And we're back, this time with Ask CEO Jim Lanzone playing host. Perfect timing, since Ask and Microsoft have jointly called for the search industry to come together and establish guidelines on privacy. Suddenly, privacy is a competitive feature! Meanwhile, Google considers buying airwaves; should Yahoo make sponsored shortcuts clearly says, well, "Sponsored?" Did the earth move for you? Ask.com's earthquake search will let you know. Google Webmaster Central now provides message alerts to site owners and much more!
Tune-in by listening to this MP3 file, listening via WebmasterRadio at 11:30am Eastern and repeated at 2pm Eastern Monday through Thursday (see instructions here), through iTunes via this link, though our Yahoo Podcasts channel or in other ways listed here. You can also listen on our Digg podcasts channel.
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- Microsoft To
Anonymize Log Data; Calls For Industry Standards Along With Ask.com
First Google, then Ask.com and now Microsoft have jumped onto the privacy protection train. Late yesterday, Microsoft announced that it was going to follow Google's lead and anonymize search log data after 18 months. In addition, it has partnered with Ask to call for an industry effort to develop privacy... - Ask.com To
Launch AskEraser To Erase Search History & New Data Retention Policy
Ask.com announced that they will be launching "AskEraser" in the near future, a feature to allow you to erase your search history. Ask also said it will be implementing a new 18 month data retention policy, where searches will be disassociated from IP addresses or cookies that might possibly be... - Personalized Google Ads: Previous Searches Influence Ads You See, Sphinn
- Google Buys
ImageAmerica, Mapping Feature War Continues
On Friday, the Google LatLong Blog announced the company had acquired ImageAmerica, "a company that builds high resolution cameras for the collection of aerial imagery." Google plans to use the capabilities in Google Maps and Earth. ImageAmerica provided some of the high-resolution post-Hurricane Katrina images (no longer available) in Google... - Google Offers
$4.6 Billion Incentive So The FCC Can Approve Wireless Spectrum Proposal
Google has made it officially clear that they are committed to making their wireless spectrum proposal win the FCC decision. Google said they would bid $4.6 billion for the 700 megahertz band wireless spectrum, if the FCC approved their proposal. Why? Google said they want to put their money where... - The FCC Needs To Listen To Google, TechCrunch
- Are Search
Engines Biased?
Search Engines and Favoritism from Google Operating System has put together a quick study comparing the top results from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's search engines. The results showed that for 10 generic searches, the search engines (excluding Microsoft) tend to rank their own properties higher than their competitors. For example,... - Yahoo
Shortcuts For Sale?
Scott Hendison found an interesting Yahoo Shortcut that appears to have been sold. A search on special k at Yahoo Search returns this Yahoo Shortcut, which contains the Special K logo:... - Yahoo Selling Out Its SERPS to Advertisers, Sphinn
- "Google Promotion" Now Used To Flag Google's Bourne Ultimatum Video Ads
- Searching For
Earthquakes
This morning at 5 am US Pacific time there was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake in the Oakland, California hills where I live. Danny found the earthquake by doing a search on Ask simply for "earthquakes." The example highlights the value of Ask 3D, the inclusion of more "vertical" structure in... - Microsoft
Monday: Today's Google Free Alternative
As part of our Google Free Mondays series this month, today is the day to try Microsoft's Windows Live. Wait, wasn't it Google Free Fridays this month? Yes, but I changed it to Mondays. And why do we hate Google so much we're telling people not to use it? We... - You've Got
Mail! Google Webmaster Central Gains Message Center
The Google Webmaster Central service has gained a new "Message Center" area that will initially be use to notify site owners of official spam penalty problems and eventually used to communicate about other issues related to site inclusion at Google. You'll find the message center when you log into Google... - Vote For The
Next New Google Webmaster Central Feature
Matt Cutts of Google has invited people to vote on the next possible Google Webmaster Central feature. The available features on the poll include:... - Search in
Pictures: Yahoo Hair, Google Beach & Extremists
In this week's Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more....
