• Just An Online Minute... Web Suits
    Pfizer, the marketer of Viagra, among other popular drugs, and Microsoft Corp. have filed lawsuits against Web sites and advertisers that sell illegal versions of Viagra. The suits are the result of an investigation to find the identity of two Web site operators that have advertised the illegal versions of Viagra using spam e-mail.
  • Just An Online Minute... Google Ad Investment
    Yesterday, during an analyst confab, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company plans to up its investment in advertising services. Google says it will commit nearly 70 percent of its investment toward improving its core Web search business and to its advertising business. Nearly 20 percent of Google's resources will be earmarked to develop new and improve existing search products, while 10 percent of the company's vast resources will be devoted to emerging services.
  • Just An Online Minute... Map Search
    Google added to its arsenal of search services yesterday with a map service that's designed to help consumers get driving directions and search for a variety of businesses.
  • Just An Online Minute... Love Lite
    News flash: 58 percent of single women say they would give up sex for a year for a Valentine's Day date with Brad Pitt. This bit of trivia comes courtesy of Lavalife.com, the online dating service, which polled singles on their Valentine's Day aspirations. Further, 21 percent of the women surveyed said they would go to work naked to spend the red-hot holiday with Pitt.
  • Just An Online Minute... Ad Bowl
    Well, the tallies are in from last night's Super Bowl of advertising. Overall, it appears the advertising prognosticators were somewhat disappointed with the commercials. Perhaps it's the case that nothing can top Janet Jackson's bare breast or the hilarity of farting horses. At any rate, TiVo, our dependable ad-zapping friend, did some data crunching last night and came up with a top 10 Super Bowl Commercials list. TiVo says its audience measurement analysis is based on aggregated data from a sample of 10,000 anonymous TiVo households. The company gauges the interest in programming content by measuring the percentage of the …
  • Just An Online Minute... Flack Jacket
    Here's one for the "save" folder. A press release appeared on Business Wire with the headline: "Public Relations Professionals to Get Tips on How to Counter On-line Attacks, Teleconference Provides Information on Cyber-smear Campaigns and Ways to Avoid Them." It's a teleseminar sponsored by Publicis-PRSA, which says participants will hear about attacks from blogs, discussion boards, viral e-mail, and other "Web-based activities." Parry Aftab, president and CEO of Aftab CyberConsulting is the speaker. He'll discuss strategies for "staying ahead of cyber-chatter and knowing where to spot early warning signs of an attack."
  • Just An Online Minute... Napster To Go
    Finally there is some competition for the iPod and Apple's iTunes music store. Napster took aim at Apple yesterday, announcing the debut of a portable music subscription service called Napster To Go. Napster will charge subscribers $15 a month for access to an all-you-can-eat selection of music.
  • Just An Online Minute... High-Flying Google, MSN Search
    Coincidentally, Google announced its quarterly earnings yesterday, the same day Microsoft officially released MSN Search. It will be interesting to see how MSN does with its own search tool and whether the millions it will spend in promotions will get people to use it. In contrast to Microsoft, Google has spent next to nothing on marketing, relying mostly on word-of-mouth, PR, and viral stunts. But that too, may change as competition from Microsoft and Yahoo! intensifies. We've also heard that Google's casting about for an ad agency.
  • Just An Online Minute... Wishin' and Hopin' and Searchin'
    Ah, yes. It's the day before Groundhog Day, the first day of February, and the debut of Microsoft Corp.'s MSN Search. We've been teased, prodded, and introduced to countless betas and now, finally, the real thing. MSN Search is officially out of beta and Microsoft is crowing about its new baby, big time. We wouldn't expect anything less. MSN has positioned MSN Search as offering more precise results, "Find what you're after," is the tag line of a multi-million dollar global ad campaign that fires off today in 25 counties - yes, 25 countries simultaneously.
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