• Yahoo Experiences Another Email Security Breach
    Another day, another mail breach. Yahoo detected a mass attack on its email system. The company has reset all accounts affected by the security hack. An ongoing investigation shows that malicious computer software used the list of usernames and passwords to access Yahoo Mail accounts, per Jay Rossiter.
  • Does Microsoft Have New CEO?
    Microsoft has reportedly picked one of its own, Satya Nadella, to replace Steve Ballmer as CEO. “In turning to Nadella, the company would get an enterprise-technology veteran who joined Microsoft in 1992 and has had leadership roles in cloud services, server software, Internet search and business applications,” Bloomberg reports. Sources also tell Bloomberg that Microsoft’s board is considering replacing Bill Gates as chairman. 
  • Microsoft Could Name Satya Nadella CEO
    Rumors swirling late Thursday put Satya Nadella in the CEO chair at Microsoft, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources. Nadella was promoted last year to run Microsoft's Internet-based computing initiative as part of Steve Ballmer's re-organization of the company.
  • Mobile App Developers Aiding NSA Snooping
    A recent report identified that Android apps leak user information like location, age and phone numbers. Most apps do not rely on encryption. In fact, MIT Technology Review reports that 43% of app developers use no encryption at all, and 92% of the 500 most popular Android applications communicate some data insecurely. It has made surveillance by the National Security Agency pretty darn easy.
  • Building Characters To Fit Personas For Ad Targeting
    For years I thought about building personas to fit marketing audience segments. My graduate degree in creative writing gets me thinking that way. Now Michael King takes marketers through a process to build archetypes based on target audiences. He divides the process into keywords and personas. Think of keywords as abstractions and persona as action. Narrow the focus to segment the audience. Before reading this post, be sure to grab a large cup of coffee and have lots of time -- the details will require your undivided attention. Read the article here.
  • Where Does Personalization End And Discrimination Begin?
    Does the more knowledge you collect about customers create the potential to discriminate? Michael Schrage thinks it does. He wrote a piece on how to tell where value-added personalization ends and discrimination begins. He explains the dangers of big data challenges marketers will likely see in the future, as the industry moves from focusing on the technical issues to becoming transparently fair.
  • A Different Take On Yahoo Search Revenue Rising
    Yahoo’s core display ad revenue fell 6% year-on-year to $591 million, the company reported this week, but its search ad revenue grew by 8% year-on-year to $461 million. The company's investment in Alibaba continued to benefit the Sunnyvale, Calif. company. Revenue grew by 55% year-over-year. During the fourth quarter, Yahoo acquired eight companies to strengthen its product, content offerings and technology, per Forbes.
  • PCs Still Own Majority Of Search Dollars
    A paid-search study from Kenshoo found that in Q4 2013, clicks rose 12.3% year-over-year worldwide, although impressions dropped by a tad more than 10%, per eMarketer. Cost per click (CPC) rose by nearly 6%. The majority of paid-search dollars still belong to the desktop. In fact seven in 10 dollars spent on paid-search advertising were dedicated to PCs, with phones maintaining an edge over tablets in the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific.
  • Heinz Releases $4M Super Bowl Ad On YouTube
    H.J. Heinz Co. has released on YouTube what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports as a $4 million ad set to air during the Super Bowl. The spot seems similar to the Budweiser Clydesdales ad in what the media outlet calls "an over-the-top effort at comedy more common in ads for things like Doritos."
  • Android Supports 781.2M Shipped Smartphones In 2013, Per Report
    Global smartphone shipments increased 41% to 990 million units in 2013 compared with the prior year, per Wireless Smartphone Strategies. Android now holds 79% share of all smartphones shipped worldwide. The research estimates that global smartphone shipments grew 34% from 217.0 million units in Q4 2012 to 290.2 million in Q4 2013.
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