The IHT reports that the Europeans officials are souring on Google. When Google began hiring in Zurich for its new engineering center in 2004, local officials welcomed Google with open arms.
But almost five years into its expansion into Europe, Google is beginning to bump up against a web of privacy laws that threaten its growth.
In Switzerland, data protection officials are quietly pressing Google to scrap plans to introduce Street View, a mapping service that provides a vivid, 360-degree, ground-level photographic panorama from any address. Swiss privacy More»

Labels: google, Privacy, Search, streetview

Ever since the Google-Yahoo search advertising deal went sour, Yahoo has been left in a lurch yet again. Much like Microsoft decided not to buy Yahoo, Google has pulled out from the advertising deal that would have allowed Yahoo to run Google ads on its sites and that was worth an estimated $250 million to $450 million in the first year and up to $800 million annually thereafter for Yahoo. Google pulled out for fear of an investigation by the DOJ amidst talk of antitrust and competition issues.
According to More»

Labels: google, Search, search advertising, sem, Yahoo, YHOO

Harvard professor Benjamin G. Edelman, is suing Google for typo-squatting. Edelman says that Google is profiting from typo-squatting by engaging with companies that are taking advantage of existing trademarks costing advertisers $30-50 million a year.
“This is one of the unsavory ways we all end up paying Google,” Edelman says in an interview. “Users don’t have to write Google a check to receive Google’s services. But, one way or another, Google manages to get users’ money.”
Typo-squatting is the practice of registering web sites addresses that are spelled similarly to the More»

Labels: Click Fraud, google, typo-squatting

The phone that was supposed to usher in the mobile Web was off to a slow start. Google’s G1 was on sale exclusively through T-Mobile. There were no crowds camping out overnight and there were no stores reporting that the G1 was sold out.
“This year’s the year,” says Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO. “We can make more in mobile than desktop eventually.” Here is what he said on his visit to Jim Cramer’s Mad Money to prop up Google shares.
Cramer: Right now your revenue is predominately desktop, but countries like Japan, there’s mobile More»

Labels: Advertising, G1, google, Mobile

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, was on Bloomberg discussing the elections, the credit crisis, and Google. Here are some highlights of the discussion.
1) Obama endorsement - he endorsed Barack Obama for President. There has been a wave of followers endorsing Obama after Colin Powell’s endorsement on Sunday on Meet the Press. Schmidt called for greater transparency from the U.S. government, saying it should publish an itemized budget every year. Washington is “dysfunctional,” he said.
2) Less acquisitions - Google will make fewer acquisitions amid the global economic turmoil. This is bad news for venture capitalists looking for exits by More»

Labels: Eric Schmidt, google

In light of all the layoffs going on right now in tech - at Yahoo this week, Intuit (apparently not), eBay, HP, SearchMe, Pandora, AdBrite, Zillow, and the list goes on - I wondered if a lot of the reasons these companies cite for working for them still apply. I couldn’t find a list on Yahoo’s site but I did see much ado about dressing and thinking purple. Google, however, has a pretty clear and definitive list of reasons why you should work there. Here are some of the More»

Labels: google, Yahoo

The newest entrant into the mobile handheld device market and clear would-be competitor to Apple’s iPhone is about the hit the stores next week. Google’s G1 phone will be available for purchase on October 22 exclusively through T-Mobile. G1 runs on the Android open source operating system and comes pre-loaded with mobile optimized versions of the following Google apps: Search, Maps, Gmail, Calendar, Talk, and YouTube. It does not synchronize with Outlook or allow the use of Microsoft’s exchange server. Surprise, surprise!
It appears pocket-sized like the iPhone only a little bulkier and heavier More»

Labels: android, Apple, G1, google, iPhone

Yahoo is expected to layoff between 1,000 to 3,500 on Tuesday when it reports its third-quarter earnings. The number of layoffs varies depending on the source - one source told me that the company plans to layoff of up to 10% of its 14,300 employees. In January of this year Yahoo laid off 1328 people employees.
The deteriorating economic environment has had a great impact on Yahoo since most of Yahoo’s revenue comes from display advertising and CPM rates are dropping. The influx of 400 or so ad networks specializing in practically every verticial have More»

Labels: eBay, google, lay offs, Yahoo

The entire economy is taking a hit from the current financial crisis, and Google is no exception. Today Google shares are trading at $340, which is $100 less or 22% off the price they were on September 25, 2008 ($440). A huge chunk of the options granted to employees (approximately 7.4 million shares) have a strike price of $440 or above. A lot has changed since September 25th and they could change again and be back in the money. But presently, 75% of the stock options granted to employees are worthless.
Suddenly, the More»

Labels: google

The fast times at Google High are dissipating to hard times for the next while. With all the discussion right now about the economic hard times, the outlook for the tech sector is no less gloomy. Analysts are lowering their estimates on companies, expect search advertising spending to be flat and display ads to be hit harder, and the search market share to shift. According to a CNET report, Cowen and Company Analysts, Jim Friedland and Kevin Kopelman, are lowering their estimates on heavyweights Google, Yahoo, and others. “We are lowering our estimates on More»

Labels: google, Google. Search, Search, web marketing, Yahoo