Thursday, December 28, 2006

SOFTWARE GIANT Microsoft started linking your search habits with other personal data in a bid to create more personalised advertisements.


According to Mercury News, Vole rolled out the behavioural targeting technology in early September but did not disclose any dates that it would be used in anger.


Now it apparently plans to use cookies, mixed in with the personal information users provide when they sign up for Hotmail e-mail and other Microsoft sites to profile web users.
It will then use that information to build a profile for classes of users and flog marketers the opportunity to reach that targeted group as they surf. Yahoo and several other sites have used personalised ads based on web surfing habits, but so far Vole has stayed aloof.


In early tests Microsoft found that behavioural targeting increased by as much as 76 per cent the likelihood a visitor would click on an ad.
Vole seems to think that users will be happy to have their personal data used if they get advertisements that are relevant to them. Clearly they have not seen the Minority Report.



Sourced from Mercurynews.com


Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Google to sell Domain Name ?



We are not talking about its domain name of course!
Google has teamed up with eNom and GoDaddy to offer up domains for $10 per year. The most intresting part is that Google Apps for Your Domain service allows registrants to set up free email, IM, and calandar services with company logos.

Google engineer Costin Manolache also noted the offer includes private registration. This keeps personal information out of view of whois lookups.

Google Apps for Your Domain offers few services which organozations can privatize by using their own logos. It's currently a free way to offer members of the organization email, IM, and calendar services branded with the organization's name and logo.



Microsoft currently offers a free domain registration as part of its Office Live service. There are three tiers of service, and they focus on establishing a website and email for the domain; higher tiers provide the Office Live Business Contact Manager service.

But Microsoft tucks in something else with all three tiers. They provide a free copy of the Office Live adManager beta tool, which is used for managing adCenter campaigns.

Google has kept its focus on effective communications over a variety of options. They have noted ever since the launch of the Apps service that a premium version will become available in the future.


Disclamier
Parts of this item were sourced from webpronews.com

Technorati Profile

Jimmy Wales , the founder of Wikipedia has announced plans for Wikiasari, an Internet search engine which will compete with Yahoo and Google.

But the main point in question is wether we need a new search engine, when we have the likes of Google and Yahoo? .
The search engine market is quite crowded with players like Google, Yahoo, Overture, Alltheweb, Altavista....crowding the web, and then comes this announcement.




What present day search engines have is an algorithmic searches that can sometimes be easily manipulated(through Keywords..etc..
).
Wiksari,proposes a new approach, It will be something like Wikipedia in that user-based human judgment will play an important role.
So I think it will be upon the users to select which site is usefull and all. Sounds Good.
Supporting this is the experience of Wales in managing the huge database of Wikipedia.

A provisional launch is planned for the first quarter of 2007, according to Wales.

Contrary to what was reported in The Times, the Wikiasari project is not partnered with Amazon.com. Wikia, another project with Wales at the helm, has received project funding from Amazon.com.