NEWS: Support Grows for Universal Power Adapter

Ed: My little bro...

Support Grows for Universal Power Adapter

James Niccolai, IDG News Service

RELATED TERMS:

• Westinghouse Electric Corporation
• Darwin Chang
• Greg Lefebre
• Frank Paniagua
• Motorola Inc.
• Armando Castro
• Broadcom Corporation

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Friday, June 13, 2008 6:20 PM PDT

A technology that could help the environment by eliminating the need to ship a power adapter with every electronics device got a vote of confidence Friday from consumer electronics maker Westinghouse Digital Electronics.

Westinghouse said it had committed to using a smart power technology developed by a start-up company, Green Plug, that aims to let people use a single "universal adapter" to power their laptops, cell phones and other electronics gear.

Most products today ship with a custom adapter that converts AC power from a wall socket into the correct DC power required for each device. Green Plug's technology allows each device to communicate its individual power requirements to the power adapter, allowing several devices to share one adapter.

The technology's success depends partly on getting support from electronics manufacturers, who will need to embed Green Plug's firmware into their devices so that they can send their power requirements to the adapter. That's why Westinghouse's support is significant.

"We know we're not the largest [electronics company] but we are the first, and somebody has to be first," said Darwin Chang, CTO of Westinghouse, which makes LCD televisions, computer monitors and digital photo frames.

Besides helping the environment, the Green Plug technology will also help Westinghouse to cut its costs, Chang said. Eventually it could stop shipping power adapters with its products because customers will already have a universal adapter at home, he said...

Green Plug Signs on Westinghouse

from Engadget by Darren Murph

Remember Green Plug? That universal connector we detailed last month which aims to replace wall warts and help Mother Earth out in the process? Turns out, said outfit has just landed its first real believer as Westinghouse committed to using the smart power technology. Chang is hoping that utilizing said tech will help it cut costs by eliminating the need to ship power adapters with its wares, but we'd say that's being pretty optimistic. Really, the only way that will go over well is if hordes of other firms jump on the (currently desolate) bandwagon in short order -- any takers?

NEWS: Yahoo Customers Pan Google Ad Deal

Yahoo Customers Pan Google Ad Deal

By Betsy Schiffman June 13, 2008 | 7:17:12 PMCategories: Google  

Just one day after Yahoo announced a plan to outsource some of its ad business to Google, marketers say they plan to cut their spending on Yahoo and take their business elsewhere. 

"As far as Yahoo goes, this [deal] will cannibalize their search business," says George Kepnick, an internet marketer and co-founder of DottedOnline. "The quality of the Yahoo pay-per-click system has gone down the drain, and it seems like they did [the Google deal] to bail out instead of listening to advertisers and figuring out how to fix the system. From the sound of it, this is terrible news for everyone."

Right now Kepnick estimates he spends about 85 percent of his marketing budget on Google; about 10 percent on Yahoo; and around 5 percent on Microsoft. Three months from now -- or whenever the Google-Yahoo ad agreement goes live -- he expects he'll spend 95 percent on Google and maybe 5 percent on Microsoft, possibly bypassing Yahoo altogether.

He's not alone. Internet marketing forums -- such as WebmasterWorld and Digital Point -- were aflutter with comments from advertisers who were trying to figure out how they'll be affected by the new deal. Some were optimistic that Google could help improve Yahoo's ad platform.

"I think Yahoo's system is flaky at best. Replacing any of it with Google ads is only a good thing for me. I'm sure your mileage will vary," wrote one marketer in a WebmasterWorld forum.   

Others declared it a decisive victory for Google.

"At any rate, this makes [Google's] AdWords even more powerful and they have been raising the minimum bids on keywords swiftly and steeply. Now your cheap clicks on Yahoo will be buried or replaced by higher-priced AdWords advertisers," said another marketer in the same forum.

And while it's all speculative now, marketers are already threatening to pull the plug -- or at least reduce -- their spending on Yahoo.

"My spend on Yahoo may go down if they're just going to serve Google ads," says Brian Waldman, a Boston-based internet marketer. "The more choices you have as a consumer, the more likely you are to have more competition and better prices . . . I don't know a lot of people in my industry who would look at the concept of bigger Google as a good thing."

It's bound to be a great thing for Google, though. Though the company has spun the agreement as a charitable deed, the deal will keep Yahoo out of Microsoft's clutches and could potentially grows Google's revenue.

"Why did we make this agreement? Quite simply, we think it is good for users, advertisers and publishers. By offering Google's industry-leading technology to Yahoo!, the whole system becomes more efficient, and everyone benefits," said Omid Kordestani, vice president of global sales and business development at Google, in an official blog post.

Because ads served on Yahoo will be sold through an auction system there's no way of knowing how the agreement could affect ad rates -- if at all -- but some marketers already argue that Google holds too much control of ad prices in the search market; when it tweaks its algorithm or reduces the number of ads on a page, rates on certain ads could rocket.

"In the search marketing community, we all want there to be a more equal spread between the three main search platforms," Waldman says.

Google-Yahoo Poses Ad-Rate Worries

BY JESSICA E. VASCELLARO AND EMILY STEEL

Word Count: 668  |  Companies Featured in This Article: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft

Some marketing executives said they are fearful that a new partnership between Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. may raise advertising rates while reducing control over where their ads are displayed.

But others cautioned that the impact of the deal -- announced Thursday as Yahoo ended talks about selling its search business to Microsoft Corp. -- remains unclear. They said a lot hinges on how Yahoo chooses to implement the complex agreement and whether Yahoo continues to give advertisers incentives, such as higher placements, for working with it directly.

"You have a lot of moving parts, and I don't think anyone ...

View	BRAND: Yahoo==Alice in Wonderland, a little lost

AdNets Weekend

Locale Media Launches Local Advertising Network Market Wire (press release) - Jun 12, 2008 NEW CANAAN, CT--(Marketwire - June 12, 2008) - Locale Media announced today that it has launched an advertising network focused on serving local advertisers ...

EBay ends Media Marketplace experiment Bizjournals.com, NC - 18 hours ago ... Networks Inc. were among the few networks to participate, leaving the service with a limited amount of airtime. The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, ...EBAY

Adknowledge Launches Social Advertising Network in UK Office Market Wire (press release) - Jun 11, 2008 KANSAS CITY, MO--(Marketwire - June 11, 2008) - Adknowledge announced today that it has launched its social advertising network in the UK. ...

LIVENEWS.com.au

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ClickZ News

Questions for Phil Rosenberg on Sony's In-Game Ad Plans ClickZ News, NY - Jun 12, 2008 Q. Since Sony is willing to work with multiple in-game advertising networks, are you open to working with Massive? What about Google? ...

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Ripple Joins Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB) Business Wire (press release), CA - Jun 11, 2008 On behalf of its members, OVAB seeks to foster ongoing collaboration between agencies and out-of-home video advertising networks; provide standards, ...

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Federated Media Publishing Introduces Conversational Measurement ... Trading Markets (press release), CA  "One of the greatest barriers that we ve seen for marketers in social media has been a general lack of standards and tools for campaign measurement and ... Federated Media Publishing and Editor of PC World Introduce New ...Trading Markets (press release)

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BRAND: Yahoo==Alice in Wonderland, a little lost

Yahoo: Google Deal Will Help Us Where We're Weak, Bring In $800 Million A Year (YHOO, GOOG)

from Silicon Alley Insider by Dan Frommer

Here goes nothing: After rebuffing Microsoft's $44.6 billion offer, Yahoo is accepting a helping hand from Google, via a 10-year, non-exclusive search advertising deal.

The plan: Yahoo will be able to run Google ads on its U.S. and Canadian search results -- where and when it wants to -- and will continue to sell its own ads via Panama. Yahoo estimates the deal could generate $800 million in annual revenue and $250-450 million in incremental operating cash flow -- but little to no cost savings.

What Yahoo's not doing: Entirely outsourcing search to Google or getting a huge, up-front check. What it is doing, according to president Sue Decker: Using Google ads where they perform better than Yahoo's, like "long-tail" search queries, and keeping its own ads on more mainstream queries, where it thinks it can do better. In addition, Yahoo could end up helping Google with display ads, president Sue Decker said on a conference call...

Yahoo-Google: Analysts: Yahoo Mortgaging Its Future ; No Regulatory Slam Dunk; MSFT-YHOO Still?

from paidContent.org by Joseph Weisenthal

You already know how the market reacted to yesterday's news: Shares of Yahoo got slammed, as an ad deal with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) was seen as a poor substitute to a full or partial sale to Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). Even after yesterday's swoon, the stock is off another 4 percent today to around $22.50—the lowest its been since Microsoft's initial offer back in February. So as dreams of a sale fade, what does the Google deal mean for an independent Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO). Analysts are busily sounding off this morning:

-- Ben Schachter, UBS: In the short term, yes, this is a boost to cash flow, so that's good (Yahoo estimated yesterday it would contribute an incremental $250-$450 million to operating cash flow). But as Schachter asks: "At what long-term cost?" Despite insistence from Yang and Decker that Yahoo remains a "must buy" the agreement makes the company less relevant in terms of offering a full spate of advertising options. And if you thought that this was the end of the saga, Schachter disagrees: "We continue to believe that, at some point, MSFT will acquire all of YHOO. Unfortunately, for all of us that are beyond tired of the constant news flow and speculation around a possible MSFT/YHOO deal, this GOOG/YHOO agreement will not put us out of our misery as we still think MSFT needs YHOO." He also wonders about a comment that Decker breezily made during the Q&A about helping Google with display stuff on their own properties: "Sue Decker's somewhat coy comments about the potential for GOOG and YHOO to work together in some manner on display ads should raise a lot of eyebrows as it begs a whole new set of questions and spurs more speculation."

-- Jim Friedland, Cowen: Incremental revenue, yes. Strengthened position? Not so much. Even if monetization improves, the deal doesn't change the fundamental picture at Yahoo, as a company losing share, user engagement, facing a weak economy. He also notes that regulatory approval may not be a slam dunk: "We believe Microsoft will immediately begin to lobby in Washington against the deal." (No doubt on that.) And the possibility of Microsoft-Yahoo at some point? "A deal is less likely than it was a few weeks ago, but not impossible. Microsoft holds most of the cards and could hold out for a lower price. After all, its bid has dropped from $40 to $35 to $33 (via $31) over the past year."

-- Jeff Lindsay, Bernstein: This deal only represents $3 of incremental value per share. For one thing, Yahoo can not eliminate Panama to realize cost savings (note: the company said on yesterday's call that cost savings were not part of th equation) and the outsourcing agreement doesn't apply to all of its inventory. And it's not necessarily over for Microsoft: "Yahoo! management clearly believes that this development finally marks the end of Microsoft's interest in Yahoo! as detailed in a press release from Yahoo! after yesterday's close. We are not so sure." He also wonders if all this talk about how it's just about the long tail of search is just posturing for the upcoming regulatory review. Also, for Google he estimates the deal is worth about $15 per share.

-- Mark May, Needham: Key takeaway: Yahoo's estimated cash flow gains may be overly ambitious. They're not a sure thing (note: they're also pretty wide). Again, the deal diminished Yahoo's relevance in the space.

-- Ross Sandler, RBC: This is all good from the perspective of the Googleplex. The termination of Yahoo-Microsoft discussions is good, and there's potential for $700 million in incremental cash flow once the deal is up to speed. Shares of Google are up over 2 percent today.

-- Mark Mahaney, Citi: Yahoo's cash flow estimates are realistic based on Citi's own analysis. Google may be the big winner.

Massive Destruction Of Shareholder Value, Employee Morale and Internet Balance Of Power

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

I don’t believe that there is anything Yahoo could do at this point to further destroy their business that would surprise me.

At 1:35 pm EST yesterday we posted that we believed Yahoo would announce a search marketing deal with Google, essentially ending their negotiations with Microsoft and, pending government approval, sealing Google’s monopoly position in search marketing. Twenty-five minutes later a massive sell off of Yahoo stock began - the company lost billions in market valuation over the course of the next hour as the market made it’s bets on the news.

At 3 pm EST Yahoo announced that all talks with Microsoft were formally off, and the stock fell further. It eventually climbed back a little, but by the end of the trading day, $3.6 billion had been removed from the pockets of Yahoo stockholders. Well after trading ended, Yahoo confirmed our original report that they’d signed a deal with Google to hand over much of their search marketing business...

Yahoo Loses Two More: Fayyad and Zawodny

by Mark Hendrickson

Yesterday we reported that Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of Yahoo’s network division, had submitted his resignation. Now we are hearing of two more prominent departures from the beleaguered company.

NYT Bits is reporting the departure of Usama Fayyad, chief data officer and EVP of research and strategic data solutions, which is expected to be officially announced later today. According to the report, Fayyad has been “in charge of mining the terabytes of data collected by the company to improve things like the targeting of ads and content to Yahoo users.”

Veteran developer Jeremy Zawodny also has announced on his blog that he will turn in his purple badge within the next few weeks. Zawodny has been with Yahoo since 1999, helping to spearhead important projects like the Yahoo Developer Network...

Yahoo Cost Freeze (YHOO) Means Business Likely Weak--Microsoft Just Waiting To Buy Carcass?

from Silicon Alley Insider by Henry Blodget

We've received several reports of a cost freeze at Yahoo (YHOO). Some sources say it's a hiring freeze in early July; others say it's a hiring freeze until July. A reader has heard the clampdown includes travel and other expenses.

Enough to take to the bank? Not yet. But the reports dovetail with some Microsoft chatter about a deterioration in Yahoo's business and other reports about weakness in display advertising spending.

View	BRAND: Yahoo==Alice in Wonderland, a little lost

The Other Web 2.0 War -- Social Network vs. eMail

Facebook No Longer The Second Largest Social Network

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

It was sort of inevitable given Facebook’s monster growth over the last few years, but April 2008 was the milestone: Facebook officially caught up to MySpace in terms of unique monthly worldwide visitors, according to data released by Comscore and shown above. Both services are attracting around 115 million people to their respective sites each month...

MySpace: Check Out Our Redesign! Facebook: Check Out Our Huge Developer Conference!

from Silicon Alley Insider by Peter Kafka

Dueling announcements from social networking's biggest players today: MySpace (NWS) announced that it was overhauling its design, while Facebook announced that it would be holding its second annual F8 developers' conference July 23rd.

It's possible that the timing of the two items are unrelated, but the news is very much intertwined, because the sites' fortunes are very much intertwined. MySpace's overhaul, for instance, comes on the heels of Facebook's overhaul: MySpace's do-over is designed in part to make it look more Facebook-y, while Facebook's facelift is designed to make it look less MySpace-y.

And Facebook's first F8 conference, held last spring, was the event that truly separated the network from the rest of the pack, by opening up its platform to outside developers -- a move that MySpace emulated earlier this year. Anyone want to venture guesses about what Facebook will announce this go-round? The comments section is all yours.

Redesign A First Step In Bringing Order To The MySpace Chaos

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

Los Angeles based social network MySpace, which has 115 million monthly visitors worldwide (Comscore, April 2008), will be launching a redesign of its site next week. The first phase of the project, internally called “MySpace 2.0,” will launch on Wednesday June 18.

The changes affect five major areas of the service: homepage, navigation, profile editor, search and the MySpaceTV Flash player...

Microsoft’s 320 million anti-Google weapons

from Scobleizer -- Tech geek blogger by Robert Scoble

Yesterday I was sitting in Brian Hall’s office when the Yahoo/Google news was breaking. Who’s he? The guy at Microsoft who runs most of the non-search Windows Live stuff. You know, Hotmail, Messenger, Spaces, and a bunch of other stuff.

We filmed a little fun cell phone video, but our longer interview will be up sometime over next few weeks.

In that he told me what Microsoft is going to do now that the Yahoo deal fell through. He admitted that he was one of the guys working on that deal.

His number one weapon to use against Google?

The 320 million active users of Hotmail and Messenger. That’s 320 million people who have signed into these services in the past 30 days (which, by the way, is WAY up from when I worked at Microsoft — when I worked at Microsoft they were saying 150 to 200 million). Keep in mind that Facebook looks like they just passed 100 million users, so you can see that these are still very popular services.

The trick is how do you get an email user turned into a user of a larger set of services...

Google Friend Connect Disabled By Facebook

from Publishing 2.0 by Scott Karp

Google is taking a big shot at Facebook in the PR war over data portability and social network interoperability. I signed in to Google Friend Connect, implemented on the Go2Web2.0 blog, and saw this:

Normally, you wouldn’t list a service that isn’t a partner, but in this case Google chose to list Facebook and let users know loud and clear that they can’t connect to their friends on Facebook because the feature has been DISABLED BY FACEBOOK.

Ed: Where is Yahoo with eMail, IM, 360, Del.icio.us, Flickr, MyBlogLog, Pipes, ... ???