• Backdating Scandal Hits Apple's Steve Jobs
    Steve Jobs is in more trouble after an SEC filing revealed that the Apple chief executive was handed 7.5 million stock options in 2001-- without proper authorization from the company's board of directors. Later, records were forged to indicate that a full board meeting had taken place to approve stock option grant. The SEC has now to decide whether to pursue legal action against the company or any specific individuals involved in the incident. A regulatory filing indicating the extent of the transgression should be unveiled by the end of the week. In October, Apple and Jobs issued a …
  • New Technology Offer Better Ad Targeting for Small Business Owners
    At this point, small-to-mid-sized businesses selling local products or services ought to advertise online. Why? SMB's usually make less money and have lower ad budgets, which makes TV a waste. But search-engine marketing isn't enough, which means small-business owners need to dig a little deeper to get their messages in front of targeted audiences. Car wash owners, for example, have businesses that exist "within a five-mile radius." While SEM yields decent results, the same owner laments that his business would benefit through better targeting by specific location. A car wash is an impulse buy, which is why the …
  • Consumers Prefer to Steal Movies and Other Content
    Surprise, surprise: a recent study from NPD Group, a research firm covering the music industry, claims that movie downloads using peer-to-peer software and servers is outpacing purchases made from legitimate download services, such as CinemaNow or Apple's iTunes. The study, compiled from NPD's VideoWatch tracking software, finds that just 2% of online households purchase movies from movie download services, whereas 8% utilize illegal P2P services. For the consumer, there are several compelling reasons to steal content rather than pay for it. First is the cost. Second, the movie download biz fails to offer a single, comprehensive location …
  • Google In-Stream Test Hints At Video Ad Network
    Google has begun testing a new in-stream video advertising system, running 15-second commercials for Allstate that appear after video content on a site called Beet.tv, which produces video interviews with broadband video executives. A Google rep said the spots are a continuation of an earlier in-stream test of in-stream video spots that appeared after video created by Eepybird, the folks behind the Diet Coke-Mentos viral video series. In theory, Google would include YouTube and its AdSense Web publishers in a larger in-stream video network. While YouTube has said it is not interested in pre and post-roll ads, …
  • Word of Mouth Clicks For Small Businesses
    Most marketers know that word of mouth has been a driving marketing force since the dawn of commerce. With the Internet, word of mouth marketing has taken new life: companies can get the word out about their products and services with little or no investment. Web logs, email newsletters and chat rooms cost nothing but man-hours to create. According to Ed Keller, a research and marketing consultant, word of mouth marketing is more important now than ever. "The word of friends and family is valued 1.5 times more than it was in the 1970s. Consumers are more confident …
  • Sprint Uses Wireless Technology To Cut Costs
    Sprint Nextel Corp. aims to become the first major cellular carrier to use the latest in wireless Internet technology to cut the cost of rerouting cell-phone calls through "backhaul" networks. The new measure will cut the cost of switching calls by more than two-thirds. Each year, Sprint has to pay other network operators, called "backhaul carriers," to connect cell-phone calls over parts of a network that it doesn't control. As cell calls move from the nearest cell tower to a switching station, they zip along a fiber optic cable, then to the nearest tower. Those last few miles, sent …
  • The People Take On Google
    The "wiki" concept is one of many Web 2.0 phenomena that blew up in 2006, most notably Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia created and maintained by the public that (almost) anyone can add to or edit. Ranked 15th on the list of the top worldwide Web destinations, now Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, is taking his wisdom-in-crowds ethos and applying it to Web search. Look out Google, here comes "us," as in the collective Time Magazine ceremoniously bestowed its "Person of the Year" award. Like Wikipedia, Wales plans to rely on volunteers to keep searches fine-tuned and up to date. …
  • 2007 Make, Break Year For Mobile Video
    2007 could prove to be a crucial year for mobile video and content services in the U.S. Analysts have been skeptical that charging mobile phone users to use similar or in some cases the same content that they could find on the Internet for free, will work. Mobile users have shown they're willing to pay extra for text messages, ringtones and mobile games, but mobile video has no predecessor. Also, who's in charge of the content--the content providers or the carriers? How will revenue be distributed? These are questions that need ironing out. Nevertheless, companies like …
  • Yahoo 2007: Is Panama Enough?
    Panama may not be enough to clean up Yahoo's mess. In the face of a slumping year on the stock market, deserting executives and a trouncing by Google in Web search and mergers and acquisitions, Yahoo needs a good 2007. The company has placed high hopes on Panama, its new ad monetization technology aimed at delivering better-targeted ads to its users in the hope that it will make Yahoo's search and display ads more lucrative. Panama may be exactly the thing Yahoo needs to make money from its massive worldwide user base, but better monetization may not be …
  • comScore: Google Passes Yahoo in Global Traffic
    Google has displaced Yahoo as the world's second most-visited Web site--although not by much--according to November figures comScore Networks. Google's sites brought in 475.7 million visitors, compared to Yahoo's 475.3 million. Both trail global leader Microsoft, which attracted a whopping 501.7 million visitors. Other notable increases included News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, whose global traffic surged five-fold to 130.4 million. Web video leader YouTube rose 24-fold to 107.9 million; its traffic was not added to the total for Google, its new parent. For Google, this was the first time it ever attracted more visitors than Yahoo, …
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