But a band that required open access drew a low price
Wall Street Journal Mar 19, 08 8:26 AM CDT
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The FCC earned a record $19.6 billion auctioning soon-to-be-available airwaves to wireless network providers, the Wall Street Journal reports after months of bidding closed yesterday. While the auction exceeded the $15 billion the agency expected, it could have earned still more if it hadn’t placed restrictions on certain blocks of frequencies, critics say.
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Star-viewing feature goes from Earth add-on to its own browser show
InformationWeek Mar 14, 08 8:10 PM CDT
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Not only can stargazers store their telescopes, but now they can put away some of their software, too. Google has freed its Sky program from the Google Earth software, and computer-screen galaxy-watching can now be done simply via web browser. “This release makes Sky accessible to just about anyone with an Internet connection,” one Google rep tells InformationWeek.
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Gates' team explains its vision; no negotiations take place
Wall Street Journal Mar 14, 08 8:38 AM CDT
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For the first time since Microsoft made an unsolicited—and unwelcome—$44.6 billion bid to take over Yahoo Jan. 31, executives for the two companies sat down this week to discuss what a post-merger company might look like, reports the Wall Street Journal. No negotiations took place, the Journal notes. Microsoft officials pitched their vision, and Yahoo officials mostly listened.
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Web giant peddling Earth program in Washington
MarketWatch Mar 13, 08 12:27 PM CDT
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With an economic meltdown threatening its advertising business, Google is turning to Washington for a second revenue stream, MarketWatch reports. Google’s government contract business is still extremely small, but could become more important soon as the company tries to diversify, according to the division’s chief technologist. “The government is excited about innovation, and excited about Google for sure,” he said.
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The parent of the struggling Internet giant says AOL needs a partner
New York Times Mar 12, 08 1:08 PM CDT
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AOL’s efforts at launching an Internet ad-sales business—dubbed Platform A—continue to stumble, the New York Times reports. Parent Time Warner Monday fired another exec and yesterday said it’s willing to combine AOL with another company to jump-start the moribund division it’s already spent $1 billion on. Ex-AOLers say the one-time Internet giant is self-destructing.
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Regulators cite Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft as 'credible' competitors
Associated Press Mar 11, 08 4:25 PM CDT
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Google acquired ad tracker DoubleClick today after EU regulators approved the $3.1 billion deal, the AP reports. Antitrust officials dismissed concerns about competition, saying Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL also provide “credible” online ad services. The ruling ducked questions of how private data will be handled, an issue that riles privacy advocates on both sides of the pond.
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Company says Lost, Grey's Anatomy online ads paid big dividends
Associated Press Mar 11, 08 11:48 AM CDT
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Disney is ramping up its Internet efforts and expects to reap greater returns thanks to hit shows being streamed online, such as Lost and Grey’s Anatomy , reports the AP. The company expects to earn $1 billion in fiscal 2008, a sizable jump over last year, said CEO Robert Iger in a webcast yesterday. He said Disney will aggressively mine online opportunities to establish and expand new revenue streams.
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Company says it's part of a plan to reduce accidental ad traffic
MarketWatch Mar 11, 08 1:52 AM CDT
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Google's share price took a big hit after quarterly results released last week showed the number of paid-for-clicks on advertising flattening out, but the company says the fall is actually good news, MarketWatch reports. Google bosses say the drop is all part of their plan to improve the quality of service by reducing the number of unintentional clicks.
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Program touted to tell real email from spam 'defeated'
PC World Mar 10, 08 7:09 PM CDT
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Spammers doubled junk mail from Gmail accounts last month and all but iced a touted spam-blocker, PC World reports. Gmail junk rose from 1.3% to 2.6% of all spam in February, overwhelming the company's CAPTCHA programs with spam from multiple accounts. "It's only a matter of time before (CAPTCHAs) are comprehensively defeated," one analyst said.
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Ballmer says Google's Internet-ad dominance won't last
Seattle Times Mar 7, 08 10:39 AM CST
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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer did an animated, sometimes antic, on-stage interview yesterday at Mix, Microsoft’s annual conference for web developers, emphasizing that he has every intention of taking some of Google's advertising business and using Yahoo to do it, the Seattle Times reports. "Advertising on the Internet is a big thing, and will be the next super-big thing," he said. "Search ... at least today and for the foreseeable future, it is the killer application for online advertising."
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General warns of security breach after base photos go online
Associated Press Mar 7, 08 4:07 AM CST
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Google camera teams have been banned from US military installations after panoramic views of the inside of a Texas base ended up on the internet, the AP reports. The street-level images show "where all the guards are, how the barriers go up and down, how to get in and out of buildings," said a general worried about the security implications. A message sent to all Defense Department facilities has ordered officials not to allow Google Earth crews to photograph them.
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The new business model calls for a 'slow and easy' approach to going public
BusinessWeek Mar 6, 08 1:19 PM CST
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Growing Web 2.0 companies like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Slide are biding their time before going public, making sure to run up their value as much as possible to fetch top dollar with an IPO, reports Business Week . It’s a far different approach than companies took before the dot-com bubble burst, when the fast track to an IPO was the goal.
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