Yahoo Opting Out of Search Soon?

I have to think that Yahoo has finally come to its senses and plans on dropping its push in search. Let Ask run its commercials and fill the void?

I guess Jerry Yang has decided he has too much on his plate and giving up the search battle will allow the company to concentrate on portals and banner ad sales. Makes sense since the search sales people have been absorbed into media sales.

Or is the decision based on the fact they figure Microsoft will get around to buying them soon and then it can be their headache.

I am thinking this since Yahoo is not exhibiting at the Chicago SES conference. They are doing PubCon - but hey everyone loves the drinkfest.... They did not exhibit at New York adtech either - and that was the biggest gathering of marketing people held this year anywhere!

I hope Microsoft gets there soon so my stock can get some value again.

Party Like A Rock Star? Party Like An Aussie!!!

Okay guys hand it over. I think I meet all the criteria from all of the judges - the fact that I have partied with all of them should not be a conflict of interest!

Jeremy Shoemaker and crew are giving away a fully paid trip to Vegas PubCon. Okay it may be link bait but bottom line is it is a great prize and one worthy of a lot of free links just for the chance to hang with the judges and the rest of the wild ones running around Vegas that week.

If the winner is in town for the later part of the week I will even show them an Aussie Wild Night.....

I so love contests as link bait over the numerous "screw Google and give me back my PR" rants going on right now....

iPodolgy, iCars And Other Things Over The Top

I am so tired of all the press things "I" and things "G" get these days... and I am adding to it which is redundant. But I had to put it down on paper before I hurt someone wearing an IPod.

Okay the IPhone looks kind of cool... but way too much for a phone - so realistically it is a status item. Look at how cool and cutting edge I am I have an IPhone. Even with the drop in price I think it is a waste. I lose three or more phones a year and at even $400 I would be tipping less at the bars if I had to pay that much to replace my current phone.

The IPod may be a clever and handy item to most people, but to me it is a continuation of the isolation of mankind. You say something to a person at work and they don't answer.... oh they have the white "antisocial" buds in their ears.

And now Ipodology - a term that seems to be getting some play lately. I thought it was some sort of Steve Jobs cult, but apparently it is having the ultimate song array in your IPod, according to Urban Dictionary. Or maybe it just covers all things IPod and how it is such a growing part of our society.

The ICar has been a rumor, but seems to be sliding towards reality.

Other similar rumors are about the GPhone. Hey why doesn't Steve and the Google boys band together and take down the big M.

The web has been a great tool in modernizing our society - we seem to be truly moving towards the "Global Village" coined by Marshall McLuhan.

What we have to avoid is the extremism that allowed the dot com bubble and its burst in 2000. The inflated prices of some popular sites right now seems to suggest it could happen again soon.

Last week at the MIXX conference, I wanted to ask Google VP Tim Armstrong what was it about YouTube that was worth $1.65 billion. And Bill if you are reading this, do you really think FaceBook is worth $10 billion dollars? And why do they attempt to buy five percent for $500 million when CEO Steve Balmer calls the site a "fad"?

Seems we are getting back to the expensive nonprofitable websites that people believe will make them rich in the future. Thankfully most of the buying is being done by other online companies - unfortunately I own stock in a couple of them and I don't want to see Google and Yahoo make stupid decisions that could steal my kids college funds.

When I was in Amsterdam earlier this year I saw a great comedy show at Chicago Boom - Me, MySpace and IPod - the humor was cutting but hilarious. what we need to do is share this healthy sceptism.

In a world where our knowledge base (Wikipedia) can be edited by anyone with an internet connection, you have to remember most people have an agenda.

So take out the ear buds and talk to people. You will be amazed at how much fun exchanging stories and jokes can be!

Is Yahoo Getting Married Soon?

Okay they have something borrowed... let's face it Panama is just the Google black box with different wrapping. They just got their hands on something blue - as in Blue Lithium... and where is the something new... well staff would cover that one - they have had some major turn overs in recent months.

Now who could they possibly getting married to? And I guess they are the woman in the equation since guys are not collecting something blue etc.

Microsoft has been a rumored suitor... but who else could there be?

Given the size of the company it would need to be someone with deep pockets... maybe an offline corporation that wants to get into the web in a big way...

I am open for suggestions...

Marissa Mayer, the Holy Grail and CPA Walked Into the Bar......

In hidden rooms at the GooglePlex there are people frantically working to develop a CPA model for all of us searchers. Despite it being called the "Holy Grail" by Marissa Mayer at the Search Engine Strategies conference keynote address last week, cost per acquisition would eliminate quite a few of the search industry's problems.

Hey it would have been nice if this had been worked on and implemented before we had to pay through the nose for the "inactive" search bid process Google claimed would counter click fraud.... basically we just paid for the loss in revenue and sooner or later it was all back.

Now Ms Mayer I see Google riding along like the characters of the Monty Python in the Holy Grail movie... coconuts for horse sounds and an air of stupidity.

Wake up... if Bill Gross has not rolled this out yet then it can't be done right at this time.

The product now on offer in AdSense could be one of the first big launches that they will have to pull out.

If someone gets to this first, or Google simply gets sidetracked by another 10 projects, the balance of power in the search industry will change with it.

"Bring out yer dead... Bring out yer dead"

But I ain't dead yet! - drop the ball on this one and you will be making funeral arrangements.

The Google Honeymoon Is More Than Over

The change made recently to Google's AdWords pricing makes me wonder how the relationship ever started. We were seduced by what looked like an engine that cared and are now finding out we are being pimped.

I hear the words.... it is to help people get top positions - but come on doesn't that mean get people to spend more money.

Did someone actually sit back and say "how can we raise pricing and get advertisers to think we are helping them?"

Hell isn't having the lion's share of traffic enough. Must we be squeezed for every dollar?

Stating that Quality Score will have a lot more importance is dubious at best. The QS was already a major factor. Hey between that and the good old inactive actions the advertisers paid for Google's poor attempt to drive out the arbitragers. I brought that up at every arbitrage panel at SES and never got an answer.

This time around Google wants to jump up the bids by now using the actual Max CPC to determine placement.... I must be stupid but they have always used the Max Bid as a factor I thought.

Okay but really isn't the QS now just taking the place of the Max Bid... it is major influencer and has had the import of evaluations done by $10 per hour help. Some may be solid but the vast majority were looking for some easy money - can you blame them... so is Google.

Facebook CEO Accused Of Stealing Site Concept

They open it up to non-college users and the site blows up... I have been inundated with friends requests (and sent out a bunch to add to it)... there are widgets and email notifications... it was major viral marketing... and now it all may end if the lawsuit holds up.