Yahoo Search Pad alat za beleške


Yahoo je predstavio novi alat koji je dizajniran da poveća produktivnost korisnika omogućavajući im da sačuvaju web sajtove koje su posetili i hvataju beleške o pretragama. Yahoo Search Pad je dostupan u vidu beta verzije još od februara ali je zvanično predstavljen tek pre nekoliko dana. Aplikacija za beleške je ugrađena u Yahoo pretragu i pomaže vam da sakupljate, editujete, organizujete, sačuvate, štampate i šaljete putem elektronske pošte vaše beleške za trenutnu i buduću upotrebu. Yahoo navodi da bi alat mogao da bude koristan pri kompletiranju zadataka i donošenju odluka koje zahtevaju da korisnik sakupi informacije iz nekoliko sesija pretrage.


Izvor: IT-svet

Yahoo unapređuje API


Yahoo je nedavno izvršio unapređivanje svog API Web servisa sa ciljem pridruživanja podatka preko bilo kog Web izvora ili servisa na Web-u, uz dodavanje mogućnosti pisanja i modifikovanja podataka na Web servisima. Pored toga, Yahoo Developer Network od sredine ove nedelje nudi novu karakteristiku za YQL (Yahoo Query Language) koja proširuje platformu dodavanjem mogućnosti pisanja. YQL programerima omogućava raspoređivanje i dodavanje podataka širom Web izvora. Jonathan Taylor iz YQL tima navodi da uz upotrebu YQL Web servisa aplikacije brže rade uz nekoliko linija manje i manje opterećenje mreže.


Izvor: IT-svet

Microsoft and Yahoo Reach Deal on Search Partnership

By STEVE LOHR
Published: July 29, 2009

Microsoft and Yahoo announced a partnership in Internet search and advertising on Wednesday morning intended to create a stronger rival to the industry powerhouse Google.

The Microsoft-Yahoo pact is measured step that represents a pragmatic division of duties between the two companies instead of the blockbuster deal Microsoft made last year, when it bid $47.5 billion to buy Yahoo. That hostile offer was ultimately rejected by Yahoo, and its collapse and the uncertain aftermath for the Web company led to a management change and the replacement of co-founder Jerry Yang by Carol Bartz, an outsider who is now Yahoo’s chief executive.

Under the pact, Microsoft will provide the underlying search technology on Yahoo’s popular Web sites. The deal provides a lift for Microsoft’s recent overhaul of its search engine, renamed Bing, which has won praise and favorable reviews, after years of falling further and further behind Google.

Running such a search system proves expensive, and Microsoft can now filter more searches through the Bing technology infrastructure. It expects to deliver better answers to search queries over time as well by learning from more peoples’ queries.

For Yahoo, the move furthers the strategy under Ms. Bartz to focus the company on its strengths as a producer of Web media sites, from finance to sports, as a marketer and a leader in on-line display advertising that accompanies published Web sites.

The terms of the 10-year agreement call for Microsoft to license Yahoo’s search technologies, and Yahoo will initially receive a lucrative 88 percent of search-generated ad revenue.

The advertising work will be split. Yahoo will be the exclusive ad force for premium search advertisers who bargain to negotiate rates and deals. But Microsoft Ad-Center automated search market for smaller customers whose prices for search advertising are set by the automated auction process.

Together, Microsoft, the No. 3 provider of search, and Yahoo, No. 2, will have about 28 percent of search traffic in the United States. Even so, the partnership will still trail well behind Google, which holds about two thirds of the market.

In statement before a morning conference call, Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, said, “Through this agreement with Yahoo, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company.”

Wednesday’s agreement also ends one of the longest and most tumultuous courtships in the technology industry, finally giving Microsoft a prize it has coveted for more than three years. It forced Mr. Ballmer into a sometimes frustrating wooing of three of his counterparts at Yahoo.

Mr. Ballmer began wooing Yahoo as early as 2006 when Terry Semel was that company’s chief executive. Unable to get Yahoo interested, early last year Microsoft made a hostile $47.5 billion bid to take over Yahoo, which by then was under the leadership of its co-founder Jerry Yang.

After tense, months-long negotiations, the deal was derailed, in part by Mr. Yang’s reticence, and in part by the intervention of Microsoft’s arch-rival Google, which offered Yahoo an alternative advertising partnership. But the Google-Yahoo alliance itself fell apart in November when Google abandoned it in the face of opposition from the Department of Justice.

That left Yahoo jilted and opened the door again for Microsoft to renew its courtship, with Mr. Ballmer this time playing suitor to Ms. Bartz.

During that time, Google has continued to race ahead, gaining share in the search business, which is worth $12 billion a year in the United States alone, at the expense of both Yahoo and Microsoft.

Even united, Yahoo and Microsoft will continue to be dwarfed by Google in search. Yet the combination of Yahoo and Microsoft in online search creates a far more powerful counterweight to Google, one that will be welcomed by many in the advertising industry, which has watched Google rapidly become the world’s largest seller of advertising with a mix of fascination and foreboding,

For Microsoft, the combination with Yahoo is the quickest way to increase use of its newly revamped and rechristened search engine, Bing. While the new service has received good reviews, and advertisers have long said that Microsoft’s search advertising system is effective, many do not bother to advertise on it because the traffic they receive from that effort is too small.

By tripling its usage through the alliance with Yahoo, Microsoft has a better shot at luring more advertisers, which, in turn, helps the company increase the revenue it earns from searches.

“This should give Bing the ability to serve up more relevant ads to consumers, and that powers paid search,” said Christopher Lien, chief executive of Marin Software, whose technology helps search marketers manage their campaigns.

Yahoo has resisted a deal with Microsoft, in part for fear of giving up control of a business that brings in roughly half of the company’s revenue. But Yahoo has also said that search is essential to its future because it provides valuable data about users’ habits, and gives the company the ability to offer marketers packages that include search and display ads, the two pillars of online advertising.

Some in the advertising industry still question the wisdom of the agreement.

“It removes a key differentiator for Yahoo,” said Bryan Wiener, the chief executive of 360i, a digital marketing agency. “You have to wonder where it leaves Yahoo in the long term.”

Miguel Helft and Ashlee Vance contributed reporting.

Izvor: The New York Times

July 29, 2009 4:56 AM PDT
Yahoo, Microsoft reach search ad deal

Editor's note: Microsoft and Yahoo will have a conference call starting at 5:30 a.m. PT Wednesday to discuss the deal. Click here for live coverage from CNET News.

REDMOND, Wash.--After months of fits and starts, Microsoft and Yahoo announced a 10-year search deal on Wednesday that will see the two companies join forces to take on Google.

"In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo!\ search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers," The companies said in a joint statement.

Though less expansive than the all-out acquisition Microsoft proposed last year--and even than some of the search partnerships once discussed, the deal allows the companies to share resources and combine scale. Even together, the two companies have only about 30 percent of the search market compared to Google, which has more than twice that amount.

"This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement. "Success in search requires both innovation and scale. With our new Bing search platform, we've created breakthrough innovation and features. This agreement with Yahoo will provide the scale we need to deliver even more rapid advances in relevancy and usefulness."

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, meanwhile, said that the move will help Yahoo focus on other areas, also adding that the move has the full support of the company's board (lest anyone wonder what Carl Icahn thinks about the more limited deal).

"This is a significant opportunity for us," Bartz said. "Microsoft is an industry innovator in search and it is a great opportunity for us to focus our investments in other areas critical to our future."

Microsoft will be able to incorporate Yahoo's search technology, including it's Panama ad-selling tool, but the companies will use Microsoft's AdCenter sales tool and Bing search engine to power both sites.

As for the financial terms, there is not the large upfront payment once discussed, however Microsoft will offer both revenue guarantees to Yahoo as well as the lion's share of the search advertising generated on Yahoo's site.

Yahoo will get 88 percent of search revenue created by its sites during the first five years, while Microsoft will guarantee a certain level of search revenue for 18 months in each country. The companies expect it will take about two years after the deal is approved to fully get the partnership up and running.

Once fully in place, Yahoo said it expect the deal will boost its annual operating income by abut $500 million, while reducing capital expenditure by $200 million and increasing operating cash flow by about $275 million per year.

Aiming to head off privacy concerns, the two companies noted that "the agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies."

The deal must still pass regulatory muster and the two companies anticipate it will take several months to finalize. "Microsoft and Yahoo expect the agreement to be closely reviewed by the industry and government regulators, and welcome questions," the companies said. "The companies are hopeful that closing can occur in early 2010."

Microsoft and Yahoo are joining forces in search, but, in a line clearly aimed at regulators, the companies take pains to note that their collaboration is limited to that arena.

"The agreement does not cover each company's Web properties and products, email, instant messaging, display advertising, or any other aspect of the companies' businesses," they said. "In those areas, the companies will continue to compete vigorously."

Executives from both companies will discuss the arrangement in a conference call at 5:30 a.m. PT. CNET News will have live coverage on this page.

Izvor: CNET

Yahoo, Microsoft reach search, ad deal




After months of fits and starts, Microsoft and Yahoo on Wednesday announced a 10-year search deal that will see the two companies join forces to take on Google.

"In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo search while Yahoo will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers," the companies said in a joint statement. The deal is expected to go into effect in 2010 and improve Yahoo's profitability, though not its revenue, the companies said.

Less expansive than the all-out, $44 billion acquisition Microsoft proposed last year--and even than some of the search partnerships once discussed--the deal does allow the companies to share resources and combine their engineering efforts. Even together, however, the two companies have only about 30 percent of the search market compared to Google, which has more than twice that amount.

"This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement. "Success in search requires both innovation and scale. With our new Bing search platform, we've created breakthrough innovation and features. This agreement with Yahoo will provide the scale we need to deliver even more rapid advances in relevancy and usefulness."

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, meanwhile, said that the move will help Yahoo focus on other areas, also adding that the deal has the full support of the company's board (lest anyone wonder what Carl Icahn thinks about the more limited deal).

"This is a significant opportunity for us," Bartz said. "Microsoft is an industry innovator in search and it is a great opportunity for us to focus our investments in other areas critical to our future."

The dollar value
As for the financial terms, there is not the large upfront payment once discussed. However, Microsoft will offer both revenue guarantees to Yahoo as well as the lion's share of the search-advertising revenue generated on Yahoo's site.

That apparently wasn't enough to satisfy investors. In trading before the market opened, Yahoo's stock dropped more than 7 percent, or $1.28, to $15.94. Microsoft rose 1 percent, or 24 cents, to $23.71.

Yahoo will get 88 percent of search revenue created by its sites during the first five years, while Microsoft will guarantee a certain level of search revenue for 18 months in each country. The companies expect it will take about two years after the deal is approved to fully get the partnership up and running.

Once fully in place, Yahoo said it expects the deal will boost its annual operating income by about $500 million, while reducing capital expenditure by $200 million and increasing operating cash flow by about $275 million per year.

Microsoft will be able to incorporate Yahoo's search technology, including its Panama ad-selling tool, but the companies will use Microsoft's AdCenter sales tool and Bing search engine to power both sites.

Aiming to head off privacy concerns, the two companies noted that "the agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies."

The deal must still pass regulatory muster and the two companies anticipate it will take several months to finalize. "Microsoft and Yahoo expect the agreement to be closely reviewed by the industry and government regulators, and welcome questions," the companies said. "The companies are hopeful that closing can occur in early 2010."

Microsoft and Yahoo are joining forces in search, but in a line clearly aimed at regulators, the companies take pains to note that their collaboration is limited to that arena.

"The agreement does not cover each company's Web properties and products, e-mail, instant messaging, display advertising, or any other aspect of the companies' businesses," they said. "In those areas, the companies will continue to compete vigorously."

Izvor: CNET

Čuveni društveni veb sajt Facebook zauzeo je četvrto mesto među najposećenijim Internet sajtovima na svetu dostigavši u junu 340 miliona pojedinačnih poseta mesečno, što predstavlja rast od 157 odsto za godinu dana, objavila je istraživačka kompanija ComScore.

Ispred Facebooka se nalaze Google (844 miliona pojedinačnih poseta), Microsoft (691 milion) i Yahoo (581 milion).

Prema podacima kompanije ComScore, od ukupno 250 miliona aktivnih korisnika Facebooka njih 120 miliona se konektuje najmanje jednom dnevno, dok se preko njegovih servera mesečno postavi milijardu fotografija, kao i 10 miliona video sadržaja.

Facebook ima, između ostalog, ukupno 45 miliona aktivnih grupa.

Izvor: MTS-Mondo

Rogue Facebook apps steal log-in data, send spam

Security firm Trend Micro warned on Wednesday that a handful of rogue Facebook apps are stealing log-in credentials and spamming victims' friends.

So far, six malicious applications have been identified: "Stream," "Posts," "Your Photos," "Birthday Invitations," "Inbox (1)," "Inbox (2)" according to a blog post by Trend Micro researcher Rik Ferguson.

As of Wednesday afternoon, all of the apps were live except for "Stream," he said in an e-mail.



The activity started earlier in the week with a Facebook notification Ferguson says he got from an app called "sex sex sex and more sex!!!," which has more than 287,000 fans. The notification said that someone had commented on one of his posts. That app doesn't appear to be malicious and may have been compromised somehow to begin the distribution of the spam, he said.

That first notification included hyperlinks that led to a phishing site on the "fucabook.com" domain, allegedly registered to someone in Armenia, he said. Once Ferguson gave up his credentials (for a Facebook account he uses for research purposes) he was directed to Facebook and to an application install screen for the app called "Posts."

He installed that app and immediately his friends were spammed with a bogus notification "Profile_name has sent you a message," with the hyperlink to the phishing site.

On Tuesday, the first couple of apps were sending notifications that hyperlinked to the fucabook phishing site but by Wednesday the destination had changed to a simple IP address rather than a domain name, he said. A JavaScript that pulls up Facebook bounces the browser around among any of the six rogue apps to get them widely installed and the cycle continues, he said.

All the apps look and act exactly the same and include ads.

"I am keeping Facebook informed of these developments as they arise and they are working hard to rectify the situation," Ferguson wrote on his blog.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the company was looking into the matter and would provide more comment later.

Ferguson recommends that Internet users always check the URL displayed in the browser address bar before entering any sensitive information on a site and hover the mouse over a hyperlink to see the URL. Facebook users should also review their privacy settings regularly and delete any applications they no longer use, he said.

Izvor: CNET

Symantec identifies 'Dirtiest Web Sites of Summer'

Symantec is out with its "Dirtiest Web Sites of Summer 2009," which it's calling "the worst of the worst" when it comes to malware threats.

The security vendor says that "48 percent of the Dirtiest Web Sites are, well, dirty--sites that feature adult content." That means that more than half the sites cover a wide range of other categories including legal services, catering, figure skating, and electronics shopping, according to the report.

On average, sites on the dirtiest list have 18,000 threats per site, but 40 of the sites have in excess of 20,000 threats. One site that appears to offer restaurant catering services has 23,414 computer threats

"The number of web attacks is off the charts because it's the easiest path into a consumer's machine" said Gerry Egan, Symantec's director of security response. The Web, said Egan "has become the primary delivery vehicle for malware." One method for infection is "drive by downloads," which can exploit a vulnerability in your browser or operating system by "leveraging little security holes" and injecting code into your machine simply by virtue of your visiting the site. Another route to infections is social engineering where someone tricks a user into installing a malicious application that can masquerade as a plug-in to play media or even a fake security program that claims to help you find and remove malware. Instead it installs malware on your machine.

Symantec's Safe Web rates sites for safety (Credit: Symantec)

There are a number of dastardly payloads associated with the type of malware delivered through these sites including turning your machine into a "spambot" that sends junk e-mail to other people. Such programs can also hijack your computer to be part of a "botnet" to carry out attacks on other systems such as the recent denial-of-service attack that brought down Twitter earlier this month.

Symantec has identified these dirty sites as part of the ongoing analysis it does for its Norton Safe Web product. Safe Web includes a free Web site that anyone can use to see if a site is known to have malware. In addition, Symantec's security products now come with a plug-ins that works with a browser to look over your shoulder while you're surfing or searching to warn you before visiting a site known to contain malware.

TrendMicro Internet Security has a feature that warns you if you are about to visit a site that "may put your security at risk" and McAfee offers a service called McAfee Site Advisor that includes a free plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer that warns you about potentially dangerous sites that show up in search results.

Izvor: CNET

Popularna igra Monopoly, čiji je proizvođač kompanija Hasbro, dobila je svoju Internet verziju a kao podlogu koristi Google Maps.

Punog naziva Monopoly City Streets, igra je pretvorena u MMO (masivna multiplejer onlajn igra), a cilj igrača je da postane najbogatiji vlasnik nekretnina na svetu.

Početna suma sa kojom igrači započinju igru iznosi tri miliona dolara, a biće u mogućnosti da kupuju stvarne ulice u kojima će graditi kuće, fabrike, hotele, škole i druge zgrade.

Igrači će biti u mogućnosti da kupe gotovo svaku nekretninu, a za neke od ulica znaju se i cene. Tako će za Downing Street u Londonu biti potrebno oko 230.000 dolara, dok će za pensilvanija Aveniju u Njujorku biti potrbno dva miliona dolara.

besplatno igranje za igrače širom sveta moguće je u naredna četiri meseca, a računi igrača biće redovno ažurirani.

Izvor: MTS-Mondo

Američki Google, najveći svetski Internet pretraživač, najavio je lansiranje Sidewiki alatke koja omogućava objavljivanje komentara na Internet sajtovima, koje će samo ostali korisnici te nove usluge moći da čitaju.

Sidewiki će korisniku na levoj strani veb sajta otvarati prozorčić u kojem će se nalaziti komentari drugih korisnika o posećenoj Internet stranici, objavljeno je u online izdanju američkog dnevnika "Tribune".

Komentari će biti ređani po zanimljivosti, tako da će se najinteresantniji naći na vrhu ostavljenih poruka.

Sidewiki će biti dostupan na Internet navigatorima Firefox i Internet Explorer, a uskoro i na Chrome pretraživaču kompanije Google. Google je objavio i da planira da ponovo pokrene svoj program kupovina drugih firmi.

Izvršni direktor kompanije Erik Šmit saopštio je da ta kompanija planira po jednu manju kupovinu mesečno. To će, kako je objasnio, biti male firme koje nisu kotirane na bezi.

Rukovodstvo kompanije Google smatra da je najgori deo svetske privredne krize zapravo prošao i da je vreme da Google, posle pauze od početka godine zbog loše privredne situacije, ponovo pokrene kupovinu drugih kompanija.

Izvor: MTS-Mondo