Search Engine Optimization News Blog

The entire world is closely watching what is happening in terms of Yahoo-Google deal. Google though it has postponing all active moves until a conclusion is reached by the Department of Justice, it is trying to defend its position through its newly launched website on Yahoo-Google Facts. In the midst of anxious waiting the event are taking a new turn with some support from the U.S. House of Representatives.

An 11-member group of the U.S. House of Representatives has shown some positive interest in this hot debate whether the Department of Justice should allow or not allow the deal. They have appealed to the U.S. Department of Justice not to block the deal between Google and Yahoo.

A letter was sent to the Department of Justice making the above appeal by all the Democrats of California. In their letter, they have indicated that the Department of Justice has not so far blocked any deal that is of non-exclusive nature such as the Yahoo-Google deal. In their letter they have stated that the following, “”We are deeply concerned that the Department of Justice may be considering a preemptive lawsuit to block Yahoo’s nonexclusive online advertising agreement with Google….If such action were taken, we believe such an unprecedented would detrimentally affect the online advertising market and electronic commerce.”

Lately, there has been a heavy speculation, which anticipated that, the agreement between Yahoo and Google the two largest online advertising companies will be blocked by the Department of Justice. The opponents of the deal fear that if the deal goes through, it would put about 90% of the advertising market in the hands of two people, Google and Yahoo. Such a monopoly will affect the entire online advertising market fear the opponents.

The House of Judiciary Antitrust Task Force has asked the Department of Justice to make an in depth analysis of the Yahoo Google intended deal. According to the reports of the Judiciary, the deal will thwart all competition in the online advertising market. It will block all the new companies that try to enter this field as the deal between Yahoo and Google will form a massive clout, which cannot be overcome by the new entrants.

As a counter argument, the lawmakers who have appealed to the Department of Justice not to block the deal have stated that there is a total misunderstanding of the deal and the fear is absolutely unfounded. Google cannot have control over the 90% of the ad market as feared. Perhaps this could result if it is a merger instead of a non-exclusive deal, which is currently proposed between Yahoo and Google. This deal or agreement is of nonexclusive nature, which allows Yahoo to continue with its own search advertising system as the deal does not bar any of Yahoo’s current activities. Moreover, Yahoo has its own plans to revamp its advertising system to match Google’s competition. Such being the case, there cannot be any rational fear about the deal.

It is likely that the deal will be signed in October 2008 with or without the approval of Department of Justice. Approval of Department of Justice is not essential to make a valid deal.

The US government is trying to get three bills through congress to force EBay and Craig’s List to police affiliates suspected of trafficking in stolen goods.

If the bills passed, the retail site would be required to turn over all information they gather to the authorities - which is a given - but the kicker is that they are prohibited from giving the suspect sellers any clue that they are being investigated.

Now, if the sellers are guilty, that is all good and well for them to get busted, but there are those who fear that such a blanket requirement could be abused. If a site is innocent but suspected, these sellers fear that repercussions could exist as a result of an investigation being undertaken without their knowledge.

Of course, the counter argument is that if you aren’t doing anything wrong, why should you e all worried, but then the rebuttal is what right does big brother have to invade innocent citizen’s privacy, and whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

The answer to that one is predictable - claim that there is a threat to national security and bring in the Homeland men in black. Organized retail crime syndicates are behind a large percentage of online fraud and shoplifting crimes on a large scale, so you might want to rethink that Victoria Secret purchase and err on the side of caution when it comes to stolen goods.

In the online world, stolen products that might only bring in 30% in the street jump to a value of 70% of retail. Many shoplifters and outright burglars are now hawking stuff online where the very fact that the items are NOT dirt cheap is working in their advantage. A Playstation selling for $80 won’t raise eyebrows like one sold for $30.

Unfortunately, the concept of abuse is not without some grounds, since there are people in the world who just like to throw sticks in other people’s wagon wheels. Under the proposed legislation, anyone could file a complaint stating they suspect a seller of trafficking stolen goods, whereupon the seller would be investigated without their knowledge and possibly have their site blacklisted or shut down. This seems grossly unfair, and doesn’t really seem to address the alleged problem if organized crime syndicates using the internet to launder stolen video games.

On the one hand, there is an increasing amount of fraud and theft; on the other, an unconstitutional law that is really toothless where it matters. Add to that the possibility of shoplifting finally being considered a disease on a par with gambling and you have the makings of a real SNAFU.

If Google has grown so huge in a short period then the credit goes to its futuristic thinking. Google is known for its abilities to get into the shoes of its consumers and come up with features and facilities that are intuitive. The same applies to Google’s vision for the Next Gen mobile network. Google has an entirely different vision for the mobile network if Google’s vision comes alive, then all the smart phones will be set free as they would not be limited to single network provider.

US Patent & Trademark Office has published an application which as been submitted by Google. According to this patent application, Google is having a grand vision whereby smart phones will be able to make user of an open network. Unlike today, a single network will not control mobile phones. In the new world vision of Google, the smart devices will be able to trace the fastest and the strongest network that is available in the open network and hook on to it automatically. Another factor that is used by these devises would be the competitiveness of the cost. In this new definition mobile network, all the operators will become ‘dumb pipes’ which means that the operator will only be selling the connectivity; all the content that is provided by others will pass through those connections.

Your smart device will detect signals depending on when you are at a given moment and if there is more than one network in a given place, the subscriber can choose the network that he likes to use. You can use a different network that is cheaper when you are using your phone for personal use and when you are at your office, you might prefer to use a premium connection to ensure high quality telephone link. Telephone operators can set their price in an auction environment so as keep their pricing more competitive.

There will also be a possibility for the subscribers to use low-cost network and free networks available in a given place. For instance, if you want to surf and need internet connection you can use a Wi-Fi connection that is present in the given location.

Currently, this is not the way mobile operators work. If you subscribe to a particular network you are tied up with it whether you have signals in a particular place or not. Some network providers have roaming facility available that comes at higher price than the normal pricing. Moreover, currently if you want to switch networks you will lose a lot of money and you must find a new handset that will work with your new service provider’s network.

If Google’s vision for the mobile networks becomes a reality then this will change the entire grammar of mobile communication and using the internet through our mobile phones too will become more prevalent than it currently is. Google’s overall plan is to provide an internet and mobile solution that will liberate the users from the network providers and be free to use any available network. When this opens, then all websites will have to be optimized for mobile viewing and the competition in the mobile network too has to be kept in mind while optimizing your website for search engines.

Digg is on the brink of major expansion, with Highland Capital Partners leading a pack of investors chipping in to the tune of 428.7 million in funding.

The investments plus the revenue to date will be used to significantly grow the Digg team, undertake massive new hiring and move the offices uptown to swanky new digs in San Fran.

Focus will be concentrated on foreign interests and language compatibility, as half of Digg’s 30 million users are outside the US, so international expansion is highly important.

The new and improved Digg site will include more ways to personalize, deeper category and topic content views, and an enhanced all around experience. Discovering and organizing content will be simpler, and there will be multiple new features based on feedback from users.

Looking forward to the upgraded Digg… oh, yes, and today’s top story - the death of Paul Newman, at age 83.

InJuly, Time Warner seemed to think that letting Yahoo have AOL in return for a stake was a good idea. That drifted past in the microsft / Yahoo / Google war, but there are again rumors that Carl Icahn is pushing for an AOL acquisition.

Some even seem to think that the merger would reopen the Microsoft offer, as a YahAOL would be more attractive and put a bigger dent in the Yahoogle partnership.

Of course, then it would be MicrAOLhoo, and this is just getting ridiculous. They’re definitely going to have to come up with some smoother acronyms.

Of course, everyone declines to comment, so sources have to be satisfied with the Financial Times assurance that the Yahoo board meeting (the first since Icahn’s installment on the board) included a decision to open up talks with AOL on the subject of a possible acquisition.