Updated at 9:53 a.m. PST with additional details.
Google's back on the acquisition front, spending $750 million in stock Monday to acquire mobile display ad company AdMob.
AdMob founder Omar Hamoui
(Credit: AdMob)AdMob is perhaps best known for serving display ads on iPhones, but it also recently started a business unit focused on ads for Android phones. The start-up would appear to fit well into Google's advertising business model, giving Google a leg up in the still-small but fast-growing world of mobile advertising.
"I'm excited because I believe this will be an important moment for everyone involved in producing, consuming, or monetizing engaging products on mobile," wrote AdMob founder and CEO Omar Hamoui in a blog post Monday. "The truth is that the mobile industry has had no shortage of creative energy, amazing products, and talented entrepreneurs. But until now, it has always felt like those of us involved in this space played second fiddle to our online brethren. I believe that time is over."
AdMob was founded in 2006. The company runs its Mobile Advertising Network across thousands of Web sites, serving up ads from big names such as Ford and Coca-Cola. It also collects and publishes data on mobile trends gleaned from the traffic it manages.
"Despite the tremendous growth in mobile usage and the substantial investment by many businesses in the space, the mobile Web is still in its early stages," wrote Google's Susan Wojcicki, vice president of product management, and Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering, in Google's own blog post. "We believe that great mobile advertising products can encourage even more growth in the mobile ecosystem. That's what has us excited about this deal."
Representatives from Google and AdMob are expected to talk about the deal in greater detail later on Monday. This is a friendly takeover, as both companies have already approved the deal, they said in a press release.
It should come as no surprise that Google is back in a buying mood, after several weeks of talk from CEO Eric Schmidt and other company executives about Google's renewed prospects now that the company believes the worst of the advertising recession is past. At $750 million, the acquisition would rank as one of Google's largest deals, trailing DoubleClick at $3.1 billion and YouTube at $1.6 billion but edging out Postini's $625 million selling price.
Google's stock was up 1.81 percent to $561 on news of the deal.
Hyper-local publishing company Examiner.com is set to launch its service in five Canadian cities.
According to the organization, Examiner will now provide localized content to those living in Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. The company will also offer national content for all those not living in the five cities.
Examiner is growing up quickly since its launch in April 2008. Examiner now provides localized content in 162 U.S. cities, according to a company spokesperson. It plans to add 40 more markets in the coming months. With the expansion to Canada now under way, the spokesperson told me in a phone conversation on Wednesday that the company plans to bring its service to the U.K. and Australia by the first quarter of 2010.
Examiner's foray into the Canadian market follows its strategy in the U.S. market, the spokesperson said. When it launched in the U.S., only five cities were covered. Today, local "examiners" are posting more than 15,000 stories per week.
Examiner is currently looking for Canadians who are "passionate about their interests and areas of expertise" to join one of the markets' local sites. When Examiner chooses a writer, they provide training on how to write articles. All writers are paid based on performance and other metrics.
Video might've killed the radio star, but the Web sure hasn't killed music videos. Less than a week after News Corp.-owned social site MySpace announced its MySpace Music Videos portal, video search engine Blinkx announced the debut Tuesday of "Blinkx Music," a search tool specifically designed to trawl through music videos across the Web.
"There are hundreds of thousands of music videos available on the Web today which makes it nearly impossible to navigate and find what you are looking for," Blinkx founder and CEO Suranga Chandratillake explained in a release. "Based on the success of blinkx Remote, our online TV guide, we recognized there was a need to help organize music videos and make them easily searchable on the Web. By leveraging our award-winning video search index, we built Blinkx Music to help our users find their favorite music videos quickly, easily and in one place."
Blinkx says that its search engine has thus far indexed more than 33,000 hours of music videos from about 10,000 artists. While it says that Blinkx Music will let users "post comments and interact with other fans, and also offers background information about bands and their work," the release doesn't say whether it will provide links to streaming or download partners, from which it could potentially rake in revenues shares.
But this is a tight space, and MySpace's music video portal won't be Blinkx Music's only competitor. Universal Music Group is still putting together Vevo, a Hulu-like portal for music videos that aims to bring artists and labels the revenues they might not be getting from YouTube (though the Google-owned video platform is providing Vevo's technology).
Also looming in the background is Google's forthcoming music offering, which the company plans to formally unveil in a press event on Wednesday in Los Angeles. This could instantly run away with a huge market share in music video (and music download) search.
Some background on Blinkx: it's a publicly traded company based in the U.K. It merged with a search engine called Autonomy and then was spun off from it when it went public in May 2007. When rumors started to swirl last year that Google and News Corp. (which, coincidentally, owns MySpace) were interested in acquiring it, shares of Blinkx stock soared.
A correction was made at 11:31 a.m. PT on November 2: Blinkx has been de-merged from Autonomy.
There have been dozens, maybe hundreds, of companies that have tried to create useful Web browser start pages and content aggregation sites. Popular themes include RSS readers, widget collection pages, and user-filtered news hubs. I've seen and tried a lot of them but rarely use them after a quick look. A new project, iCurrent, has potential to break out of that swamp for me and other users.
iCurrent contains no magical thinking or head-slappy reconceptualizations of news. It's just an aggregation service done well, with useful and clear features for users, and a straightforward sharing mechanism.
You tell iCurrent what you're interested in (examples: Windows 7, Formula 1, the Public Option), and the system will find stories on that topic from its solid lineup of sources, and create a "channel" for you that exists in one of its mainstream categories (in my examples: Technology, Sports, Health).
I found that the system picked good stories in my channels, and from good sources, and that it categorized them mostly correctly. It's easy enough to recategorize topics and add or remove news items. For example, I wanted news on "San Francisco Muni," but iCurrent originally put it in "Business." I moved it to "News." I also added CNET News to the "Sources" list for the topic, just in case we ever cover it.
The iCurrent main screen blends your custom content with news categories you haven't yet flagged (orange box).
(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)On the front page of iCurrent, you get stories from your designated topics in the middle column of the page, and general and trending news on the right. The blend is important -- it keeps you informed on topics you might not be looking for. And it's how you build up your channels at first, by adding topics from the general stories you see.
If there's a channel you like, you can invite other users to it, and invite them to join iCurrent in the process. If you invite someone outright, you can also pre-populate their channel lineup with your channels. This is an important method to spread the love on iCurrent, as it's going to be hard, otherwise, for people to hear about this product. And, as CEO Ramana Rao told me, "Google will probably whack it," meaning that iCurrent stories won't show up in the Google index.
Not that they should. The service doesn't repackage stories, it just links to them. When you want to read a story, you get it from the original source, with a frame at the top (which can be disabled) that leads you back to iCurrent.
iCurrent rewards the engaged reader, but it doesn't require much work at all to make it a compelling experience. As I said at the top of this story, there's nothing really amazing here, just a good understanding of how today's users consume news, and enough technology to put that news in front of them.
It's fast and easy to add sources to the default list for any category.
(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)There are some improvements that I'd like to see: The interface is just a little busy when it comes to adding and removing sources and channels, although it's not unclear. More importantly, coverage of local news is not that good, which is a shame in a news reader that can be highly personalized. I'd also like to see a mobile version.
The product is in private beta now and should be available shortly. You can sign up to be alerted when it goes public. I recommend that.
Rao says iCurrent will make money from advertising. It might. It's more likely it'll make money when Yahoo or Microsoft buys it.
See also: Meehive, YourVersion.
If you're a blogger, you know that finding images, videos, and audio for your blog without worry of copyright issues can be difficult. Either the content is copyrighted, or you need to pay for it. In either case, it's not as tempting as freely available, copyright-free media.
Luckily, there are resources across the Web that allow you to use multimedia content for free with some simple attribution. It's a great way to add interesting flavor to your blog without worry of copyright issues.
Let's take a look:
Go public
Creative Commons A search for public-domain multimedia content usually starts with Creative Commons. The site is one of the best places to go, if you're looking for content to add to your blog.
When you get to Creative Commons, you'll find a search box where you can input a query. From there, a handy tabbed-browsing interface is shown, allowing you to send your query to Google search, Google Images, Flickr, and more.
Creative Commons' site is quick to point out that all the searches bring you to third-party sites, and there's no guarantee that the content is free to use, but you'll notice under the search box that the page automatically searches for content that's "free to use, share, or modify, even commercially."
I've used the search engine on numerous occasions and had some success using it. Try out Creative Commons, if you want to search several sites for some photos.
Creative Commons' tabbed search feature.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)EveryStockPhoto EveryStockPhoto is a search engine for those who want free, public-domain photos to use on their site.
Overall, I was really impressed by EveryStockPhoto. When you get to the site, you have the option of viewing photos in popular categories or using the page's prominent search box to find photos. When you search the site, it finds images from several resources, including many of those mentioned in this roundup. Flickr is one of its most used sources.
When you click on an image in EveryStockPhoto, you can see who owns it, the licensing rights associated with it, and more. I really liked EveryStockPhoto. Check it out.
EveryStockPhoto helps you find public-domain images across the Web.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)
Jeff Immelt holds the GE Vscan ultrasound scanner.
(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--In a wide-ranging interview at the Web 2.0 Summit, Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, announced a low-cost and very portable ultrasound scanner called the Vscan.
"It's about the same size as a BlackBerry," Immelt said, holding up a white device that appeared to fold in the middle like a flip-phone. The top of the device showed an ultrasound image (of a patient's liver, we were told), while the bottom showed control keys.
"This is Moore's law," he said, saying that the device had the same power as a console ultrasound from two to three years ago that would cost $250,000.
The price of the device was not revealed, but Immelt asked the audience to imagine these devices going to Africa and helping health care providers there determine "if a baby is breech," for example. "This could be the stethoscope of the 21st century," he said.
Immelt also gave a demo of an enhanced online medical records system, in which patient data is combined with clinical outcome data and research to help caregivers apply effective and current treatments to patients. Medical records, he said, don't win only because they give patients portable electronic files, but rather, "it's about making better clinical decisions faster."
On the topic that the Web 2.0 audience was expecting to learn more about, the potential sale of GE's NBC Universal, Immelt said, "An IPO would be fine." Also: "You've got to think a couple of years head in this space and think, there might be other partnerships. We've got all the options."
See also: Comcast CEO: We are not a dead duck.
If you're expecting to get updates from celebrities on all their latest movies, you might be disappointed: Hollywood might be trying to curb celebrity use of social networks.
A Hollywood Reporter blog post recently reported that "there's a growing number of studio deals with new language aimed specifically at curbing usage of social-media outlets by actors, execs and other creatives." The studios hope confidential information about the films they're producing won't leak out on major social networks.
The Hollywood Reporter, Esq. blog reported that both Disney and DreamWorks have already added clauses to their talent contracts. A clause from Disney says that the actor should not make information available "via 'interactive media such as Facebook, Twitter, or any other interactive social network or personal blog.'"
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For its part, DreamWorks said Wednesday that no such clause exists in its talent contracts. "Everyone is allowed to use Twitter and other social networks," a company representative told me in a phone conversation.
It was originally believed that Cameron Diaz and Mike Myers were among the first celebrities to be affected by a reportedly new anti-social-media clause included in talent contracts from major studios.
According to DreamWorks, all of its contracts for anyone involved in a movie feature standard, "boilerplate" language saying the signer cannot mention their work on the movie until the studio has made an official announcement. After that, everyone working on the film (including celebrities), are free to talk about their films on any social-media platform.
In the end, it's not all that surprising that the film industry might be targeting social media. Earlier this year, the National Football League made its social-media policy public. That policy banned tweeting prior, during, and after a game for all players, coaches, referees, and media on-hand.
But whether targeting social networks is really the right move is up for debate. The Hollywood Reporter said that the new clauses might have been a reaction to leaks by celebrities tweeting information before it was supposed to come out. Paula Abdul, the publication said, announced her decision on Twitter to leave "American Idol," surprising Fox executives. Hollywood is trying to limit such leaks going forward.
It's understandable. And Hollywood has always limited what the talent can say about films. But is social media really the best target? Is it not a fine promotional tool? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Updated at 9:43 a.m. Wednesday PDT to include comments from DreamWorks.
When I lived and worked in Warsaw, Poland, just before the turn of the century, I had a client who was about to make a TV spot. The client insisted on a Polish director. We offered the name Marek Dawid.
"Who's his DP (director of photography)?" the client asked.
"Pawel Edelman," was the answer.
"Oh, I'm not having two Jews on my shoot," came the reply, which was both stunningly anti-Semitic and frighteningly stupid, as Edelman went on to be DP on such movies as "The Pianist."
I tell this story only because Poland, despite its pride in being the only European country occupied by Nazis that didn't have a collaborator government, is not devoid of anti-Semitic attitudes.
This is why many will welcome the creation of an Auschwitz Facebook site.
According to the BBC, the authorities at Auschwitz, as bleak and frightening a place as you can ever visit, view the site as an experiment but hope that it will be a lasting reminder to younger generations of the concentration camp's painful significance in history.
Pawel Sawicki, a museum official at Auschwitz, told the BBC, "If our mission is to educate the younger generation to be responsible in the contemporary world, what better tool can we use to reach them than the tools they use themselves?"
These tools are already being used, after all, by those who seek to deny that the Holocaust ever happened, which has led to much controversy as to whether they contravene Facebook's terms of service.
The new Auschwitz Facebook site allows for discussion and, as yet, nothing has been posted by deniers.
However, it will be interesting to see whether, over time, it will serve as a lasting reminder when there is no one still alive who personally experienced Auschwitz's horrors.
Article updated at 5:00 pm to correct mIQ media sharing details.
Best Buy Mobile's mIQ dashboard is easier on the eye.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Microsoft introduced its My Phone service last week, an online dashboard for managing and sharing the contents of your mobile phone. We liked some aspects, and critiqued some others. Ultimately, we wished that Microsoft had teamed up with its Seattle neighbor, connected services startup Dashwire, whose legacy dashboard did much of the same thing as My Phone does now, but did it better. Dashwire has since turned its standalone product into a platform. Best Buy Mobile snapped up a license and is now offering its own sync-and-share service, called mIQ (short for mobile IQ).
I know what you're thinking: The T-Mobile Sidekick backup service just failed, and the blame is Microsoft's. Why trust its My Phone service at all? But backup isn't the point of these services. They're about management. Moreover, comfortably managing the contents of your smartphone from a screen and keypad that's larger than anything you can get on your smartphone. And if you delete a number or photo from the Web or phone, it's gone. Neither of these services intends to save it, but they do intend to make it available online.
So now that that's clear, it's time for a throwdown.
My Phone and mIQ both download small clients to the mobile phone. From there, they bidirectionally sync the phone's contents to an online dashboard. My Phone is limited to Windows phones, but mIQ is free for anyone with a BlackBerry, Symbian, or Windows phone.
Features
We'll say right off the bat that Microsoft's My Phone is richer in feature types overall compared with Best Buy Mobile's mIQ. ... Read more
Carol Bartz will bring Yahoo back to the CES keynote stage this January, the Consumer Electronics Association announced Tuesday.
Yahoo has given CES keynotes in the past but skipped last year, presenting instead a press conference on its Yahoo Connected TV project. Bartz will speak on Thursday January 7, 2010 in Las Vegas, when she might have a different set of businesses to present to the crowd.
CES has been morphing into a hybrid show for years, traditionally a consumer electronics showcase but increasingly bringing in the likes of Yahoo, Ford, and entertainment companies. Yahoo stuck to the consumer electronics script in its last couple of keynotes, including one gaffe-prone affair in 2006 where Tom Cruise rescued then-CEO Terry Semel.
But the leader of Yahoo's Connected TV group announced plans to leave this week, prompting speculation that Bartz is thinking about adding that group to the list of properties she'd like to shed. Instead, Yahoo may be planning to use its CES slot as a promotional vehicle for its media properties, which are slated to receive some investment as Yahoo winds down other businesses.
