Google is now looking to displace Microsoft Excel, the software giant's industry-beating spreadsheet program that is regularly used by nearly every businessperson on the planet. Google Spreadsheets is (of course) a free Web-based program that allows people to share or work on the same document that will be stored online. It's in beta (of course), and it's not nearly as complete as Excel, according to the San Jose Mercury News--and it will only be available to a small number of users who request to participate in the testing period. The program allows users to open Excel documents and Comma-Separated files. …

Scripps Network, a unit of E.W. Scripps Co., is a good example of how a media company should diversify its revenue stream. Long before ancillary broadband video channels were the norm for offline content provider companies, Scripps unveiled online versions of its HGTV and Food Network brands. According to Ad Age, Scripps' online business has been profitable since 2003, and ranks third in overall sales--behind cable networks HGTV and Food Network, but ahead of DIY Network and Fine Living. Interactive revenue grew 600 percent in '05, and similar growth is projected this year. Online video sales have been particularly robust, …

I think we knew this already, but in case it was unclear, the FCC does not support Network Neutrality. Of course, the federal organization will follow whatever orders Congress gives it, but according to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who spoke about the issue at a trade show in Chicago, new laws protecting Internet content providers from being charged for faster network access would be premature; the FCC would rather see how the market shakes out. He also said that the commission already has a set of principles he feels are sufficient to govern the issue. He said it is important …

Forbes.com goes inside Google's corporate structure and finds, not surprisingly, that it is not like other companies. CEO Eric Schmidt, who describes himself as the "adult supervision" at the Googleplex, doesn't rule with the heavy, top-down mentality you might see at, say, Microsoft. Rather, the attitude in Mountain View, Calif. is more "swarm behavior" than "military rule," says Forbes. Why? Because everyone at Google thinks they're smarter than everybody else. Anybody knows that Google, more than any other company in the world, is attracting the world's really, really smart people; as one research director says, "We...only hire candidates who are …

What does Web 2.0 mean, and does it really matter? In short, no, it doesn't matter, but what does--especially for those at the helm of major corporations, according to Business Week--is an understanding of new media terms like wikis, blogs, RSS, and mashups, and a familiarity with the new firms (like Renkoo, Gahbunga, Ning, and Squidoo) that use them. Hmm. Not sure about those "need-to-know" startups--because I've never heard of them--but Business Week claims these new technologies and the young firms touting them represent the most important change in business today. What do they all have in common? Social interaction; …

Search is getting better, writes Fortune--as it should when companies like Google and Yahoo spend untold millions per month trying to make it better. Despite the dominance of the top two, competition is fierce to get a piece of the Internet's biggest revenue driver. Fortune takes a particularly close look at Barry Diller's Ask.com, the company formerly associated with that funny-looking butler, and speaks very highly of its results: "Only Yahoo comes close to delivering value comparable to Ask.com," the article says. So what sets its apart? Unlike Google, Yahoo, and MSN, Ask gives you content before ads. It also …

HBO is looking to hook more young people to its popular satire "Entourage." And you can guess where they're looking. Brooklyn-based Deep Focus, a digital ad shop, geared the show's campaign to its core fan base of young, Internet-savvy 18- to-34-year-olds. Part of the campaign is a contest on MySpace called MyEntourage, in which fans pick three friends and build their own site about their "entourage." HBO will choose finalists, and MySpace users will get to vote on the best one. Winners get a car and trip to L.A., where the group will be filmed "Entourage"-style. Another cool component to …

Perhaps in response to Yahoo revamping its video service to look more like YouTube, the viral Web video service has unveiled a reconfigured site. It's now more "channel"-based, using a variety of categories and sub-categories that make the site more navigable. YouTube members can now "become" their own channels, by publishing their favorite videos as well as their own on a page that others can link to. That way, YouTube believes users will be encouraged to create communities around successful channels, turning users into content creators and collectors, and forming a powerful community. Another new tool allows users to link …

Stock options and such notwithstanding, everyone reading this can officially declare that their company pays them more per year than Yahoo pays CEO Terry Semel. On Friday, Yahoo's board cut Semel's salary to $1--but boosted his future compensation through stock options and grants. An SEC filing reveals that Semel will make $1 per year through 2008; he earned $600K each of the past three years. Since it went public in 2004, Google, Inc. has also paid its top executives, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt, $1 each, also compensating the billionaires through stock options and grants. …

Microsoft has followed in the footsteps of Google by showing text ads alongside users' e-mail messages in its Windows Live Mail Desktop application. The move marks a significant change in Microsoft's core revenue strategy, as the Redwood Calif. giant moves away from software and turns its focus to selling advertising. The new e-mail product, currently in beta, is part of the Windows Live family of Web-based software products. Text ads are contextually targeted against the content in users' messages. The program uses Active Search, and during beta, Kanoodle technology to target contextual terms while adCenter delivers sponsored links. Oh, how …