 in Google and Acquisitions. 1 Comment 28 Views

google digg

Google Inc. has signed a letter of intent with Kevin Rose to purchase the social news site Digg.com for around $200 million, tech blog TechCrunch reported.

In contrast to Google News, where the stories are selected by computer algorithm, Digg’s news stories are submitted by users and ranked according to user approval ratings. It is known that Google was interested in using Digg’s technology to help improve its search results by having users vote on their quality.

Digg was formed in 2004 by young entrepreneur Kevin Rose who used a programmer he found online for $10 an hour. It is known that he paid $1,200 dollars for the domain name digg.com and $100 a month for hosting it, which is now ranked as one of the 100 most trafficked sites on the Internet by Alexa.

Digg has so far raised around $11.3 million in VC. Most of Digg’s revenue comes from a three-year ad deal with Google rival Microsoft, which may be terminated on a sale to Google, TechCrunch said. Ouch !

New Account Activity and Log Off feature on Gmail

Published by
thinkdj
July 10, 2008 in Internet and Google. 0 Comments 195 Views

Google logoff active session

Gmail now has account activity shown on the footer to let you know if you’re still logged on elsewhere and also gives you a chance to disconnect remotely.

Clicking on details brings a window that shows the recent activity associated with the logged in account like the Access type, IP address used to login etc..  Also, it indicates if the current account is open  elsewhere so that you can logoff safely, if necessary.

gmail account activity window showing IP addresses

Google, Yahoo shared ad space

Published by
thinkdj
May 10, 2008 in Google and Yahoo. 2 Comments 1,143 Views

Yahoo and Google, the world’s two biggest search engines, had announced a two-week experiment which is to share advertising space.

yahoogoogle

During the pilot, Google will be able to place ads alongside 3% of results of Searches on Yahoo’s website.

MS criticized Yahoo’s advertising trial with Google, saying any such deal would not be in the consumers’ interests.

“Any definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google’s hands. This would make the market far less competitive,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel said.

But Yahoo said the testing did not necessarily mean that “any further commercial relationship with Google will result”. Investors reacted positively to the announcement, with Yahoo shares rising 7%.

Google to cut DoubleClick jobs

Published by
thinkdj
March 13, 2008 in Google and Acquisitions. 0 Comments 1,652 Views

google doubleclick deal - google plans to cut jobsGoogle plans to make an unspecified number of job cuts at DoubleClick Inc following the closing of its $3.1 billion acquisition of the advertising technology company.

“An immediate task we’ll undertake over the next few weeks is matching and aligning DoubleClick employees with our organizational plan for the business,” Google said in a blog post.

“As with most mergers, there may be reductions in headcount. We expect these to take place in the US and possibly in other regions as well,” the company said. DoubleClick has 1,500 employees. Outside of the United States, Google will begin consultations with employee organizations on potential job reductions in line with local laws, it said.

Microsoft wants to ‘catch-up’ with Google

Published by
thinkdj
March 13, 2008 in Events, Google and Microsoft. 0 Comments 1,493 Views

Microsoft vs Google

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer pledged that the company would gain share against Google Inc in online advertising and Web searching, even if it’s his “last breath” at the company.

“So it may be my last breath at Microsoft, but we’re going to be there, working away, building share,” said Ballmer during a bantering question-and-answer session with Guy Kawasaki, a venture capitalist and one of the first employees at Apple Inc.”In online, yeah, it’s Google, Google, Google, and we’re in the game. We’re just the little engine that could,” joked Ballmer, whose company is the world’s largest software maker.

In the wide-ranging chat with Kawasaki, Ballmer addressed criticism about Windows Vista, launched a few subtle jabs at Apple, and even re-enacted an infamous dance that earned him Web video fame and earned him the unflattering nickname of “Monkey Boy” in some Internet circles.

“We’ve made an offer, and it’s out there, baby,” said Ballmer. The deal was originally worth $44.6 billion, but Microsoft’s stock slide has pushed down its value. The Microsoft CEO said if a deal should go through, the two companies will look to reduce overlapping areas.”We shouldn’t have two of everything. It won’t make sense to have two search services, two advertising services, two mail services, and we will have to sort some of that through,” said Ballmer.

Kawasaki did not hesitate to bring up past embarrassing moments for Ballmer, including references in an lawsuit that claimed Ballmer threw a chair at a former employee who said he was leaving Microsoft for Google. “Don’t pick up a chair and throw it at me,” Kawasaki said with a laugh. “Don’t go monkey on me either.”

Google share values plummet

Published by
thinkdj
March 13, 2008 in Google. 0 Comments 1,505 Views

NEW YORK: Google Inc, whose shares have plunged more than 40 per cent since November and could fall almost another 20 per cent due to the US economic slowdown and aggressive spending by the Internet search engine company, according to the latest issue of Barron’s.

Google shares dropped to a new 52-week low of $435.78 Tuesday before bouncing back to close at $444.60, down $12.42.  Google shares closed on Friday at $433.35.

« Previous Entries