Is Flickr On The Bubble At Yahoo?

I have a Flickr Pro account for which I pay $25 annually and it gives me great piece of mind. Not that I believe that I am the next Annie Leibobvitz (gender aside) it's simply that I have had a photo disaster. I now find that having more than a backup on a usb drive allows me to sleep at night knowing that I am fully protected on and off site. Most of my photos are set to private and that's the way I want it. For many very good photographers Flickr is the only choice on line, but for most internet users Facebook is rapidly becoming the spot where you upload and share your photos.

This increase in photo sharing via Facebook, combined with Yahoo's recent layoffs and shedding of other web services and properties has caused for much discussion regarding the fate of Flickr. The nytimes.com has quoted Jordan Rohan, an analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company as saying “The Internet is starting to rotate around the axis of Facebook — not everything, but everything social,” Mr. Rohan said. “Yahoo and Flickr don’t really have the gravitational pull that would make Flickr the axis that they once imagined.” 

Doesn't sound promising for Flickr yet I believe that they will remain relevant and apparently so does Yahoo: “Is Yahoo committed to Flickr?” Blake Irving, Yahoo’s product chief, wrote in a message on Twitter. “Hell yes we are!”

Geocities Will Cease To Exist After Tomorrow

While this isn't really that big of a story from the standpoint that Geocities hasn't really been relevant for some time now and hence Yahoo!'s decision to pull the plug and delete the entire site, from a purely historical point of view it is interesting. Geocities was one of the first services to offer web users a home for their own sites, and let me tell you many of those sites were real beauties. It may have contributed to this whole self publishing world that we now live in.

According to Computer World Blog "In April 2009, Yahoo announced that GeoCities would cease accepting new registrations in preparation of the service's closing. In June, they clarified: the service would shut down on Oct. 26, 2009. As their FAQ states, GeoCities is not being decommissioned — it's being deleted. That means any data not personally backed up by its owners or readers will not be recoverable, ever."

Rest in peace Geocities and your users' over use of the blink tag, may we never be subjected to those neon colour schemes again.

Yahoo! Gets A Face Lift - Nobody Seems To Care?

It's a slow news day when the biggest story seems to be Pee-wee Herman's press conference featuring his first tweet... so it surprised me to see that only one of the feeds I regularly check, BBC.co.uk, was reporting on the refresh of the Yahoo! portal and a $100 million global ad campaign to support it. Has Yahoo! fallen so far out of the public's attention that it can't even attract a little link love from the blogoshpere? Good luck with that ad campaign Yahoo!

BBC story here.

NBC - Yahoo Big Olympic Traffic

According to the NYTimes.com, "NBCOlympics.com served up more than 1.2 billion pages and 72 million video streams through Saturday, more than doubling the combined traffic to its site during the 2004 Games in Athens and the 2006 Games in Turin." Perhaps it was the huge time difference or the proliferation of broadband access to the home, but this year more people flocked to their computers to keep up with their favorite events / athletes. “The demand that we’re seeing has far exceeded even our wildest expectations,” said Jimmy Pitaro, the head of sports and entertainment for Yahoo. Alan Wurtzel, the head of research for NBC, concluded that many NBCOlympics.com visitors used the Web site as a video playback device. “People want to catch up on events that they miss,” he told reporters during a conference call on Aug. 13. “About half say that’s the main reason”

Google - Yahoo! Sign Non-exclusive Advertising Agreement

Google announced on Thursday a non-exclusive advertising agreement that will provide Yahoo! with access to the AdSense for search and AdSense for content advertising programs on Yahoo!'s U.S. and Canadian web sites. They also intend to work on enabling interoperability between their respective instant messaging services which is aimed at allowing users broader communication online. In a post on the Official Google Blog, Omid Kordestani, Senior VP, Global Sales and Business Development says that Google has been in contact with regulators about the deal, and that they expect to be working closely with them to answer questions about the transaction. "Ultimately we believe that the efficiencies of this agreement will help preserve competition." It seems as though Google is preparing it's defense in anticipation, check out the bolded text of Kordestani's post...

Microsoft - Yahoo Back On Again?

In the statement on Sunday, Microsoft announced it was “considering and has raised with Yahoo an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo.” According to the New York Times, "The timing of Microsoft’s new approach may seem opportunistic. Yahoo has been racing to complete its own partnership with Google and was expected to announce a formal agreement as early as this week. A Yahoo-Google partnership, which is likely to face antitrust scrutiny, could make Yahoo a less desirable partner or takeover candidate for Microsoft." Yahoo is also said to be facing a great deal of pressure from it's shareholders, some of whom are said to be furious that the board didn't work harder to strike a deal to sell the company to Microsoft.

Microsoft Uping The Ante on Yahoo?

The New York Times is reporting that people close to the negotiations are saying that Microsoft and Yahoo! have been working for 2 days to get a deal done. Microsoft is apparently softening it's position on raising it's offer. “I know exactly what I think Yahoo is worth to me.” Steve Ballmer told Microsoft employees on Thursday adding, “I won’t go a dime above, and I will go to what I think it’s worth if that gets the deal done.” Microsoft's initial offer was $31 per share, the board of directors at Yahoo! is holding out for $37 but some Yahoo! stockholders have signaled that they would consider $35... the renewed talks seem to indicate that neither side wants a proxy war. You can read more here.

Update: Microsoft has withdrawn it's bid after upping the offer by $5 billion, only to have it turned down by Yahoo! More here.

Yahoo! Said To Be Poised For A Response... Not Intimidated By Microsoft Ultimatum

Yahoo! is believed to be ready to shoot back at Steve Ballmer's letter of ultimatum issued on the weekend. The board considers Microsoft's offer to undervalue the company's worth. The offer of $31 per share of Yahoo!, on February 1st, has actually gone down to about $29 a share as Microsoft's shares have fell during the time since and the offer contains a share swap. The New York Times is reporting "Yahoo’s response is expected to reject negotiations and explain why Yahoo’s board believes the current offer price is too low." We'll just have to wait and see who forms the more compelling argument in the shareholders eyes.

Microsoft Offers Yahoo Board An Ultimatum

In a letter today, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has issued a deadline of 3 weeks to the Yahoo Board to strike a deal or else. “If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo board,” Mr. Ballmer wrote. “If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective, which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal.” I think that he means business...

Yahoo Launches Site Aimed At Women

Yahoo! has announced a new site, Shine, that is aimed at the female demographic. Unlike other Yahoo! sites, Shine will be presented in blog format, with the newest items on top and commentary from an editor. The company is taking queues from advertisers who are looking for more ways to reach out to women between ages 25 and 54. “These women were sort of caretakers for everybody in their lives,” said Amy Iorio, vice president for Yahoo Lifestyles. “They didn't feel like there was a place that was looking at the whole them — as a parent, as a spouse, as a daughter. They were looking for one place that gave them everything.” Whether this is true or not is yet to be seen, as Yahoo! follows Glam Media Inc. and iVillage into the market. The success of the blog format will be interesting to follow, at least from a blogger's standpoint.

Yahoo Supports OpenSocial

In a press release today, Yahoo! Inc. announced they have agreed with MySpace, and Google to form the OpenSocial Foundation "to ensure the neutrality and longevity of OpenSocial as an open, community-governed specification for building social applications across the web." "Yahoo! believes in supporting community-driven industry specifications and expects that OpenSocial will fuel innovation and make the web more relevant and more enjoyable to millions of users," said Wade Chambers, Vice President - Platforms, Yahoo!. The move is a bit surprising since the OpenSocial initiative was a Google brainchild, and the two are arch rivals. The press release quotes both MySpace and Google representatives but the real question is what does Microsoft think?

Yahoo! Board To Tell Microsoft They Are Not Interested... At That Price

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Yahoo!'s Board of Directors will send Microsoft a letter on Monday saying that they are rejecting the 44.6 billion dollar offer to purchase the company. The report says that Yahoo! feels the bid is low and is unlikely to consider anything under 40 dollars a share, which would mean Microsoft would have to pony up another $12 billion. The board is apparently also considering a partnership with Google that would "safe guard" the company's independence. This should really be no surprise to anyone as it is the board's job to get the best value for it's shareholders, and they're probably looking out for their own jobs as well. Can you blame them? Your move Microsoft...

Google Takes Aim at Microsoft's Proposed Yahoo! Acquisition

A post yesterday on The Official Google Blog calls on legislators and policy makers around the globe to question the impact a Microsoft - Yahoo! takeover would have on "openess and innovation". "Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets." writes David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer at Google. The New York Times has additional news about Google's efforts over the weekend to mount an offense against the hostile bid. The moves apparently included Eric E. Schmidt, placing a call to Yahoo’s chief, Jerry Yang, offering the Google’s help to fend off Microsoft and “back-channel” calls to AOL and Time Warner execs. Looks like it's on now!

Microsoft Makes $44.6 billion Cash and Stock Offer For Yahoo!

In a Press Release this morning, Microsoft announced the proposed acquisition of Yahoo! Inc. in a cash and share swap offer that they say represents a 62% premium on current share prices. “We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “We believe our combination will deliver superior value to our respective shareholders and better choice and innovation to our customers and industry partners.”

The paragraph that I find most interesting, and of course this should be no surprise to anyone, is the following: "... The resulting benefits of scale along with the associated capital costs for advertising platform providers make this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today this market is increasingly dominated by one player. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a competitive choice while better fulfilling the needs of customers and partners." Looks like the first serious volley has been fired, I expect that Google's response might come from the 700 MHz auction which some had speculated Google was not really that interested in, this might make that space a whole lot more attractive now. Lead or follow?

China upset by award given to Dalai Lama, hijacks search engine traffic

The CBC has posted speculations that the Chinese government, upset by President Bush's awarding of the Dalai Lama with a Congressional Gold Medal, is hijacking traffic meant for Google and Yahoo and directing it to the Chinese-owned Baidu search engine. The Chinese government routinely censors internet content and blocks web pages but this move is seen as a retaliatory reaction to the US's support for a figure that the Chinese see as a threat. Can't we just all get along and play nice?

Update: InfoWorld is reporting a contrary story saying "Internet users in Beijing and Shanghai said attempts to access Google and other search engines were successful Friday, despite claims on a U.S. blog that traffic to these sites was redirected to Chinese search engine Baidu.com."

cat? mouse?

Google to lay cable under the Pacific?

The CBC is citing an Australian media report saying that Google is interested in laying a "Unity" cable under the Pacific Ocean. The report says "Google is leading a consortium of telecommunications companies and would own a majority of the cable, which would be used to connect internet and phone services across the ocean," Google is neither confirming nor denying the speculations. The move would give Google an edge on competitors such as Microsoft and Yahoo! by reducing it's costs of moving data.

Yahoo and AOL Instant Messenger services exploited

c|net's News Blog is reporting that non-vendor disclosed vulnerabilities are targeting the Instant Messenger services of Yahoo! and AOL. There are no fixes from either vendor yet. The complete details are available from ZDNet blogger Ryan Naraine.

Yahoo! testing social network for job seekers

c|net's news.com NewsBlog has had a sneak peek at a new Yahoo! service that is being tested amongst college students. Being dubbed Kickstart, the service is a social network geared towards finding you an in with employers. The idea is to hook you up with someone within an organization who has something in common with you, say, graduated from your school, is from the same town, shares interests, etc. The features are reported to be typical amongst the social networking crowd but the focus is definitely on job finding. Sounds interesting, hope it stays the course and remains focused on employment, otherwise do we really need another social networking site?

e-bay a bargain for investors?

With all of the YouTube, Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook talk of late it appears as though the investing world has forgotten about e-bay. The Globe and Mail's Report on Business quotes Tim Boyd, an analyst with American Technology Research, as saying "Their stock is undervalued relative to all of the large-cap Internet peers," With a current price of around $34, nearly half of it's 2004 high of $60, and Boyd's target price of $42, it may be time to take a second look at e-bay?

Google News allowing comments from experts

c|net's News Blog, is reporting that in the U.S. version of Google News, a user who is somehow involved in a story will now be able to comment on it. There is a verification process that involves submitting your comment and credentials to a special e-mail address, and verifying your identity via domain name, the process concludes with a follow-up from Google staff. The idea is to limit the commenting to the experts involved in the story. It's an interesting idea but apparently not a novel one as Yahoo! tried a similar system but abandoned the idea, at least temporarily. It seems that Yahoo! didn't keep as a tight reign on things and suffered from comment spam. Here is an example as cited by News Blog.