Webware

Google proposes fix for Europe's search competition concern

Google has submitted its ideas for how to address complaints in Europe that it uses its search power to benefit its other online properties.

Antoine Colombani, the European Commission's spokesman on competition policy, told Reuters that the move took place after the EC finished its years-long assessment of Google's search dominance and its effects:

In the last few weeks, the Commission completed its preliminary assessment formally setting out its concerns. On this basis, Google then made a formal submission of commitments to the Commission.

We are now preparing the launch of a market test to seek feedback from … Read more

Google makes 'ungoogleable' unusable in Sweden

Google has put some pressure on Sweden's Language Council after it tried to add "ungoogleable" to its list of words, according to a report out of the country.

Swedish news outlet Sverigesradio is reporting today that Google's lawyers contacted the Language Council after it announced that it would make "ungoogleable" (or, in Swedish, "ogooglebar") an official word. After "a long e-mail exchange" with the lawyers, the Council decided to drop its bid to make it a word, saying that it took "too much time and resources away from other … Read more

Yahoo brings back former employees with Jybe acquisition

Yahoo has picked up a new app and brought some former employees along for the ride.

Announced today, Yahoo has acquired Jybe, an iOS app that recommends books, movies, and restaurants based on a user's personal tastes. Jybe's service and app kicked off about two years ago.

The Jybe team consists of five people who used to work at Yahoo. The team will join Yahoo's platform organization to focus on targeting and personalization, according to the company.

"This will be a 'coming home' for the team -- all five are former Yahoos," Yahoo said in … Read more

Google might open up certain top-level domains to the public

Google appears eager to let other organizations use certain top-level domains that it wants to acquire and manage.

Last June, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers (ICANN) revealed which companies and organizations had applied for their own generic top-level domains (gTLDs). The effort is part of a move to foster competition on the Internet by allowing companies to use a greater variety of TLDs beyond just .com.

Google applied for 101 of the 1,900 available gTLDs, looking to score such obvious ones as .google, .chrome, .gmail, .goog, and .youtube. But along with those gTLDs were ones that … Read more

Google spars with Spain over data privacy

Google and Spain's data-protection authorities took to Europe's highest court, the European Court of Justice, to discuss whether the search giant has a responsibility to delete data that could infringe a person's privacy.

The issue at play relates to what is and what is not suitable for public consumption. Spain's regulators argued in the European court in Luxembourg today that Google must delete from its search results any information that would potentially hurt a person's privacy. Google, however, argues that it doesn't have a responsibility to wipe search results, and doing so could create … Read more

M&M's, Beyonce top Google searches on Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl fans took to the Internet yesterday to search for both people and products highlighted during the big game.

Sponsor M&M was the top search item on Google as it tried to woo people with its "Love Ballad" commercial. Singer Beyonce, who performed during the halftime show, took second place.

The teams actually competing in the game were next, with the Baltimore Ravens No. 3 and the San Francisco 49ers No. 4. And 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick rounded out the top five list.

Other searches that popped up on Google's radar included the half-hour … Read more

Shutterstock's new tools revamp photo and video search

It's a challenge for anybody selling a wide range of anything online: how do you get the right products in front of the right customers?

Shutterstock, which sells stock-art photos and videos to customers such as ad agencies and PowerPoint presenters, has the matchmaking problem in spades. With 550,000 active customers and more than 23.7 million images, pairing the right buyer with the right photo isn't easy.

Which is why the New York-based company, which went public last October, is retooling how it presents its products to better compete with iStockphoto and other rivals.

Shutterstock has … Read more

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer talks mobile strategy and more

Yahoo may not be known as a mobile player, but CEO Marissa Mayer sees partnerships as the key to mobile success.

In her first TV interview since becoming Yahoo CEO, Mayer spoke with Bloomberg TV earlier today at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Over the course of 30 minutes, she talked about Yahoo's mobile strategy, the company's culture, and the future of technology.

A transcript released by Bloomberg to Business Insider caught some of the highlights of the interview, which reportedly attracted a huge crowd in Switzerland.

One of the questions focused on … Read more

Google shares soar as analysts chime in on earnings

Google's shares are on the rise following a strong earnings report yesterday.

In early trading, Google's shares jumped more than 5 percent to $740.37. The company's stock price closed the day at $702.87 yesterday.

Google's share jump is due in part to Google's strong fourth quarter. The company beat analyst expectations during the period and posted a $2.9 billion profit on $14.4 billion in revenue. That performance helped Google post its first $50 billion revenue year.

It didn't take long for a slew of analysts to chime in on Google'… Read more