Clay Shirky, Author of “Here Comes Everybody”, to Keynote at SES San Jose

Okay, I understand that it’s hard to think beyond the current quarter. But, looking ahead to August could save you up to $600. Let me explain.
Search Engine Strategies San Jose will be held August 11-14, 2009. It is expected to attract approximately 6,000 marketing executives, managers, professionals, specialists and consultants this year.
Now in its 11th year, SES San Jose 2009 is organized and programmed by the SES Advisory Board and Search Engine Watch. The event, which is the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast, will be packed with more than 70 sessions, multiple keynotes and Orion panels, over 150 exhibitors, networking events, parties and more.
And, if you register through May 8, you can save up to $600 with the early bird rate.
Get it? Got it? Good.
Now, it has just been announced that Clay Shirky, author of “Here Comes Everybody,” will be one of the keynote speakers at SES San Jose.
Shirky is a writer, educator, and consultant on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. He is an adjunct professor at New York University (NYU) in their graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program, where he teaches courses on the interrelationships of social and technological networks, particularly how they shape culture and vice-versa. He consults to a variety of organizations on network technologies, and is an acknowledged expert on collaboration tools, social networks, peer-to-peer sharing, collaborative filtering, and Open Source development.
Shirky has spoken and written extensively on the Internet […] Read more »

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Ask a Question: 10 Reasons Why Questions Work & 12 Tips on How to Ask Them [Day 25: 31DBBB]

Today’s task in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challengeis to ask your readers a question.
10 Reasons to ask Your Readers Questions
Asking readers questions is a fantastic way to grow you blog for a number of reasons - here are 10.

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Another DOJ Antitrust Investigation for Google, This Time for Book Search Settlement

Months after Google pulled out of a search ad deal with Yahoo! due to a Department of Justice antitrust investigation, the search engine is facing a similar battle - this time with its Book Search settlement.
You may remember that Google reached an agreement with Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) last October. The deal would resolve a long-standing class-action lawsuit brought by the group. A court still needs to approve the deal, and a hearing is scheduled for October 7, 2009 (rescheduled from June 11).
Critics fear that the agreement would give Google an exclusive license to profit from millions of books, including orphan books where the authors cannot be contacted or whose rights are unknown.
However, on Google’s site set up to address questions and inquiries regarding the settlement (Googlebooksettlement.com), Google says its rights are non-exclusive.
An inquiry doesn’t mean that the DOJ will nix the settlement. But the DOJ does share some of the aforementioned concerns of critics, despite Google’s assurance that the deal is non-exclusive.

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Hulu Surpasses Yahoo Sites in Online Video Race for March 2009

Looks like the momentum created by an ad campaign that began during the Superbowl continues to bring a boost to Hulu. The online video joint effort by NBC and Fox landed in the top 3 video sites in March 2009, something comScore says is a first. Hulu pushed Yahoo! sites to position number 4. Google, with its ownership of YouTube, and Fox Interactive, with its ownership of MySpace, still dominated the top two spots respectively:

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Zillow Release iPhone Real Estate Search App

Zillow has released an iPhone app for real estate searching on-the-go. All of the same data available on Zillow is available on the app. Zillow uses Microsoft virtual earth for its mapping.
“Researching homes and house-hunting is inherently a mobile experience,” said Rich Barton, Zillow co-founder and CEO. “The GPS-enabled iPhone untethers our Zillow users from their computers and puts the power of our database of 88 million homes in their hands when they need it most - while they are looking at homes.”
Here are screenshots of the app:

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Microsoft Offers Vine, Social Media For Important Personal Info

Microsoft announced the beta launch of Vine - a social media platform for personal information sharing. As the site states: “The Microsoft Vine Beta connects you to the people and places you care about most, when it matters.”
While it may be in beta as an emergency Twitter like app, the potential for this could eventually become a challenge to Facebook as well as Twitter. It has the potential to set up, through its interface, as a tracking and mapping networking tool that combines elements of both of those programs.

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AOL Ad Revenues Drop 20% in Q1 2009

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Yahoo Fires Them On The Road, Hundreds Get Axe Today

Looks like no one can hide from the Yahoo axe today. Last week it was going to be 700, today the number is 600 - but people are being aggressively laid off - apparently even employees on the road are getting notification of termination, according to Silicon Alley Insider.
Morale must be low over at Yahoo right now, especially after CEO Carol Bartz stated, “”You have three people telling project engineers what to do, and nobody’s fucking doing anything,” during an analyst earnings call last week, CNN Money reported.
Stock prices have risen about 4% today - similar to the reaction to the layoff announcement last week. Sad if layoff notifications are the only time the stock gets spikes.

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IAC Acquires Restaurant Recommendation Guide Urbanspoon

IAC, parent company of Ask.com, has acquired Urbanspoon. The restaurant recommendation is a website as well as one of the more popular iPhone apps. Urbanspoon will remain an independent brand, but its content will be integrated with other IAC properties such as Citysearch and InsiderPages.
“With a dedicated and comprehensive focus on restaurants, Urbanspoon is a pioneer in the online and mobile space with a truly unique, innovative and consumer-friendly product,” said Jay Herratti, CEO of Citysearch. “Aggregating content from across the web and blending it with distinctive features including a polling system to rank restaurants, Urbanspoon is expanding the realm of what’s possible for consumers when it comes to finding local content on the web.”
You may remember Urbanspoon from some of the earlier iPhone commercials demonstrating apps once the App Store was open. It looks like a slot machine, except you get to choose which items you want (though you can shake for a random recommendation.)
“With millions of downloads of their iPhone app, Urbanspoon has demonstrated that they can successfully distill mash-up web content and deliver it through mobile for foodies and local restaurant seekers alike,” said Dinesh Moorjani, SVP of Mobile for IAC.
Related Reading:
Ask.com Parent IAC Sees Disappointing Revenues, Plans Vertical Search Strategy
Obama to Nominate Former IAC Executive as FCC Chairman
IAC Completes Spinoff of Four Companies

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Google Starts Small Business Network to Influence Government

Google has started an initiative called the “Small Business Network” which is designed to influence legislation regarding business. One of the first actions is to attempt to have a say on the $7 billion from the recent stimulus bill that is set aside for broadband.
Another important issue for the network will be promoting an open internet. This is something Google has been promoting for awhile, with its involvement in last year’s spectrum auction, their support for freeing up white space tv spectrum, and their participation in the Internet for Everyone Initiative.
Of course, Google already has an ear with the President. Google CEO Eric Schmidt was recently appointed to President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

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