Ask Jeeves to launch pay-per-click text ad service

The huge economic success of Google is based on the fact that the company managed to develop a new source of revenue replacing the failed banner ads of the dot com crash.
Inspired by GoTo/Overture Google developed its popular AdWords ad system, which generates text ads of relevance to the content of search queries.
At the moment there are two major players in this field, the above mentioned Google and Overture (now under the Yahoo! brand).
However, Microsoft is preparing its own system, and now Online Media Daily reports that Ask Jeeves is developing its own sponsored listings.

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MSN gives away search screen saver

The basic objective of search engine companies is to deliver as many search engine result pages as possible. The reason: This means that they can serve you more pay-per-click text ads, and get some more revenue.
Hence the need to lock you in to their service. MSN has delivered a new solution to the problem.
You can now download a free screensaver for Windows that can be personalized with background photos, weather information, RSS feed headlines, information about your HotMail account, MSN messages and more. And yes, there is also a search form for the MSN search engine.
What bothers us, though, is that you need to install the MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search before you install the screensaver. This is much more than we have bargained for.


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New MSN Screen Saver With Search & RSS Integration

Need a screensaver? The new MSN Screen Saver puts a search box on display, plus shows you RSS feeds, photos from your desktop and more. Seem odd to have a search box in your screen saver? Yes and no. It's odd in that if you go to use your computer, you want your screen saver to go away. But it's smart in that if you like the other things the screen saver offers then realize you need to search for something, there's a search box -- and MSN's search box -- ready to go. Yahoo and Google don't offer screen savers that I know about. I'm sure they'll come. More details on the MSN Search Blog: MSN Screensaver with Search & RSS


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Rumors: Ask Jeeves to Launch PPC Engine

Reportedly, Ask Jeeves' paid search will look similar to Google's system. It primarily will be based on keyword bidding, but with some measure of relevance, such as click-through rates, factored into the advertiser's ultimate cost. The minimum bid will reportedly start at 5 cents. Ask Jeeves' sponsored listings likely will co-exist with Google's, at least for the time being. Google's contract to power sponsored listings on Ask Jeeves doesn't expire until 2007.

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Google™ Code Jam 2005

It's back! The Google™ Code Jam 2005 is now offering the best coders in the world a chance to compete for $155,000! Have you got what it takes? Can you take the pressure? Know how to solve problems? Know algorithms? If you answered yes to one or more of the above, then the Google™ Code Jam 2005 is right up your alley. Join coders from around the world in this intense competition that requires all your mind has to offer. Not only will you be in your glory of coding, but there are prizes for it too! It's more than just $155,000 but a chance to work for the hottest tech company, Google.


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Yahoo Health Blogs Launched

Yahoo! as launched a range of interesting health blogs, covering topics including yoga, nutrition, diabetes, depression, cholesterol, breast cancer and asthma. The blogs are written by experts in their field, and include an RSS feed, comments (although Yahoo! registration is required) and permalink options, although the branding is simple and generic across the various blogs under the Yahoo! Health Beta banner.

Steve Rubel suggests that theses new blogs could be part of a strategy by Yahoo! to build their own consumer blog network, however comparing the two is like comparing chalk and cheese. Whilst the Yahoo! blogs have the ability to build traffic through leveraging the Yahoo! brand name, posting a couple of times a week doesn’t normally make for a lot of repeat viewing.

From Rubel : “See a trend here? I think I smell a strategy. First Yahoo! News gets blogs, then Health, Travel, Autos, etc. etc. Look out Weblogs Inc. I am sure Tech blogs will be next.”


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Microsoft sues over Google hire

Opening a new chapter in its rivalry with Google, Microsoft on Tuesday sued the search giant and a former Microsoft executive who has been tapped by Google to run its China operations.

The suit was filed in a Washington state court against Google and Kai-Fu Lee, who until Monday was the corporate vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Services Division.

Google said earlier Tuesday that Lee was joining the company and would head up a new research effort in China.

"Accepting such a position with a direct Microsoft competitor like Google violates the narrow non-competition promise Lee made when he was hired as an executive," Microsoft said in its lawsuit, which was seen by CNET News.com. "Google is fully aware of Lee's promises to Microsoft, but has chosen to ignore them, and has encouraged Lee to violate them."

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The International Association of SEO Professionals

An International SEO first: Creation of a Search Engine Professionals Organization. Dedication to ethics, standards and creation of exams for International certification to be held in Hong Kong.

(PRWEB) July 17, 2005 -- The newly formed International Association of Search Engine Optimization Professionals (IASEOP) will meet in November in Hong Kong. The three day event will bring together hundreds of practitioners worldwide to develop membership, ethical and accreditation standards for SEO professionals and to elect officers for the organization.


The conference hopes to create landmark measures for SEO qualifications and acceptable standards of practice. Speakers are invited to submit papers for consideration on any aspect of SEO for its two-hour, four-hour and day-long training sessions.

Newcomers to the field are welcome to attend all seminars and will have priority for any and all certification exams developed.

SEO basics, Advanced SEO techniques, Marketing Strategies, SEO tools, Publicity Management, Web Analytics, Feed Syndication, Blogging SEO Methods,and dozens of topics are open for consideration.

Complete remission of conference fees, and travel allowances are available for selected speakers.

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SEO and Other Small Business Marketing Techniques Discussed On New Business Radio

(PRWEB) July 15, 2005 -- Bob Cefail and Laura Betterly, Chairman and CEO of InTouch Media Group (ITOU.OB), have just launched “The Profit Doctors” a business related call-in radio show. The shows premise is quite simple. Bob and Laura attempt to cure what ails a company’s profits. Callers are able to call-in and describe the different problems they are having with their company. Bob and Laura, both of which have a wealth of experience in the world of business, tackle problems related to finance, sales, marketing, and product or service delivery.

The show’s sponsor, is www.Adwordstraining.org, which is a web site that is focused on helping any type of business succeed with Google Adwords paid search advertising. Each week www.Adwordstraining.org supplies a free copy of its’ well known CD series titled Google Adwords Boot Camp for callers who supply unique business tips that they have employed successfully.

The show is aired live every Wednesday from 6:00 to 7:00 pm, in the Tampa Bay area. Callers can reach the show by dialing (866) 826-1340. One can also listen to the internet simulcast by going to www.tantalk1340.com or read about the show by going to www.theprofitdoctors.net. If you have additional questions about the show please call Bob Cefail at (727) 465 0935 or email him at bob@drcinc.

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NeboWeb Launches SEO Scorecard™ Version 2.0 - its Free Search Engine Ranking and Website Comparison Tool

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) July 13, 2005 -- NeboWeb, an Atlanta Internet Marketing company, announced the release of SEO Scorecard™ 2.0, the latest version of its proprietary Internet marketing and Search Engine Ranking application.

Marketers use NeboWeb's SEO Scorecard to see how well their website ranks in the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL Search. Businesses are now empowered to see how their competitors' websites rank compared to their own websites.

One new feature included in the release of SEO Scorecard 2.0 is the ability to have monthly reports sent to users via email. Although email addresses are not required to run SEO Scorecard on the NeboWeb site, users are given the option to include their email address for free monthly reporting. Other features include displaying the Google PageRank, Meta Tag checks, Keyword Density and other valuable information to aid the website owner in forming an Internet marketing strategy.

"We're releasing this new version due to the overwhelming response from marketing executives and website owners," Brian Easter, CEO of NeboWeb, explains. "When we launched SEO Scorecard 1.0, thousands of companies used it to determine their rankings in the search engines and to help define their objectives for search engine marketing. By giving users the ability to benchmark where they are today in the major search engines – and where their competition ranks – SEO Scorecard helps businesses create an effective eMarketing strategy."


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Try it

Google updates its video search. Due to demand.

Google Video searches a rapidly growing database of network TV shows and uploaded material. We show text and picture info for everything, which is great when you want to know how often they mention cereal or Superman on Seinfeld, for instance. For some material, you can also play the actual video. That's how I know that this guy Eric has a cool cat.

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Check out our new update to Yahoo! Desktop Search.

We're excited to introduce three new improvements:
Support for Mozilla Thunderbird email client: Indexes all email and attachments in Thunderbird. (Read what Jeremy thinks of this.)
Simplified UI and tabs: Your feedback was very helpful. Please keep your comments coming either on our message board or with our feedback form
Reduced download size: Most of you just need to search emails, MS Office docs, PDFs and other common filetypes. So we've made the initial download much faster by splitting out support for the large number of less common filetypes into a separate expansion pack. You can download the free expansion pack at any time, or YDS will let you know when you've encountered a filetype that requires it.(NOTE: if you had version 1.0 or 1.1 of YDS, you will still need to install the expansion pack even though the older versions included all the filetype support. Sorry for the inconvenience this time, but we'll find a way to make this unnecessary for future upgrades.)

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Arnold Schwarzenegger was visiting Yahoo.....

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Hundreds of protesters greeted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday afternoon when he visited Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale.

A group of 200 protestors with signs, masks and chants gathered at the corner of First and Matilda streets in Sunnyvale.

We're chasing Arnold, because the reality is what he's partied to and his colleagues is just un-American and un-Democratic," said Randy Sekany, a San Jose firefighter.

It didn't matter to the protester that the Yahoo! speech was part of an influential speakers program and not a fundraiser.

The protestors don't believe this governor can participate in a nonpolitical event, NBC11's Garvin Thomas reported.

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Google Toolbar for firefox ..ready for download!

You can now download the google tool bar for the FireFox browser. Click this link to be taken to it.

Features include:

AutoLink (US only)
Turn street addresses into links to online maps

AutoFill
Automatically fill out forms for faster online shopping

WordTranslator
Translate English words into other languages

and much more.

Google Toolbar for Firefox

Google will be releasing a version of our IE Toolbar for Firefox on July 7th.

It will work with Firefox 1.0+
It will work on Win2k/XP, MacOS X 10.2, and Linux 8.0+
It has pretty much the same features as the latest IE toolbar except
of course for things like the Popup Blocker