Rattleblog: Tales from the blogosphere

26-02-2007

by Damien Mulley

In the latest Rattleblog we talk about search companies and entertainment companies who are transforming into ad companies. We also take a cynical look at some Google offerings, discover that search sells more than sex online these days and give some fashion advice.

Google Blogoscoped reports that Google is rumoured to have bought ad company Adscape which specialises in in-game advertising. A while back in Rattleblog we talked about Google building a competitor to Second Life. Always on the lookout for more markets to break into, Google once again reaffirms Rattleblog's view that it is an advertising company.

Staying with Google, John Battelle reports that the amount of traffic Google has sent Wikipedia in the past 12 months has increased by 170 percent, and Wikipedia is now the third most frequent destination that Google sends users to. Battelle speculates that Google will try strike up some kind of advertising deal with Wikipedia to make a little money in return for sending so much traffic Wikipedia's way. The fun thing is that the more traffic Google sends Wikipedia's way, the more money Wikipedia needs in order to deal with the traffic. Currently Wikipedia works using a begging bowl-type donate function, but how long will that last?

Marshall Kirkpatrick reports that Viacom, which got legal with Google-owned YouTube recently and had it cull 100,000 videos of what was allegedly its copyrighted content, has now signed a deal with Joost, the new company from the founders of Skype. Joost would allow Viacom to have more control of its content, and so far there doesn't seem to be an option on Joost for users to upload any content they want, unlike YouTube.

Om Malik reports that Fox Interactive Media, which controls MySpace, amongst other websites, has purchased ad software company SDC. SDC allows websites to optimise ads on their websites so they can generate more ad clicks, and so more revenue. It's expected that the acquisition could allow MySpace to make an extra half a billion a year from just optimising alone. We previously mentioned that Fox is also renegotiating its ad deal with Google as well as being in talks with eBay to allow MySpace members to auction items directly from their profiles.

Still staying with search, Search Engine Land blog reports that for the first time in the UK, people are visiting search engine sites more than porn sites. It seems adult sites are being used less and less while search engines are being used more and more. Rattleblog wildly speculates that Google's Image Search is used for more than looking at pictures of teddy bears.

The InsideGoogle blog reports that Yahoo has finally zigged to Google's zag and allowed Yahoo users to IM each other while using Yahoo Mail. Google has been allowing Gmail users to IM each other for the past 12 months. While one dog year is worth seven human years, one Google year is probably worth a decade in tech years. That's not reacting Yahoo! That's deck-chair rearranging.

Engadget reports that wireless hotspot community FON is in talks with BT to link up both their networks. BT would allow its users to use BT routers to join the FON network and FON would allow the BT customers to access the FON network. This could be the start of roaming agreements between hotspot providers around the world which would be of enormous benefit to consumers.

Another story from Engadget shows that it isn't just laptops that can erupt into flames. Engadget links to a video which shows a Nokia 6280 also going up in flames; another case of a battery overheating and starting to smoke. We'll soon be back to the good ole days of 12 AA batteries needed for a safe mobile experience.

Shel Israel reports on a reality check for bloggers worldwide with news that an Egyptian blogger has been jailed for four years for insulting the Government of Egypt. Freedom of speech on the internet is unfortunately not the same everywhere and depends on which country a blog originates from. Careful where you blog from.

There has been much hype this week about Google offering a new premium service to companies for their rolled-together e-mail and office applications. David Card, however, reflects Rattleblog's cynicism. "Mediocre, web-based, for-fee word processors and spreadsheets are pretty dull."

And finally, Rattleblog starts giving style tips, but in a very geeky way. iPod accessories number in the thousands at this stage, but one you might consider getting someone is the very cool iPod Nano Belt Buckle holder. Wear your iPod in your belt.

Damien Mulley is an Irish blogger and works as a technical writer in Cork.