They're back: Orkut is back online. Here's a brief history of social networking sites from Traffick.
IP-Off?: Google to delay IPO?
MSN Search Beta: Not very exciting at the moment. More to be revealed, undoubtedly....
Medical Search: New medical search engine, MediSeeker.
Ronnie James Dio for President: Har! Could do worse....
Master-baiting: Andrew O hot on the heels of Google's new social networking service. However, fair enough. The service lost a lot of momentum when it was (cough) yanked back offline due to some "bugs". When will it be back? Dunno, Orkut don't say. Watch this space.
IPO: Creeps closer.
Selling: Confessions of a car salesman.
Trendspotting: One newsletter I like a lot is this one: Springwise. It profiles emerging trends and consumer patterns (in the offline world, mostly) and outlines potential opportunities.
Wanna be friends?: I've been playing around with Orkut, the social network service from Google. Fun. Want an invite? Drop me a line: peter.davanzo[at]searchengineblog.com and say "Yo!". You can be my friend.
Oh Behave!: Google bouncing around again. Update Austin.
Better forms: Simple tricks for more usable forms.
Hey Yah: Charlie Brown does Outkast. Cute.
Why the delay with E-Spotting?: Wonders an alert reader. FindWhat.Com to provide business update on February 9th.
Music Search Engine: MusicPlasma. Very cool.
Being sociable: Google quietly releases a social networking service called orkut. I don't know if "quietly" means having the announcement turn up on major search news sites, but there you go ;)
Money in parking: Thought provoking thread about AdSense and domain parking.
Booble: Ha. Funny guys.
Looksmart sold: LookSmart will be wound down in Australia, after its local assets were sold to Telstra's directory and online marketing company Sensis. Thanks to Sophie for the tip.
Mistackes: Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)
If it looks like a portal..: In an on-going effort to increase the size of their ad distribution channel, Google is reportedly developing an e-mail service.
In or out?: MSN finally show Looksmart the door. So say some.
Mix it up: Mix your site with another site. The Google example is rather amusing. Also, the State of the Union drinking game. Given those rules, most people would be under the table within the first few minutes.
Magnificent: Superb, ground-breaking article about keywords that sell. Oh, ok. I wrote it. There may be some bias in this post.
Smokin':Yahoo! Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2003 Financial Results. "Strong increase in revenues from Yahoo!'s search and marketplace properties".
Alive & Kicking: Is SEO dead? Danny Sullivan says it isn't. So there you have it.
Say that when you're drunk: There's a Gaggle chasing Google. Article looks at the upcoming tea party featuring MSN/Yahoo/Google.
This post is being made purely to annoy Dave: Basement Jaxx, The Darkness, The Strokes, Dandy Warhols, Muse, Flaming Lips. And More. And I'm going tomorrow.
Overture are due to open in Australia soon. Their site is online, but not fully operational as yet.
Scoop: (always wanted to say that) - Google announce new features:
Maps
Users who enter area codes such as [650] into the Google search box see a map of that geographic region at the top of the results page. Example here.
Universal Product Codes (UPC)
Users can find more information about a specific product by entering its UPC code (the number on the bottom of a bar code typically displayed on product packaging) into the Google search box. Example here.
Flight tracking
Users can enter flight numbers such as [usair 50] into the Google search box to see a direct link to flight status information. Example here
Vehicle ID (VIN) numbers
Entering a Vehicle ID number or (VIN) leads to a link for a page with more information about the year, make and model of a specific car.
U.S. Postal Service tracking numbers
By entering USPS tracking numbers into the Google search box, users see a direct link to the USPS website and information about the status of their package.
Deconstruction: How to deconstruct almost anything - A postmodernist adventure
Stand and deliver: SCO reportedly in "low level" talks with Google about "extracting" royalties. Low level? Did SCO's lawyer get past the receptionist?
Froogle: A useful primer.
More on AdSense: Andrew Goodman responds to the House of Cards article from last week.
All thumbs:The Open Thumbshots Project adds thumbnail screenshots to the DMOZ directory.
House of Cards: Danny Sullivan pointed out this article in his latest newsletter: Google's House of Cards. The article suggests that AdSense should become more transparent.
Shots fired: The year has only just got underway and already Yahoo are making big noises in the press. This article mentions that Yahoo are about to drop Google within "months". Inktomi not quite ready?
