Gawker
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search
Why Pamela Anderson can't beat Google
Remember AltaVista? The search engine, long swallowed up by Yahoo, once hired professional trashy babe Pamela Anderson to win our affections. What that terrible TV ad tells us: TV ads don't build Web brands.
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By Owen ThomasComment by incrediblehelp: The best ones were the Hot Bot commercials: [www.jaankanellis.com] more » | Other threads
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Tim the IT Guy
Microsoft does a victory dance on Sun's head
Redmond's biz-dev gorillas have strong-armed Sun Microsystems into bundling the MSN toolbar as an optional add-on to Sun's Java downloads in the US. What does the Silverlight-powered toolbar have to do with Java? Nothing! That's the genius of it. More »
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Comment by ShrikumariKollenda: Yup, to be a little more accurate - the only success Sun has had in generating significant new revenue for... more » | Other threads
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commenter of the day
longtailwagsthevalley
Microsofties who want to make money on the Web without the hassle of actually working at Microsoft have been jumping on board Yahoo's sinking ship. Today's best commenter, longtailwagsthevalley, talks about the game of musical chairs: More » -
microsoft
Microsoft can't even kill a website properly
From online chatter, it was rumored that Microsoft was going to shutter its 13-year-old Web forum site, MSN Groups. It's now confirmed: Microsoft is ditching MSN Groups because it's launching a new product, Windows Live Groups. But you can't upgrade. Rather, Microsoft wants you to "migrate" to Multiply, yet another social network based out in Florida, and sign up for Windows Live Groups too. Maybe they should have just pointed you to a better competitor. That seems easier. [Microsoft] -
hires
Microsoft reshuffles search again
Yusuf Mehdi, a longtime Microsoft dealmaker (read: geek who looks good in a tie), is now running marketing and product management for MSN and search. But there's still no one in charge of Microsoft's entire portfolio of Web businesses. [BoomTown]
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By Owen ThomasComment by SnarkyDude: He is certainly a nice guy but what business on the planet would look at the MSN numbers posted on... more » | Other threads
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corrections
MSN exec Jeff Dossett actually not crazy enough to join Yahoo
Earlier, BoomTown reported that MSN exec Jeff Dossett would leave the company and possibly soon join Yahoo, where his longtime friend and fellow Microsoft alumna Joanne Bradford already works. Not true, says a Microsoft flack, who tells us: "Jeff Dossett is leaving his position as MSN’s US Executive Producer to seek other opportunities within Microsoft." So either Swisher got it wrong, or Yahoo got outbid for Dossett's services at the last minute. Given Swisher's red phone access to Yahoo's inner sanctum, we're guessing the latter is true. We haven't spoken to Dossett, who once climbed Mount Everest to raise awareness for AIDS and HIV in Africa, but we imagine if we did he'd say something like: "Join Yahoo, now? Too risky." -
hires
You don't have to be crazy to join Yahoo right now — it just helps
Earlier this year, MSN exec Jeff Dossett climbed to the summit of Mount Everest in order to bring attention to the problem of AIDS and HIV in Africa. But now he's doing something really crazy. Dossett quit Microsoft last week and likely plans to join Yahoo, BoomTown reports. BoomTown's Kara Swisher notes that Dossett might be going because he's an old friend of fellow ex-Microsoft exec and new Yahoo exec Joanne Bradford. It's unclear what Dossett will do at Yahoo. At MSN, Dossett's job description labeled him as "the lead for audience, content and programming strategy and execution in the U.S," but apparently that was just his latest gig in a long line of online sales and strategy positions.Update: Dossett is not actually leaving Microsoft at all, Valleywag has now learned. That'd be crazy.
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Comment by Ted Dziuba: "Jeff Dossett climbed to the summit of Mount Everest in order to bring attention to the problem of AIDS and... 1 Responses | Other threads
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microsoft
While Yahoo burns, MSN and Hearst cook up food site
Targeting Yahoo again, Microsoft may be abandoning its "Project Granola" plan to grow its online presence organically, but that doesn't mean ignoring food altogether. Microsoft's MSN and Hearst magazines will partner to create Delish.com, a food and recipe site to be released this fall. Just like Conde Nast's Epicurious, but 13 years later! [AdWeek] -
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design
A good place for a Yahoo-less Microsoft to start: Pick a brand and stick to it
If buying Facebook doesn't work out, Microsoft plans to compete on the Web by growing "organically." Bill Gates said that means search advancements, more marketing and lots of meetings. Lots of meetings. But here's what those meetings ought to be about: unifying Microsoft's online branding. Check out the screenshots of Microsoft's Web designs below. Nabbed by LiveSide, ReadWriteWeb's Josh Catone points out they contain "four different search boxes, two different Live.com "orb" logos (in four different sizes), and six different header backgrounds." More »
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Comment by macbeach: I think they should stick with the "Live" nomenclature. Of course when helping out clueless senior citizens I always... more » | Other threads
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steve berkowitz
Microsoft demotes poached Ask.com CEO
Steve Berkowitz is out as senior vice president of Microsoft's Online Services Group, BoomTown reports. In April 2006, Microsoft lured Berkowitz away from Ask.com, where he was CEO, and charged him with running MSN's ad sales, marketing, and business development. Yep, all the stuff that's failed bad enough that Microsoft now wants to pay $44.6 billion for Yahoo. BoomTown said sources couldn't confirm whether Berkowitz is out of the company or just out his job.
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Comment by michaellamb: at first I thought it was a high school pic of mike arrington more » | Other threads
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earnings
Microsoft continues to lose money online
MSN and Microsoft's other Internet ventures are a sizeable business: $863 million in the most recent quarter. CBNC's Jim Goldman calls the quarter a "stunner." Perhaps, if he meant stunningly bad. Microsoft's growth rate is flat, Henry Blodget notes. Not counting Microsoft's aQuantive acquisition, it's been growing only 24 percent a year. And it's still losing money: about $200 million in the most recent quarter. No wonder Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo: For all of its woes, the Web giant still has its act more together than Microsoft.
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By Owen ThomasComment by BobDope: Sure, Henry Blodget. I'm about to give a shit about what he has to say about anything ever again... more » | Other threads
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online video
NBC's fall season gets slutty on the Web
Broadcast network NBC has inked promotional deals with almost every major Internet player to distribute the pilot episodes for its new fall lineup. Almost, that is, because it appears to be shunning Google's YouTube online-video site, as well as the News Corp.-owned MySpace. According to The Hollywood Reporter, episodes of new shows "Chuck," "Life," and "Journeyman" will be available for download on Amazon beginning September 10. If you'd prefer to download using Apple's iTunes software, sign up for the Apple Students group on social network Facebook. Members of that group get a one-week headstart on downloading the pilots. Prefer to stream your entertainment? Beginning in mid-September, you can catch "Life" on AOL, "Journeyman" on MSN, and "Chuck" on Yahoo. But it's the omissions that are really interesting. More » -
search
Google's rivals have happy customers — just not enough of them
Competitors' efforts have failed to dent Google's search market share. A survey of customer satisfaction paints a different picture — which just goes to show you that it's not, as Google likes to claim, all about the users. The newly released American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) from the University of Michigan has Yahoo regaining its lead over Google with an increase of 3.9 points, while Google fell 3.7 points. ACSI attributes the improvements to Yahoo's ratings to well-received design and feature enhancements. Ask.com experienced the biggest improvement, jumping 5.6 points, leaving it tied with Microsoft's MSN. More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by Ron-Mexico: As a user, I actually kind of agree with those results. Google's got some great stuff, but the average... more » | Other threads
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lazy valleywag
Major shakeup at MSN?
We hear there's a big showdown and resulting re-org in the works at MSN, Microsoft's online unit. The conflict has been framed in terms of relative newcomer Steve Berkowitz (of Ask Jeeves fame) versus the resisting remnants of the old online regime, i.e. online senior VP David Cole and his pal Yusuf Mehdi. True or false or somewhere in between. You tell us.
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By Chris MohneyComment by fatbastard: I thought that David Cole announced his retirement almost a year ago? He was in full rest and vest mode... more » | Other threads
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msn
Jobless exec haunts MSN offices
Maybe it's my lack of ambition and ability to waste time, but wandering around a company with nothing to do is my idea of a dream job. A tipster from Seattle says MSN VP Michael Rawding (who was supposed to quit after Microsoft shook up MSN) is in this enviable position. More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by Weird Uncle wannabe: During the Jurassic era, at the second largest computer company, executives without portfolio were referred to as 'boat people'. more » | Other threads
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google
How to boycott Yahoo (and Google. And Ask. And MSN.)
A Reporters Without Borders study concludes that Yahoo is the worst censor among search engines in China. The news comes just a few weeks after UK and Irish journalists urged a Yahoo boycott following CEO Terry Semel's comment that he might be willing to report them all to the Nazis. More » -
google
Top dog news: Google vs. phone company, MySpace-branded phones, and AOL hangs up
Since you loved it last time, here's what tech's top dogs did this weekend. More » -
microsoft
F500 news: Child porn puns never grow old
The morning news from our favorite Fortune 500 tech firms: More » -
msn
MSN adCenter is DOA
Microsoft's new ad program is broken right out of the box, according to one user: More » -
yahoo
Somewhere down the line, a kid gets born with a pig's tail
Mediabistro's FishBowlLA has the perfect recap of the last two weeks' dot-com frenzy (Lloyd Braun — pictured because I like picturing him — zigs, Steve Ballmer zags, and still they try to dance): More » -
morning news
Morning news: Free Napster, Poor Gates, $2.6 billion Vonage
- Lloyd Braun comes out swinging today with what the NY Times calls "the most extensive of his initiatives to get final approval:" Yahoo Tech. The top-story panel is sometimes overlaid with an interstitial ad. Should've stuck with puppet-anchored news, Lloyd. [Yahoo Tech and NYT]
- By accusing Microsoft of playing dirty by making MSN the default search tool for Internet Explorer, Google's Marissa Mayer takes a stand against default search engines in browsers. Oh, don't worry, Google's still the Firefox default. Let's clarify: Google's Marissa Mayer takes a stand against default search engines other than Google in browsers. [NY Times]
- Dave Sifry of blog index Technorati reminds everyone that the blogosphere doubles every
55.56 months (it doesn't). [Sifry's Alerts] - Napster now offers free songs, five plays each, supported by ads. Bittorrent, IRC, Soulseek, Usenet, and LimeWire continue to offer free songs, infinite plays each, supported by RIAA lawsuits. [CNET]
- Bill Gates is still $3 billion poorer one weekend after a Microsoft stock drop. [MSFT on Google Finance]
- A shame. With that $3 bil, maybe he could've bought Vonage. [Financial Times]
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flacks
PR got to me
All right, I've been had by a flack. (Household hint: No cleanser can wash away the shame of using a PR piece.) A big-shot blogebrity (approval to name him pending), who probably got the eBay conference story pitch too, IMed last night: More » -
kleiner perkins
Scoop: Kleiner Perkins boots Russ Siegelman
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers kicked out partner Russ Siegelman, according to a trusted source. The former Microsoft employee, who once reported directly to Bill Gates, won't be part of KPCB's next fund. Was the bigshot VC firm sick of seeing its property Friendster languish under Siegelman's partnership? Or was he just bumped out to make room for another hotshot? More »
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By ndouglasComment by Tiki Tonga: Well, let's face it. Aside from Doerr (and possibly Ted Schlein), all KP has left are a bunch of... more » | Other threads
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scott-mcnealy
Sun's Scott McNealy joins the So Out Club
Closer and closer sources confirm the persistent rumor that Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy will bow out. The old softie can't handle the pressure to fire workers — he never did like to lay off staff — according to the San Jose Mercury News. And he'll always have a spot open as chairman. More » -
sports
Grab life by the ball: WWW Dodgeball Invitational
Sadly, it's real. Google, Flavorpill, AOL, Root.net, The Happy Corp, and MSN will compete in a two-hour dodgeball tourney in New York City this weekend. It will not be pretty (but if anyone sends pictures, I'll put them up). More » -
remainders
Remainders: A healthy career in Chinese gold farming
Now playing World of Warcraft can get you a job. Thrilling, really, to discover that a game played by destroying arbitrarily assigned enemies ad infinitum, rising up a ladder until reaching a disappointing top that isn't a top at all, commiserating with socially inept addicts with little life outside the computer, could prepare you for tech work. No, seriously, I am shocked at this news. [Wired] More »
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By ndouglasComment by Nick Douglas: You're really gunning to get that linked, aren't you? more » | Other threads
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microsoft
The new Microsoft hegemony: Kevin Johnson's reorg rundown
Meet the new Products and Services Division team at Microsoft. In the second part of Kevin Johnson's leaked internal memo, the MS co-president outlines who's coming and who's staying in Windows Live, the Core Operating System Division, the Online Business Group, and several other PSD departments. More » -
kevin johnson
MSN Meltdown: Kevin Johnson shuffles PSD, round one
Executives have been dropping like flies (flies that are only taking a break! Honest!) at MSN. The Microsoft division is sinking as Microsoft's Live project takes over. More » -
microsoft
MSN Meltdown: Michael Rawding quits
Microsoft-fan forum LiveSide says Michael Rawding will follow senior VP David Cole out MSN's door. According to LiveSide's source, the MSN global sales and marketing veep couldn't nab Cole's old job, so he's "taking leave" instead. More » -
msn
MSN Meltdown: Senior VP David Cole forced out, Yusuf Mehdi is next
MSN is a swamp, and Microsoft is flushing it out. MSN director David Cole sent a company memo announcing his retirement this morning. The senior VP ran the network since 2001; since then, its search market share has slowly drifted to the bottom. More »
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By ndouglasComment by Nick Douglas: Yeah, "recreate" is a word. Normal people say "play," but whatever. By the way, geek 101, great comments and all, but... more » | Other threads
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1-31 of 31 for "Valleywag, MSN"
