The big three ought to listen: photo search-site Riya has developed a technology that lets users find photos across the Web by recognizing similarities in images. How? The technique relies on hundreds of algorithms that look inside each photo, breaking it into grids to identify the similarities between objects. That way, the software is able to examine the quality of each face and turn it into an equation that has about 2,000 parameters that identify noses, chins, and foreheads by dissecting the amount of space between a person's features. The software also reads text within images, such as a sign …

There are too many Web video companies; they won't all survive. Business 2.0 magazine reports that there are some 173 Web video companies, including 85 that host and share videos; analysts and observers have been saying for a long time that a shakeout among Web video firms is nigh. In April alone, three such firms each received $30 million in funding. One of these, of course, is YouTube, the Palo Alto-based viral video phenomenon that serves 50 million videos a day. What then, you might ask, does YouTube need more venture capital for? If they served ads on a $1 …

ABC's debut of its prime-time shows on the Web drew more than 11 million views during its one-month test, the Walt Disney Company said Monday. Viewers were asked to complete an exit survey after viewing the programs; the surveys say that 87 percent of respondents could recall the advertisers' sponsoring the episode they watched. That's about twice as high as for commercials on television, Reuters said. While the total reach doesn't really compare to television--"Lost" can easily draw an 11.0 on a good night--the brand recall is such that ABC will be very happy with its test results. Don't forget, …

Fans of emerging bands are remixing their music videos and posting their mash-ups at a site called Eyespot, which enables users to edit and combine music videos and photos. Apparently, it's all legal, too. Eyespot is sort of like YouTube meets wikis--as anyone can edit, mix, and share almost all forms of digital media without downloading software or paying any fees. Artists love this because it's another way for their fans to engage with their music in a different way--to create something with it. An unnamed number of artists have handed over material to Eyespot for users to play with; …

There's a lot of talk about wikis--Web sites where anyone can add, remove, or edit the content--these days. Skeptics who thought allowing people to mess with the content of a site would make it useless have been proven wrong by the power of Wikipedia, the online user-generated, user-policed encyclopedia. Then again, Wikipedia--which is by far the most popular and most important wiki site on the Web--has had to make a few concessions to make sure that its content stays correct. In fact, now, the bureaucratic structure of the Wikipedia online community is such that it's actually rather difficult to update …

Add Nielsen Media Research to the long list of companies threatened by the onward march of Google, the world's largest search company, says WebProNews. The convergence of the Web and television means the job of Nielsen and its family of traffic monitoring companies is becoming increasingly digitized. About a week ago, Google researchers announced their intention to develop a means of monitoring the TV usage of a consumer from their PC. The research report explored the possibility that a laptop could actually "hear" what was being played on television, and then display interactive programs and corresponding contextual advertising on the …

eBay Chief Meg Whitman insists that mergers between big Internet companies are unlikely in the near term because of the difficulty of integrating brands. In recent weeks, Whitman's company has been linked to both Microsoft and Yahoo as a target for a possible acquisition. She dismissed suggestions that this could happen, but added that the emergence of an online conglomerate with distinct brands could. "I think multi-brand, full-service Internet companies are an opportunity," she told the Financial Times. Meanwhile, Whitman said eBay would continue to look into acquiring smaller companies. There's been a lot of speculation on Wall Street that …

Silicon Valley's "Under the Radar" conference wasn't under the radar of venture capitalists and big media representatives this year. The show had 375 paying attendees--many of whom are so-called "dealmakers of the valley," in the words of IBDNetwork CEO Debbie Landa, whose business development firm put on the show. Firms like Songbird--maker of a browser and media player that aims to compete with Apple's iTunes--and Kiptronic, which places ads on podcasts, were there looking to court investors. Like who? MTV Networks, Black Entertainment Television, Sony of America, the Discovery Channel, and the American Film Institute were all in attendance, Landa …

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is walking off into the sunset, leaving the software giant three decades after founding what would become one of the world's largest companies. Over the next two years he will phase out his day-to-day role as he and his wife Melinda shift their focus to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, their multibillion-dollar charity. However, Gates will not be giving up his role as chairman, or his controlling interest in Microsoft. So what does his decision mean for the embryonic Cold War between Microsoft and search dominator Google? Surely, Gates and co. are now giving in …

It took two decades for Microsoft to lure Ray Ozzie to Redmond, Washington, and now the man Bill Gates finally landed last year is set to take the reins from him--following the former's announcement that he will step down as the company's chief software architect. Effective yesterday, Ray Ozzie is the new chief software architect of Microsoft, the man in charge of the weighty behemoth's move into advertising-based online services. According to Gates, Ozzie is "unparalleled" among software programmers, both for the software he has created and the respect the soft-spoken man commands from those around him. Microsoft CEO Steve …