The letter singled out Google, the market share leader at 80 percent, for its privacy practices.

“Considering Google’s dominant position in almost every E.U. member state, with a market share of up to 95 percent in some national search engine markets, the company has a significant role in European citizens’ daily lives,” the European panel wrote. “The company’s apparent lack of focus in data retention is concerning.”

According to Yahoo!, people who use both Yahoo! and Facebook will now have access to the Facebook News Feed on the Yahoo! homepage, in Yahoo! Mail and other Yahoo! sites and services.

In addition, people who create and share information on Yahoo! sites (including Yahoo! News, Flickr and Yahoo! Movies) can now share content with friends on Facebook.

“From news to sports to entertainment, Yahoo! sites provide ideal experiences to share with friends,” said Ethan Beard, director of the Facebook Developer Network. “By integrating with Facebook on a global scale, Yahoo! is building upon an already valuable brand to give people easy ways to share the content they enjoy on Yahoo! with their friends on Facebook.”

While global availability of the co-branded products is expected to roll out in 2011, select offerings are projected to become available from the second half of 2010.

Steve Jobs has gone crazy. Taking the bait on a late-night e-mail from Valleywag Editor Ryan Tate, Jobs defended Apple’s App Store for offering “freedom from porn,” among other things.

Tate posted the entire back-and-forth, which began with his slightly drunken rage over an iPad commercial that promises a revolution. Tate tells Jobs that revolutions are about freedom: “If (Bob) Dylan was 20 today … Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with ‘revolution?’”

Jobs’ response:

“Yep. Freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’, and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is.”

After a thread of seven e-mails debating Apple’s ban on Flash for iPhone OS devices, the merits of native vs. cross-compiled apps, and a police raid on Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s home — another Gawker media blog along with Valleywag — Jobs dismissed Tate and writers in general:

“By the way, what have you done that’s so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others [sic] work and belittle their motivations?”

It’s certainly possible that Jobs didn’t write the e-mails himself, but they fit his profile: Concise, opinionated, and completely bereft of corporate speak. If Apple public relations was picking through each line, they didn’t change much. Besides, Jobs sent the e-mails between 12:52 a.m. and 2:20 a.m.

As for the content of Jobs’ e-mails, I agree with Tate that Jobs’ offer of “freedom from porn” is unsettling in an Orwellian sort of way. It’s also not true, as there’s plenty of sexual content to be had just by searching the Web in Safari; and some adult material is selectively offered for iPhones despite Apple’s policy against it.

More troubling is how Jobs’ definition of freedom entails shielding your eyes from offensive material, as Apple defines it. That’s a slippery slope, and it’s already caused trouble in Cupertino. I think there’s value in criticizing Apple on that front, even if you haven’t created tech products yourself.

Bizarre interpretations of freedom aside, I enjoyed reading the e-mail exchange between Jobs and Tate. There’s a difference between spin and opinion, and Jobs’ e-mails display the latter. I can’t say the same is true with Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, who has also sent e-mails to bloggers. Jobs is a perfect fit for Twitter, after all.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/196427/steve_jobs_spars_with_valleywag_editor_by_email.html

Steve Jobs Offers World ‘Freedom From Porn’

I didn’t plan to pick a fight with Steve Jobs last night. It just sort of happened: An iPad advertisement ticked me off; I sent the Apple CEO an angry email; he told me about “freedom from porn.”

The electronic debate proceeded from there.

Of course, there was a bit more to it than that. There’s the context: Jobs’ legal fight with my employer Gawker Media, over the handling of an iPhone prototype; my long-simmering worries about Apple’s growing power to limit self expression through its lockdown on iPad apps; and the fact that my wife, who might normally (and quite sensibly) veto the idea of spending Friday night sending email flames, was out of town.

So in retrospect I was primed to lash out. But there was some serendipity too: Watching a new episode of 30 Rock on my digital video recorder, I somehow failed to skip over an Apple ad I’d never seen before, one that billed the iPad as nothing less than “a revolution.” You can see an excerpt of the ad at the bottom of this post.

With a Stinger cocktail at my side, I dashed off a short, pointed question to Jobs’ well-known email address.

A few hours later—after midnight here in California—he got back to me. And I got back to him. And so on.

I didn’t identify myself as a writer for Gawker in my initial email, sent from my ryantate.com email address. But, as you’ll see in the exchange below, I eventually made my affiliation clear, and Jobs didn’t seem bothered. Between that and the fact that Jobs regularly uses emails to disclose new information to the public, knowing full well recipients now regularly make the exchanges public, I feel fine reproducing the thread below.

It’s a feisty discussion, as you’ll see. And heated, especially on my part.

Rare is the CEO who will spar one-on-one with customers and bloggers like this. Jobs deserves big credit for breaking the mold of the typical American executive, and not just because his company makes such hugely superior products: Jobs not only built and then rebuilt his company around some very strong opinions about digital life, but he’s willing to defend them in public. Vigorously. Bluntly. At two in the morning on a weekend.

As much as Jobs and his actions anger me, and as harsh as I was to him, I came away from the exchange impressed with his willingness to engage.

Some notes on the actual content follow after the emails. Click any message to enlarge:

A few notes on the emails:

• There’s something absurdly Orwellian about Jobs’ line that the iPad provides “freedom from porn.” It’s a statement I suspect will haunt him.
• My line about Flash and my MacBook Pro is silly; Flash as a Web plugin is, as I myself have written, a resource hog, no matter how well the miraculous battery in my Apple laptop handles that hoggery. There’s no telling how Flash might hobble my iPad”s A4 processor. But cross-compiled Flash apps are an entirely different matter: They run as native Objective C code, and Apple has a chance to review them for performance. Apple has never tried to argue that cross-compiled Flash wears batteries down any more quickly than other Objective C code, and in fact approved more than two dozen such apps before changing its policies.
• Speaking of regrettable lines: Why the heck did I bring up my wife in connection with “freedom from porn?” I was trying to say it’s a canard that porn somehow harms families, or something terrible and shameful, so I mentioned the other half of my family.
• I was a little unfair summarizing my contact with Time Inc.; the company has not “crowed” about its iPad bridge software, and in fact has plans to iteratively improve its iPad product. That line was based on email exchange that I had with a Time Inc. executive who was speaking off the record and not on behalf of the company. As such, I’ve blurred a name that I had no business dropping. But I do think, as I said, that a native Objective C app that merely contains magazine content, like Time‘s, is a lot less exciting than an app that has some real interactivity, even if it’s been cross compiled from Flash.

And here is the end of the iPad commercial that set me off:

Guess what search term was the top search term at Google, Bing and Yahoo for the month of March? It was Facebook! Hitwise released data for the four weeks ending March 27th saying that across the three major search engines, the top query is the term [facebook].

Of the search terms they tracked on Google, 1.17% of those searches were for facebook. Bing had more, with 2.6% and Yahoo saw 1.70%.

Here are the top ten search terms for the month of March at Google, Bing and Yahoo according to Hitwise:

Yahoo announced this morning that its services will be pre-loaded on millions of Samsung phones worldwide. The new deal expands a relationship between the companies that began in 2007. Samsung is the second largest handset maker in the world, by unit sales, according to hardware tracking firm Gartner.

Samsung is the third largest handset maker in the US but has a more limited presence in the all-important smartphone segment.

According to the press release one or more of the following services will appear on Samsung handsets, including Bada (Samsung’s OS) and Android phones:

* Yahoo! Mail
* Yahoo! Messenger
* Yahoo! Contacts and Calendar
* Yahoo! Mobile Front Page
* Yahoo! Search
* Yahoo! Flickr
* Yahoo! News
* Yahoo! Finance
* Yahoo! Weather

Among the big search players Yahoo was the early leader in mobile (including mobile advertising) but has lately been overshadowed by Google and and to a lesser degree Microsoft.

This is a major partnership and very significant mobile distribution relationship for Yahoo content and services — and potentially search.

Wall Street is a curious place. A number of companies last week and this week reported very strong revenues suggesting that the recession is in fact over. But investors, disappointed that performance wasn’t even stronger, punished their shares perhaps with more aggressive expectations than were justified under the circumstances.

Amazon and eBay are two examples of companies with strong revenues and income where investors sold off the stock. And so is Microsoft.

Redmond reported “record [fiscal] third-quarter revenue of $14.50 billion” with a 35% increase in net income. Investors responded by promptly selling Microsoft shares. Its stock fell about 4.5 percent in after-hours trading.

Microsoft’s revenue and income gains were driven largely by the success of Windows 7. Online ad revenue, the company said, grew 19 percent but the online services division, which houses Bing and advertising, saw a larger loss vs. last year: $713 million vs. $411 million.

During the earnings call Microsoft touted Bing’s growth and the approval of the Yahoo search merger. Bill Koefoed, GM Investor Relations, said the following:

Online advertising revenue grew 19%, primarily driven by search, which outperforms the market. We continue to be enthused with Bing’s momentum, which includes 10 consecutive months of share gains in the U.S. We ended the quarter with U.S. query share of 11.7%, according to comScore, 340 basis points higher than when we launched Bing last May.

The Yahoo search partnership implementation is underway and we’re working toward U.S. completion by the end of this calendar year and global completion by early calendar year 2012.

After Bing starts to see the benefit of Yahoo search traffic in 2011, we’ll see if that boosts online revenues in a meaningful way. In addition the release later this year of Windows (7) Phones will be significant in terms of Microsoft’s mobile outlook, which could uplift Bing if the phones are successful. Separately the KIN social networking phones could also positively affect Bing if they succeed as well.

Bing has a broader strategy and its success in mobile and off the desktop is not tied entirely to the success of Microsoft powered devices.

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HRH Media understands the intricacies of Search Engine Marketing (SEM), but what is it?

• Individuals corporations and businesses describe Search Engine Marketing as a practice that promotes websites by improving visibility in  Search Engines.

How can Search Engine Marketing (SEM) help me grow my business?

• HRH Media utilizes cutting edge products and services to optimize for Search Engine Marketing (SEM). HRH Media provides SEM campaigns that generate real world results for eCommerce Merchants and Websites that promote services. HRH Media provides full analytics and optimization pre-campaign, during and post-campaign.

I have an eCommerce website how can Search Engine Marketing (SEM) help me?

• HRH Media provides eCommerce Search Engine Marketing (SEM) solutions for online merchants by Merchant Advantage. As a Value Added Reseller (VAR) of Merchant Advantage, HRH Media provides you the tools to promote your Product Feed in “One Manageable Area.” Merchant Advantage gives your business the ability to promote your feed to all your favorite shopping channels such as Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Overstock, Google, PriceGrabber, and Shopping.com. Merchant Advantage has no limitations; it supports over 300 known channels.

• HRH Media offers Channel Management and Optimization Services of Merchant Advantage tools. We do just about everything you need for you data feed. HRH Media can optimize your Shopping data Feed, Product Optimization, Channel Optimization distribution and more.

• HRH Media manages PPC or Paid Inclusion campaigns for merchants who have as few as 1,000 sku’s to merchants with over 1 million sku numbers.

For businesses that require a more well rounded solution to promote their business, HRH Media offers services using techniques for both Paid Inclusion or PPC and Search Engine Optimized ranking.

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Social media optimization (SMO) is a group of tools for creating publicity through social media, online neighborhoods and public websites. Techniques for SMO contain adding RSS feeds, social news buttons (like the one below), blogging, incorporating third-party community functionality like images and videos. Social media optimization is linked to search engine marketing, but varies in several ways, principally the spotlight in driving traffic from sources other than search engines though improved search ranking which is also one of the advantages of successful SMO.

Social media optimization is linked as a practice of viral marketing where word of mouth is fashioned not by means of friends or family but with the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. Comparably with blogs achieves the same can be said of sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogosphere and special blog search engines.

Social Media optimization is regarded an essential piece of an online reputation management (ORM) or Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) strategy for organizations or individuals who care about their online presence.

San Francisco, California – - July 10, 2008 – Over 100 Internet marketers, advertisers and business professionals, joined industry experts from Microsoft, Google and other firms, at The Pay Per Click Summit in San Francisco.

One of the notable participants, included PPC Summit CEO Mary O’Brien, former Yahoo! Search Marketing Director, who was joined by Keynote speaker Jorie Waterman, Microsoft AdCenter Product Manager, and other industry gurus who shared proven strategies to increase online market share. During the two full days of training, expert trainers presented on these topics: search marketing, bid management, keyword targeting, B2B and B2C advertising, click fraud, landing page and website optimization, Google Adwords tools and other hot topics. For more information about these sessions or other industry trends, take advantage of the Internet Marketing tips covered in the PPC Summit Secrets Revealed email newsletter. Sign up information can be found at

www.ppcsummit.com/overview.html?PRW10.

PPC Summit has received positive feedback from many San Francisco attendees who have already implemented strategies resulting in higher sales and return on investment.

Attendees learned new insider information, strategies, tools, manuals and case studies to integrate into their marketing programs. Attendees had the opportunity to meet and discuss with industry experts how to better position their products/services and increase their search engine marketing results.

David Wagoner, a San Francisco attendee noted, ”My sales are up 350% and cost per sale is down 48.3% after incorporating the expert Pay Per Click and Search Marketing strategies I learned. You can count me in for the next Summit in Los Angeles.”

PPC Summit thanks those industry leaders who sponsored the event: Microsoft, Google, Business.com, Context Web, Engine Ready, Lyris HQ, BidHero, Saturn and Lutze Consulting. PPC Summit has opened registration for the next workshop coming to Los Angeles, September 25-26, held at the Omni Hotel where Microsoft and Google are set to speak. The PPC Summit expert trainers offer the latest industry technologies and strategies which draw many repeat attendees who want to stay abreast on industry information and maintain a competitive advantage.

Registration space is limited to ensure optimal training and provide ample time for attendees to network with the industry experts. All interested participants should register online before the early bird date to save $200.

To learn more, please visit: www.ppcsummit.com.

As part of the re- launch, Yahoo! China’s search brands, including Yisou.com, have been consolidated and rebranded as “Yahoo! Search”.

AJack Ma, CEO of Alibaba.com, which in October acquired the China business of Yahoo! Inc. and became the exclusive licensee to the Yahoo! brand and search technology in China, commented on the relaunch, ”Yahoo! China’s new direction can be summed up in one key word — ‘search’. This is the first big step we are taking to reshape the Yahoo! brand in China since taking over its operations. We have successfully married Yahoo!’s world-class search technology with Alibaba.com’s expertise in China, to build the best search engine for China’s Internet users.”

The re-launched site, at http://www.yahoo.com.cn , provides a simplified look and feel with a home page focused on search: Before November 9, 2005 http://www.xfn.com/adv/xprn/media110901.htm After November 9, 2005 Re-launch: Focus on Search http://www.xfn.com/adv/xprn/media110902.htm .

Yahoo! China is in second place in the China search market, on the heels of market leader Baidu by only 5% in terms of market share. According to the latest available independent study from iResearch (Q1 2005), Yahoo! China’s search properties had a combined market share of 32% as measured by search queries, placing Yahoo! China in the No. 2 position behind Baidu (37%) and well ahead of third-place Google (19%) in China.

Mr. Ma added, ”Search is an integral part of e-commerce. We will soon be launching an aggressive and innovative marketing campaign to promote Yahoo! China as China’s leading search destination. Just as we’ve surpassed tough competitors to become the market leader in China’s business-to-business and consumer e-commerce sectors, we expect Yahoo! China will take the lead in search.”

Yahoo! has a team of Chinese-speaking search engineers based in both China and Silicon Valley. According to the company, the partnership between Alibaba and Yahoo! Inc. will allow Yahoo! China to offer the best Chinese-language search technology to China’s Internet users.

John Wu, Alibaba.com’s Chief Technology Officer commented, ”To get it right locally, you have to have the right team globally. We have a team of world-class, Chinese-speaking engineers on both sides of the Pacific Ocean working to insure we provide Yahoo! China’s users with the fastest, most accurate, and most relevant Chinese-language search results.”

Prior to joining Alibaba.com in 2000 Mr. Wu worked at Yahoo! Inc. and served as a chief architect of Yahoo!’s directory search engine technology. Yahoo! China now has the capacity to index one billion Chinese language web pages. In the three months since announcing the Yahoo! China acquisition, Yahoo! China’s servers have been moved to China to support large scale growth in search traffic on its site.

Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft added, ”Microsoft and Yahoo! look forward to bridging the divide between our global communities, creating richer and easier ways for our customers to connect. IM interoperability is the right thing for our customers, our businesses and the industry as a whole, and Microsoft is delighted to help lead these efforts with Yahoo!”

Developed by Otopy, Inc., a Los Altos-based startup, and released in Beta recently – its Internet search assistant was developed two years of research and development. Otopy’s tool addresses the problem of not knowing exactly what search term will produce a useful search result.

For most Internet users, finding a specific tidbit of information is like trying to find a word in the dictionary without knowing how to spell it. Otopy eliminates the guesswork and frustration of trying
different keywords to describe the information that one is trying to  uncover. Using semantics and linguistic analysis, the Otopy search assistant seamlessly converts initial keyword entries into multiple relevant terms. Results for all relevant terms are delivered in a easy-to-use interface.

Gene Feroglia, CEO and Co-Founder of Otopy, described the new search tool, ”We identified an opportunity to better connect buyers and sellers. The problem is that sellers describe the item they’re selling one way, and potential buyers may search for that item using different
terminology. As a result, items may go unsold simply because the buyer and seller aren’t using the same terms to describe the same item. Otopy bridges that gap by linking terms that relate to the same concept. By grouping these terms together with our proprietary technologies, we
significantly increase the accuracy, speed and ease with which buyers can find what they’re looking for.”

”While our current release is tuned for shopping, we are optimizing  additional databases for general web searches as well as for domain-specific information in the fields of law, medicine, and other
applications, including other languages and corporate applications,” added Dan Kikinis, CTO and Co-Founder of Otopy.

The Otopy search assistant is now available for free download. To obtain the search tool, please visit the Otopy website at: www.otopy.com .

The Beta release is available for Internet Explorer 6.0+ and currently supports the following search engines: A9, Google, MSN, and Yahoo! and shopping sites: eBay, Froogle, MSN Shopping, Yahoo! Shopping. The Company plans to release additional versions of the software that will
work with other popular browsers and sites.

Otopy Inc. was founded in 2003 with a mission to make Internet search easier and more effective. The privately funded venture is managed by a team of Silicon Valley veterans with expertise in search applications and technology. The technology used in Otopy’s search assistant is
covered by patents and pending patents.