Yahoo! and McAfee today announced a partnership to deliver a safer Web search experience through Yahoo! Search. Launching in beta today, the new SearchScan feature by Yahoo! Search, powered by the award-winning McAfee(R) SiteAdvisor(R) technology, provides always-on alerts to users for “risky” sites with security concerns such as spyware, adware and other malicious software that can infect and damage a user’s PC. SearchScan also identifies sites that have shown bad email practices, flooding user in-boxes with spammy emails. SearchScan is available for Yahoo! Search users in the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. The McAfee Yahoo! partnership is a multi-year, global agreement with additional elements, including bringing Yahoo! Search to McAfee users, in the next few months.
By integrating McAfee’s technology into Yahoo! Search, sites that may harm the user’s computer just by visiting them will be eliminated from appearing in Yahoo! Search results. SearchScan also alerts users to potentially risky sites with a red warning sign in search results, allowing users to proceed with caution. During this beta period, SearchScan displays McAfee alerts optimal for the Yahoo! Search user and does not include all McAfee SiteAdvisor red ratings. (See Diagram 1)
After children’s safety, 65 percent of Americans online are more worried about clicking unsecured search listings than the threat of neighborhood crime, getting ones wallet stolen or email scams.* SearchScan addresses users urgent need to avoid visiting dangerous sites on the Web when conducting a search. The McAfee Yahoo! partnership represents a major step forward for safer searching online; users who conduct Web searches with Yahoo! will be warned about the many malicious and dangerous Web sites before they visit them.
“The new SearchScan feature from Yahoo! Search makes searching the Web even safer than ever before. No other search engine today offers this level of warning before visiting sites that can damage or infect a user’s PC and cost them valuable time and money,” said Vish Makhijani, senior vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Search. “Through this partnership with McAfee, we can offer users a safer search experience and drive more users to make Yahoo! Search their starting point on the Web.”
“We are very excited to have Yahoo! as a partner to make the Internet more secure for everyone,” said Tim Dowling, McAfee vice president, Web Security Group “The advance warning offered by McAfee SiteAdvisor is one of the strongest weapons in the battle against online threats. Research indicates that 4 out of 5 Web site visits start with a search, and consumers who use Yahoo! Search will now be alerted to high-risk Web sites. This protects users from known malicious threats such as browser exploits that will wreck their PC with a single click or spyware that can lead to identity theft.”
May 6th, 2008
DoubleClick today announced that DoubleClick Mobile, the company’s advertising delivery system for mobile devices, is integrating with mobile ad networks including AdMob, Google’s AdSense™ for mobile content, and Millennial Media’s premium MBrand network as well as its Decktrade™ performance network. This upgrade helps mobile publishers fill more of their available inventory and ultimately earn more revenue.
“This integration is a great example of how DoubleClick is working with key industry players to bring value to publishers by enhancing the liquidity of mobile display inventory,” said Ari Paparo, group product manager for DoubleClick products. “We believe that the ability to sell mobile inventory directly and indirectly will provide mobile advertisers with more options, ultimately leading to better monetization for publishers.”
Now, publishers using DoubleClick Mobile can sell mobile display inventory indirectly, through automated access to one or more networks of mobile advertisers. Publishers, of course, can continue to sell directly as they have always done. DoubleClick Mobile provides an accurate view of what inventory is available to sell, what has been sold directly and what has been filled by ad networks. By managing inventory across direct and indirect channels, DoubleClick Mobile helps publishers better monetize their mobile web content.
DoubleClick Mobile is part of the DoubleClick Revenue Center, which enables media sellers to manage their display campaigns in tandem with emerging platforms, such as mobile advertising, in a single location.
“Both brand and performance advertisers are using our MBrand and Decktrade networks to reach their mobile advertising goals,” said Paul Palmieri, president and CEO of Millennial Media. “Our integration with DoubleClick Mobile makes it possible for publishers to accept ads from Millennial Media’s deep roster of leading advertisers while preserving their ability to sell directly.”
“AdMob is always eager to extend our engineering investments in mobile advertising relevance and optimization to new platforms,” said Omar Hamoui, AdMob’s founder and CEO. “We are excited that DoubleClick’s clients will now be able to join over 4000 existing AdMob publishers in leveraging AdMob’s ad liquidity and mobile specific ad serving technologies.”
May 1st, 2008
Google today announced that additional proxy materials are available for its stockholders in connection with the 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on Thursday, May 8, 2008.
The additional proxy materials are available at the following websites: www.sec.gov, http://investor.google.com/proxy.html, http://www.proxyvote.com/ (beneficial stockholders) and http://www.envisionreports.com/goog (registered stockholders).
April 29th, 2008
So long to the days of the corporate e-leash. No longer are employees stressed by their wireless devices and made to feel harnessed by too much connectivity. According to Yahoo! HotJobs’ (http://hotjobs.yahoo.com) annual virtual workplace survey, 37 percent of employees feel more relaxed than stressed when they are connected to work by a wireless device, and another 42 percent are altogether indifferent to their wireless device, feeling neither relaxed nor stressed by it.
Along with the widespread acceptance of wireless devices may come a lapse in proper etiquette. Of those surveyed, 18 percent admit to being reprimanded for having bad manners when it comes to their wireless device. This behavior extends in and out of work with another 39 percent saying that they respond almost instantaneously when they receive a professional email or call outside of business hours.
“The gravity of leaving the house without your wireless device has become synonymous with that of leaving your keys at home, if not worse,” explains Tom Musbach, managing editor of Yahoo! HotJobs. “As the wireless device becomes more ubiquitous for personal and professional reasons, many employees develop a psychological need for constant connection. While this connection can be a positive from a professional standpoint, it’s important to remember that the use of wireless devices needs to be managed and certain missteps avoided.”
Boardroom Security Blanket
With 38 percent of respondents describing their wireless device as a necessity, these gadgets have become exponentially more integrated into workplace culture:
- The majority, 55 percent, of respondents use more than one wireless device to stay connected when outside of work;
- More than half, 55 percent, of respondents say that their office supports a virtual workplace culture – allowing employees to choose from where they’d like to work;
- Almost one in three, 28 percent, of respondents say that having the freedom of remote access via a wireless device helps them work more effectively than when they are in the office; and
- Almost one quarter of survey respondents admit to only putting their wireless device down when they are sleeping, and only 5 percent of respondents admit to being 100 percent offline when not in the office—down from 8 percent last year.
Disconnect: Wireless Faux Pas
As wireless devices become further cemented into corporate culture, a spectrum of acceptable and unacceptable behavior has emerged:
Inappropriate wireless device etiquette (in order of least to most reprehensible):
- Answering a work call or email during personal time after work hours
- Talking on the phone while in close quarters (e.g. train, plane, bus)
- Talking on the phone while in the bathroom
- Answering the phone or emails while at a business dinner
- Accepting a personal call while in a meeting or presentation
Keep Your Device in Check
Moderation is key. Here are a few tips from Yahoo! HotJobs’ Tom Musbach for keeping your wireless device habits within bounds:
- Keep your device on vibrate to avoid interrupting others near your workspace.
- Take personal and any other conversations that might make your coworkers uncomfortable into a conference room or other closed off area to avoid being overheard. Only answer absolutely necessary calls when in close quarters.
- Don’t interrupt business meetings or dinners with calls or emails unless it is an emergency.
- Use text messaging and emailing when possible—it’s less intrusive.
- Let the person you are communicating with know that you are on a wireless device and that the conversation must be kept brief.
- Some buildings don’t allow wireless device use. Adhere to the signs and be respectful of the surrounding environment.
For more advice on making your wireless workplace work for you and other tools for managing your career, visit Yahoo! HotJobs at http://hotjobs.yahoo.com.
April 27th, 2008
Today, Google opened a sandbox for developers to help them build richer gadgets for iGoogle, which will offer users more powerful and interactive features.
To ensure developers get the most out of their gadgets, we’ve also launched an updated developer website which guides developers through building and distributing gadgets to iGoogle’s growing audience.
iGoogle’s new features will include left navigation, a maximized or “canvas view” option for gadgets, and social features for gadgets using the OpenSocial APIs. These social features for gadgets will include a friends list and activities displayed through a special updates gadget. The features and functionalities as they appear in the sandbox are meant for development purposes only, and may not reflect the end consumer experience.
Developers are an important part of Google’s innovation ecosystem and we’re always striving to provide tools to help them innovate in new directions that will ultimately make the web richer for all users. By building more powerful and interactive gadgets for iGoogle, developers will have an opportunity to share their gadgets with the tens of millions of iGoogle users.
To see the video for developers on the iGoogle sandbox, please see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6KVwATfCdM
April 22nd, 2008
Google today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2008.
“Our ongoing innovation in search, ads, and apps helped drive healthy growth globally across our product lines, yielding another strong quarter for Google,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. “As we integrate DoubleClick into our advertising platform, we see exciting new ways to improve the user experience and increase value for our advertisers and partners. Also, while exercising operational discipline, we continue to explore opportunities that add value to users everywhere and to Google in the long term.”
Q1 Financial Summary
Google’s results for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, include the operations of DoubleClick Inc. from the date of acquisition, March 11, 2008, through the end of the quarter, and are compared to pre-acquisition results of prior periods. The overall impact of DoubleClick in the first quarter of 2008 was immaterial to revenue and only slightly dilutive to both GAAP and non-GAAP operating income, net income and earnings per share.
Google reported revenues of $5.19 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, an increase of 42% compared to the first quarter of 2007 and an increase of 7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs, or TAC. In the first quarter of 2008, TAC totaled $1.49 billion, or 29% of advertising revenues.
Google reports operating income, net income, and earnings per share (EPS) on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. The non-GAAP measures, as well as free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, are described below and are reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures in the accompanying financial tables.
- GAAP operating income for the first quarter of 2008 was $1.55 billion, or 30% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.44 billion, or 30% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2007. Non-GAAP operating income in the first quarter of 2008 was $1.83 billion, or 35% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $1.69 billion, or 35% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2007.
- GAAP net income for the first quarter of 2008 was $1.31 billion as compared to $1.21 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. Non-GAAP net income in the first quarter of 2008 was $1.54 billion, compared to $1.41 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.
- GAAP EPS for the first quarter of 2008 was $4.12 on 317 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $3.79 for the fourth quarter of 2007 on 318 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the first quarter of 2008 was $4.84, compared to $4.43 in the fourth quarter of 2007.
- Non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net income, and non-GAAP EPS are computed net of stock-based compensation (SBC). In the first quarter of 2008, the charge related to SBC was $281 million as compared to $245 million in the fourth quarter of 2007. Tax benefits related to SBC have also been excluded from these non-GAAP measures. The tax benefit related to SBC was $51 million in the first quarter of 2008 and $42 million in the fourth quarter of 2007. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to GAAP operating income, operating margin, net income, and EPS are included at the end of this release.
April 18th, 2008
Salesforce.com and Google today expanded their global strategic alliance to make it easy for companies of all sizes to run their business in the cloud with Salesforce for Google Apps. The combination of the Google Apps™ suite of productivity applications and the Salesforce suite of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications enables businesses to effectively communicate and collaborate without any hardware or software to download, install or maintain. Salesforce for Google Apps also leverages the Force.com Platform and Google’s open APIs, opening up even more development opportunities for developers and partners.
“Google and salesforce.com have always had similar models and philosophies about delivering innovations made possible by the Internet,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. “Salesforce.com was a pioneer in Software-as-a-Service and a year ago we joined them in this mission to bring the benefits of cloud computing to businesses of all types. Together, we are making more applications and services available online so customers can focus on building their core business rather than the applications that support it.”
“Salesforce.com is thrilled to be offering Google Apps integrated with our Salesforce applications and Force.com Platform-as-a-Service to the millions of businesses looking to manage their entire office in the cloud,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. “The combination of our leading CRM applications and Google’s business productivity applications pushes forward the transformation of the industry to cloud computing. The end of software is here.”
“Since the launch of Google Apps a year ago, we have been following a trail blazed by salesforce.com and delivering cloud computing to business of all sizes,” said Dave Girouard, Google vice president and general manager of Enterprise. “In addition to providing services to hundreds of thousands of customers, we have witnessed firsthand the benefits of the cloud: salesforce.com was one of the first Google Apps customers, and Salesforce has been an invaluable tool in growing Google’s business.”
Salesforce.com and Google – Cloud Computing for the Enterprise
Both salesforce.com and Google have altered the software landscape by delivering SaaS applications, for CRM and productivity respectively, over the Internet. Today, this shift in the technology industry is being referred to as cloud computing, and salesforce.com and Google are well poised to deliver it to the enterprise. In June 2007, salesforce.com and Google launched Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords™, which has become a valuable tool for thousands of businesses by encapsulating every element of the customer life-cycle – advertising, lead generation, sales, and customer support – in one solution. In today’s announcement, salesforce.com and Google are expanding their strategic alliance and delivering a second joint product to enable companies of all sizes to achieve success in cloud computing – Salesforce for Google Apps.
Salesforce for Google Apps
Salesforce for Google Apps is a simple, yet powerful combination of essential applications for business productivity (email, calendaring, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, instant messaging) and CRM (sales, marketing, service and support, partners) that enables an entirely new way for business professionals to communicate, collaborate, and work together in real time over the Web. Salesforce for Google Apps offers a complete way for businesses to harness the power of cloud computing without the cost and complexity of managing hardware or software infrastructure. Salesforce for Google Apps includes:
- Salesforce and Gmail™ – Businesses can now easily send, receive and store email communication, keeping a complete record of customer interactions for better sales execution and improved customer satisfaction.
- Salesforce and Google Docs™ – Create, manage, and share online Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets, and Google Presentations within your sales organization, marketing group, or support team for instant collaboration.
- Salesforce and Google Talk™ – Instantly communicate with colleagues or customers from Salesforce and optionally attach Google Talk conversations to customer or prospect records stored in Salesforce.
- Salesforce and Google Calendar™ – Expose sales tasks and marketing campaigns from Salesforce on Google Calendar. Built by Appirio, this application is one example of a new category of partner extensions to Salesforce for Google Apps.
“Salesforce.com and Google have changed the game again. This is, hands down, the best example of the consumerization of the enterprise. This is revolutionizing the way people work,” said Sheryl Kingstone of the Yankee Group.
“The combined offering from salesforce.com and Google brings together the best in enterprise CRM and productivity applications, all delivered over the Internet. Salesforce for Google Apps enables us to extend our company’s SaaS strategy even further,” said Doug Menefee, CIO of The Schumacher Group.
“While salesforce.com has always enabled us to work easily with client desktop productivity tools, we love that we now have the freedom to run our office in the cloud,” said Prasan Vyas of UST Global.
Force.com and Google Platform – Delivering Success to Partners and Developers
Salesforce.com and Google’s alliance has created the world’s largest cloud computing platform for building and running applications. The Force.com Platform-as-a-Service encompasses a complete feature set for the creation of business applications and Google’s open APIs enable integration and extension of the applications in Google Apps. The integration of the two creates many new opportunities for developers and partners to build and run business applications that help customers run their entire business smarter in the cloud. Today, applications like sales quote generation and business forecasting are now easy to build and test, and can be deployed by customers with just a few clicks via the AppExchange.
Appirio and Astadia are the first companies to take advantage of these new development opportunities made possible through the Google and salesforce.com partnership. Each company has developed several applications that enhance Salesforce for Google Apps, and all of these applications are available today in a newly created AppExchange category, Google Apps, at http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange.
Pricing and Availability
Salesforce for Google Apps is available today to all salesforce.com customers at no additional charge.
Salesforce.com also will be offering Salesforce for Google Apps Supported, a package that includes integrated telephone end user support, unified billing and provisioning, enhanced platform APIs, additional third party applications, and advanced Google Apps functionality, all for $10 per user, per month. This package is currently scheduled to be available in Summer 2008.
April 15th, 2008
Yahoo! today announced the release of Slurp 3.0 on the Yahoo! Search Blog:
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been preparing for the latest version of the Yahoo! Search crawler with some infrastructure updates, which recently caused a variance in our crawl behavior.
With everything now in place, the rollout has officially begun. The new Yahoo! Slurp 3.0 recognizes the same user-agent and all robots.txt directives for ‘Yahoo! Slurp,’ though it’ll identify itself as Slurp 3.0 in your web logs.
As the new software undergoes a phased rollout to our production crawlers over the next several weeks, you’ll see the following changes:
a) The crawlers will start crawling from a different and much smaller set of IP addresses, but it’ll still be from the crawl.yahoo.net domain. Any reverse DNS checks to identify our crawler will continue to work. Please note that if you’re using IP-based recognition of our crawlers, you might see a drop in crawl/coverage from Yahoo! We strongly recommend that you move to reverse DNS-based identification of Yahoo! Slurp if you’re using any other method to avoid this problem. The current set of IPs will disappear from your web logs in the next several weeks.
b) The crawlers will also publish a new user-agent, ‘Yahoo! Slurp/3.0.’ Existing robots.txt directives for ‘Slurp’ or ‘Yahoo! Slurp’ will continue to work, but if you have directives specific to ‘Slurp/2.0,’ they won’t be recognized by the new crawler (though usage of the ‘Slurp/2.0′ user-agent is very rare on the web, so you won’t likely be affected). We recommend specifying the shorter version of: User-agent: Slurp. Check out “How do I prevent my site or certain subdirectories from being crawled?” on our Help page for more details.
These changes will affect the main Yahoo! Web Search crawlers. Crawlers that similarly respect the Yahoo! Slurp directive but identify themselves more specifically, such as Yahoo! Slurp China and others, will not be impacted.
April 15th, 2008
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