Today Yahoo! announced the launch of Yahoo! Food, a site focused entirely on content from foodies and other culinary household names. In my opinion Yahoo! Food is a smart move and I look forward to seeing how it affects Yahoo!’s bottom line. After all, I don’t know about you but I know many people watch the Food network on a daily basis (including me) and I expect that a site run by Yahoo will offer yet another great resource for foodies.

When Deanna Brown, General Manager of Yahoo!’s Lifestyles was asked on MarketWatch how Yahoo! Food will compete against other food resources like the Food Network and Bon Appetit she had this to say,”I think it is the ease of use and the compelling design, kind of the comprehensive all in one destination.” She finishes by emphasizing the personalization that Yahoo! Food allows; (the site becomes) “your property… and keeps you in touch with what you are looking for.” – source MarketWatch blog.

Finally consider the marketing benefits of business owners who need to promote their cooking wares or resources (books, online directories, etc.); this addition to the Yahoo! Search Marketing network will prove a tasty one indeed.

Kudos to Yahoo, they are definitely trying hard to increase their bottom line. After announcing their 3rd quarter financial results on October 17th, Yahoo! definitely needs all the help they can get.

In a show of humility we are not used to seeing from Google, the Blogger team published an apology of sorts today regarding a hailstorm of Blogger outages this week.

According to the team the current version of Blogger is causing massive problems for a variety of reasons which can be summed up as one thing – they have outgrown it. The post is a good read and gives some enjoyable insight into the world of Google when it turns upside down; not something I figured happened over there Read more…

First there was Google Earth, Then Google Moon, now Google Sun? Robyn Beavers announced on the Google Blog Monday that soon Google will be installing 1.6 megawatts of solar panels at their Mountain View campus. When complete Google will have the largest corporate solar installation in the US and possibly even in the world.

The electricity generated by these solar panels is equivalent to that used by about 1000 average California homes and will offset roughly 30% of their peak electricity consumption.

Good job Google on working towards a greener environment.

Brilliant! Sometimes I think the folks at Google are too smart for their own good. Okay, perhaps I am a little too excited about this but I just love to see a good idea. Yesterday Google announced “Google Teacher Academy”:

“The Google Teacher Academy is a pilot program designed to help K-12 educators get the most from innovative technologies. The Academy is a one-day experience at Google’s Mountain View Headquarters where participants get hands-on experience with Google products and other technologies, receive instructional resources to share with colleagues, and share innovative instructional strategies with other local educators. Upon completion, Academy participants will become Google Certified Teachers and will be asked to lead at least three related professional development activities for local educators.” (source, Google Teacher Academy) Read more…

Occasionally rumor becomes reality! This October 9th, 2006, Google agreed to purchase YouTube for 1.6 billion in swapped stock. Here are the main points of the sale:

• YouTube will stay separate and short of working in an air of unrestrained giddiness the YouTube offices will be business as usual.
• The purchase provides Google shareholders with a fantastic media portal and a great software platform that is in sync with Google’s mandate of organizing the world’s information.
• Other than the obvious financial benefit, YouTube will now have Google’s resources to become bigger and better.

This purchase has been approved by both companies and expects to close in the fourther quarter of 2006.

Source: Google’s Press Release

I hope all of you experienced an excellent weekend full of family, and friends, swirled in the aroma of oven-baked turkey! I had a wonderful holiday weekend with my fiancee, my family, and hers; I ate and drank far too much and I am certain I set my workout routine a few paces back

In any case, I just wanted to wish you all a great short week full of profit and fun. Now it is time for me to get back to work and get our blog caught up with the times – among many other things.

All the best.

Online calendars have been available for many years now but the calendar-sharing feature that Google has included in Google Calendar has opened the door to a great a form of social marketing that is bound to make waves and possibly increase your bottom line.

What is Google Calendar?

If you are not a GMail user or even a fan of Google you may not know what I am talking about so here is some background. GMail is Google’s free web-based email program, which has many features that has helped it create a significant user base. After the emergence of Google Mail (GMail), Google launched a number of additional free applications for Gmail users, which culminated in a combined solution called Google Apps . One of these applications is Google Calendar, which is the subject of this article. Read more…

I came across this interesting press release announcing the results of a Yahoo!/OMD survey of 4500 online families across 16 countries called: “It’s a Family Affair: the Media Evolution of Global Families in a Digital Age.”

If you have the time I recommend reading the entire document but here are some snippets from that I think you will find interesting. Read more…

Want some free coffee courtesy of Yahoo! ? Well I am always looking out for my readers and freebies are a great way to extend the love Read on…

Today Yahoo! released a press release announcing that in addition to launching a massive new media campaign to publish it’s “fun brand” it will be providing free coffee from Dunkin Donuts this Friday, the 22nd.

Just so that I don’t get any details wrong here is the free coffee information direct from the press release:

“As appreciation for the millions of people who start their day with Yahoo!, all users who select Yahoo.com as their start page this Friday, September 22, 2006 will be eligible for a free coffee giveaway from Dunkin’ Donuts. Beginning at midnight ET on Friday morning, visitors to http://www.yahoo.com will be able to access and print a coupon good for one free 16 oz. cup of Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee. The coupon is valid only on September 22, and may be redeemed from 9 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. local time or close of business at any participating Dunkin’ Donuts retail locations in the U.S. while supplies last.”

So often we are giving to the search engines so it is nice to see a little substance coming back. I hope you get to enjoy a free coffee from Yahoo!

Today Yahoo! released an option-packed email program to all Yahoo! Mail users throughout the USA and 18 markets around the world. The press release provides a glimpse into what this new product offers Read more…