Posts Tagged ‘Yahoo’
Facebook Chat Now Available in Your Favorite IM Client
Even though people send over 2 billion chat messages each day on Facebook Chat, it never really took on Google Talk, Yahoo or MSN for the obvious handicap of it being web-based. No more, Facebook has finally implement Jabber protocol for Chat. Jabber is the same open chat protocol, which runs Google Talk.
You can configure your favorite IM client such as iChat, Pidgin, Adium, Miranda and start chatting with your Facebook buddies without using your web browser or logging into Facebook.com. To learn how to configure your IM client and start chatting, please refer this page.
Those who intend to use Facebook Chat on their websites, mobile or other application, Facebook Connect for developers now supports Facebook Chat as well. AIM is one the first to implement Facebook Chat inside their new chat client. You can download the latest beta version of AIM here.
I think the main reason why Google Talk was so successful was because of its open chat protocol. It was so easy to use, and it was available everywhere. Now, Facebook is trying to do the same. I think it’s a step in the right direction for Facebook.
Microsoft’s Bing Gains from Google’s January Dip
Search engine rankings are never really all that surprising. Google is always first, Yahoo! is always second and Bing comes in third every month, without fail. Sometimes Yahoo! or Bing will rise or fall just a little bit and one will benefit from the other’s loss, but it’s never a massive drop.
January’s rankings were no different. Google came first, Yahoo! came second and Microsoft came third, experiencing a slight gain over the previous month. However, in a most unusual turn of events Microsoft has Google to thank for Bing’s gain this month.
According to ComScore (via CNet), Google’s dominant share of the search market slipped by 0.3 percentage points to 65.4 percent of all searches conducted in the U.S. As a result, Bing increased by 0.6 percentage points to 11.3 percent of all searches. Yahoo! lost another 0.3 percent, dropping to 17 percent of all searches.
Microsoft Bing has experienced almost consistent growth since it launched last May, rising from 8.4 percent in June to its current 11.3 percent.
Yahoo! Shuts Down GeoCities
Tue-Oct 27, 2009
San Francisco / Agence France-Presse
Yahoo! on Monday closed GeoCities, a free Web hosting service that it purchased for over three billion dollars at the height of the dot-com boom.
“We have enjoyed hosting websites created by Yahoo! users all over the world, and we’re proud of the community you’ve built,” the California-based Internet pioneer said in a message at the GeoCities website.
“However, we have decided to focus on helping our customers explore and build relationships online in other ways.”
Yahoo! said GeoCities would not be available after Monday and recommended GeoCities refugees set up new online homes at its paid Web hosting service, with an introductory offer of just five dollars for the first 12 months.
The closure of GeoCities comes a week after Yahoo! reported that aggressive cost-cutting helped it more than triple its net profit despite a 12-percent decline in revenue in its third quarter.
Yahoo! said net profit soared more than 244 percent in the quarter to 186 million dollars, or 13 cents per share, from $54 million, or four cents per share, a year ago, easily surpassing analysts’ forecasts.
The better-than-expected performance was due in large part to cost-cutting measures implemented by Carol Bartz since being named in January to replace Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang as chief executive.
Yahoo! has reduced its headcount by some 2,000 during the past year and presently has some 13,200 employees.
Yahoo! announced the planned closure of GeoCities early this year, saying it was “increasing investment in some areas while scaling back in others.”
GeoCities was founded in 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet and bought by Yahoo! during the infamous dot-com boom in Silicon Valley.
GeoCities provided people with tools to build interactive websites and eventually added chat forums and other community-oriented features.
Yahoo! eventually added fee-paying premium services in an effort to make money at GeoCities, which had trouble retaining users and getting profitable.
Google Increasingly Battles Facebook in Search
Google has long been the king of search, dominating rivals including Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. But it increasingly sees social networks such as Facebook as challengers to its search engine, a Google official said.
As people search out advice online for everyday, personal decisions, the standard list of links served up by Google is not seen as intimate or trustworthy, Google Group Product Manager Ken Tokusei said Monday. For decisions such as choosing a restaurant or a day care provider, social networking sites or known review sites have an advantage, he said.
Such sites offer information from friends or acquaintances, and Tokusei said users tend to trust that information more. This puts Google’s results at a disadvantage.
“We haven’t gotten to the point where results are seen as if they come from someone you know,” he said.
The search giant has begun to offer tools for users to rate results and delete unrelated links, but it still has work to do, he said.
As Internet users gain savvy and experience, they also expect better-honed answers to queries. Sites such as WolframAlpha, launched earlier this month, comb the Internet for data, and analyze it to provide specific answers to queries, rather than a list of sites.
Google Inc. does something similar for some searches, providing price quotes for “Sony stock” or an answer for “Tunisia capital.” But it also provides the familiar list of sites to dig further, a strategy it is unlikely to change.
“It’s a matter of determining what kind of information the user is looking for. But we will always serve some links to pages with our results,” said Tokusei.
He spoke to reporters at Google’s Japanese headquarters in Tokyo, where he gave an overview of the company’s basic search tools.
Google has developed a host of expanding tools and services, from a mobile operating system to an online word processor, but it devotes 70 percent of its employees and resources to search.
The company still faces fresh competition from its traditional rivals, which are regrouping in an attempt to take back market share.
Microsoft has failed to make much headway in repeated Internet ventures. But the deep-pocketed company, which has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into improving its search engine, continues to develop a new search technology, part of which is called “Kumo” internally.
Yahoo, which has seen its share of total online searches conducted plummet to Google, is tweaking its search results, cutting out some links and emphasizing images and video.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has said he is still interested in buying part of Yahoo after a proposed deal was turned down last year.
Yahoo! Expands Availability of Yahoo! TV Widgets on Sony’s BRAVIA LCD Televisions
Yahoo! announced the expanded availability of the Yahoo!(R) Widget Engine on Sony’s Internet-connected BRAVIA LCD TVs, providing consumers easy on-demand access to thousands of content sources, movies, TV shows, and Internet content. Consumers can check the latest videos on Showtime and the latest sports scores on USA Today, shop on eBay, play games, or catch up with their friends on Twitter and Facebook, all while watching TV. BRAVIA Internet Widgets powered by Yahoo! are now available in more than 100 countries across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
“Our expanded partnership with Sony increases the number of countries where Yahoo! TV Widgets are available by nearly seven-fold, enabling us to connect millions of additional consumers to compelling Internet content and services right on their TV,” said Jeff Kinder, senior vice president, Media Products and Solutions, Yahoo! Inc. “Yahoo! is delivering the right content on the right platforms — across mobile, PC, TV, and tablets — ensuring the best experiences for our users, publishers, and developers.”
The increased distribution of the Yahoo! Widget Engine provides developers and content creators with unmatched scale and the ability to reach millions of engaged consumers around the globe. With new Web-based development interfaces, publishers can easily create TV Widgets with the Yahoo! TV Widget Development Kit (WDK).