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San Francisco, Calif — Feb 03, `08 — Yahoo! would consider a business alliance with Google as one way to rebuff a $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft, Reuters reported citing a source familiar with Yahoo’s strategy said on Sunday.

The report further said, “a second source close to Yahoo said it had received a procession of preliminary contacts by media, technology, telephone and financial companies. But the source said they were unaware whether any alternative bid was in the offing.

Few natural bidders exist beside Google that could engage in a bidding war, and Google would be unlikely to win approval from antitrust regulators, some Wall Street analysts said on Friday.

Yahoo!’s efforts to find an alternative bidder could simply be a measure to pressure Microsoft to boost its bid, which valued Yahoo at $44.6 billion when first announced on Friday.” More at Reuters.

In response to Google’s foul cry over Microsoft’s Yahoo! bid, Microsoft has released a statement from Bard Smith, General Counsel:

REDMOND, Wash — Feb 03, `08 — The combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising. The alternative scenarios only lead to less competition on the Internet.

Today, Google is the dominant search engine and advertising company on the Web. Google has amassed about 75 percent of paid search revenues worldwide and its share continues to grow. According to published reports, Google currently has more than 65 percent search query share in the U.S. and more than 85 percent in Europe. Microsoft and Yahoo! on the other hand have roughly 30 percent combined in the U.S. and approximately 10 percent combined in Europe.

Microsoft is committed to openness, innovation, and the protection of privacy on the Internet. We believe that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! will advance these goals. More at Microsoft.

Feb 03, `08 — In a statement released today on Google’s press center, Mr. David Drummond, Google’s Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer cries foul over Microsoft’s Yahoo! bid.

Mr. David Drummond in his rude and venomous language falsely accuses Microsoft of making ” hostile bid ”. He says, “So Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another.”

Now Mr. Drummond do you even know or have any remote idea how many take overs Google have made in last five years or so ??

He also says, “Users benefit from constant innovation. It’s what makes the Internet such an exciting place.”

Mr. Drummond do you actually mean supporting rampant piracy through YouTube, when you say “Users benefit from constant innovation” ??

Do you even have any remote idea of how many pirated videos of Movies, TV Shows, Dramas, Music Videos, etc are being hosted at any given moment ??

Mr. Drummond further goes on to say, “This hostile bid was announced on Friday so there is plenty of time for these questions to be thoroughly addressed.”

Mr. Drummond when even Yahoo! in its official response refers to Microsoft’s proposal as “an unsolicited proposal”, who are you in the world to refer that proposal as “hostile” ??

And Mr. Drummond when you say, “It’s about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation”, do you actually mean that buying DoubleClick despite the immense privacy concerns from within the US and from Europe ??

If Google were to believe in its well publicized but never implemented ideology of ” Do NO Evil ” then Mr. Drummond why in the world Google needed to buy YouTube or DoubleClick? Google was already making tons of millions anyway… Google could have let YouTube / DoubleClick make money for themselves or let some one else buy ‘em (of course you would have stopped Microsoft from buying any of ‘em either, right?)

So Mr. Drummond before making entirely false claims using rude and venomous language, it would have been better if you have just took a little look at Google’s own past 10 years.

Or may be fear of loosing monopoly and loosing world dominance makes you speak highly rude & venomous language along with highly exaggerated claims and false acquisitions ??

Google’s statement on Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo!

Feb 03, `08 — Nicki Dugan on Yahoo’s Corporate Blog ( Yodel Anecdotal ) said that, “process like this is fluid and can take quite a bit of time” to weigh its strategic options, including keeping the company independent, following Microsoft’s $44.6 billion offer to buy the company.

Here is the complete posting:

Our response to Microsoft’s proposal

Posted February 1st, 2008 at 1:11 pm by Nicki Dugan, Blog Editor

Number of Comments 17 Comments / Filed in: Trends & News

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Microsoft made an unsolicited proposal to acquire Yahoo! yesterday evening. Since then, we’ve gotten quite a number of questions about what this means for Yahoo!. Right now our board of directors is evaluating the proposal and looking at all of our strategic alternatives, including maintaining Yahoo! as an independent company.

A review process like this is fluid and can take quite a bit of time, so while there’s not much we can say right now, we did want to refer you to this brief FAQ for more information.

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor

Tagged: microsoft, news

In a media response to a frequently asked question about whether Yahoo would seek proposals from other companies, Yahoo! press room said it was going to evaluate all options.

Yahoo!’s Media Response:

FAQ: Unsolicited Proposal From Microsoft

Q1. How is Yahoo! responding to Microsoft’s proposal?
The Yahoo! Board is undertaking a deliberate review process. They’re going to take time to thoroughly evaluate the proposal in the context of Yahoo!’s strategic plans. This will include evaluating all of the Company’s strategic alternatives – including maintaining Yahoo! as an independent company. That process will take some time, but the Board will ultimately pursue the option that it believes can best maximize value for our shareholders.

Q2. How long will the Board’s review process take?
A review process like this is fluid, and it can take quite a bit of time.

Q3. Will the Board seek proposals from any other companies?
The Board is going to evaluate all of Yahoo!’s strategic alternatives and pursue the option that it believes can best maximize value for our shareholders.

Q4. What would a deal like this mean for Yahoo!’s users, advertisers, publishers, partners and people?
Yahoo!’s Board is going to evaluate all aspects of this proposal carefully and promptly in the context of the company’s strategic plans and alternatives. So it wouldn’t be appropriate to speculate about the potential benefits or challenges of a deal. But the review process that’s underway won’t have any impact on our efforts to deliver value to all of our users, advertisers, publishers and partners – as well as new and exciting opportunities to our employees.

Citing analysts, Reuters reported that, “Comcast Corp, Viacom Inc and General Electric Co among possible bidders, although they also said few companies had the balance sheet to compete with Microsoft or were as natural a fit for Yahoo.”

More at Yahoo! here and here.

Below is the text of the letter that Microsoft sent to Yahoo!’s Board of Directors:

January 31, 2008

Board of Directors
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Attention: Roy Bostock, Chairman
Attention: Jerry Yang, Chief Executive Officer

Dear Members of the Board:

I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Microsoft to make a proposal for a business combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!. Under our proposal, Microsoft would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 based on Microsoft’s closing share price on January 31, 2008, payable in the form of $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. Microsoft would provide each Yahoo! shareholder with the ability to choose whether to receive the consideration in cash or Microsoft common stock, subject to pro-ration so that in the aggregate one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be exchanged for shares of Microsoft common stock and one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be converted into the right to receive cash. Our proposal is not subject to any financing condition.

Our proposal represents a 62% premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock of $19.18 on January 31, 2008. The implied premium for the operating assets of the company clearly is considerably greater when adjusted for the minority, non-controlled assets and cash. By whatever financial measure you use - EBITDA, free cash flow, operating cash flow, net income, or analyst target prices - this proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders.

We believe that Microsoft common stock represents a very attractive investment opportunity for Yahoo!’s shareholders. Microsoft has generated revenue growth of 15%, earnings growth of 26%, and a return on equity of 35% on average for the last three years. Microsoft’s share price has generated shareholder returns of 8% during the last one year period and 28% during the last three year period, significantly outperforming the S&P 500. It is our view that Microsoft has significant potential upside given the continued solid growth in our core businesses, the recent launch of Windows Vista, and other strategic initiatives.

Microsoft’s consistent belief has been that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! clearly represents the best way to deliver maximum value to our respective shareholders, as well as create a more efficient and competitive company that would provide greater value and service to our customers. In late 2006 and early 2007, we jointly explored a broad range of ways in which our two companies might work together. These discussions were based on a vision that the online businesses of Microsoft and Yahoo! should be aligned in some way to create a more effective competitor in the online marketplace. We discussed a number of alternatives ranging from commercial partnerships to a merger proposal, which you rejected. While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! that we are proposing.

In February 2007, I received a letter from your Chairman indicating the view of the Yahoo! Board that “now is not the right time from the perspective of our shareholders to enter into discussions regarding an acquisition transaction.” According to that letter, the principal reason for this view was the Yahoo! Board’s confidence in the “potential upside” if management successfully executed on a reformulated strategy based on certain operational initiatives, such as Project Panama, and a significant organizational realignment. A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved.

While online advertising growth continues, there are significant benefits of scale in advertising platform economics, in capital costs for search index build-out, and in research and development, making this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers. Synergies of this combination fall into four areas:

Scale economics: This combination enables synergies related to scale economics of the advertising platform where today there is only one competitor at scale. This includes synergies across both search and non-search related advertising that will strengthen the value proposition to both advertisers and publishers. Additionally, the combination allows us to consolidate capital spending.

Expanded R&D capacity: The combined talent of our engineering resources can be focused on R&D priorities such as a single search index and single advertising platform. Together we can unleash new levels of innovation, delivering enhanced user experiences, breakthroughs in search, and new advertising platform capabilities. Many of these breakthroughs are a function of an engineering scale that today neither of our companies has on its own.

Operational efficiencies: Eliminating redundant infrastructure and duplicative operating costs will improve the financial performance of the combined entity.

Emerging user experiences: Our combined ability to focus engineering resources that drive innovation in emerging scenarios such as video, mobile services, online commerce, social media, and social platforms is greatly enhanced.

We would value the opportunity to further discuss with you how to optimize the integration of our respective businesses to create a leading global technology company with exceptional display and search advertising capabilities. You should also be aware that we intend to offer significant retention packages to your engineers, key leaders and employees across all disciplines.

We have dedicated considerable time and resources to an analysis of a potential transaction and are confident that the combination will receive all necessary regulatory approvals. We look forward to discussing this with you, and both our internal legal team and outside counsel are available to meet with your counsel at their earliest convenience.

Our proposal is subject to the negotiation of a definitive merger agreement and our having the opportunity to conduct certain limited and confirmatory due diligence. In addition, because a portion of the aggregate merger consideration would consist of Microsoft common stock, we would provide Yahoo! the opportunity to conduct appropriate limited due diligence with respect to Microsoft. We are prepared to deliver a draft merger agreement to you and begin discussions immediately.

In light of the significance of this proposal to your shareholders and ours, as well as the potential for selective disclosures, our intention is to publicly release the text of this letter tomorrow morning.

Due to the importance of these discussions and the value represented by our proposal, we expect the Yahoo! Board to engage in a full review of our proposal. My leadership team and I would be happy to make ourselves available to meet with you and your Board at your earliest convenience. Depending on the nature of your response, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.

We believe this proposal represents a unique opportunity to create significant value for Yahoo!’s shareholders and employees, and the combined company will be better positioned to provide an enhanced value proposition to users and advertisers. We hope that you and your Board share our enthusiasm, and we look forward to a prompt and favorable reply.

Sincerely yours,

/s/ Steven A. Ballmer

Steven A. Ballmer

Chief Executive Officer

Microsoft Corporation

More at Microsoft.

MySpace will open its doors to software developers allowing them to create games and media-sharing applications for the popular social network, reports the BBC.

MySpace will formally launch its “Developer Platform” next Tuesday but is already allowing people to sign up. The tools have been developed with Google and will allow programmers to create programs similar to those used by millions on rival site Facebook.

Facebook opened up its site to outside developers last year. It has since had great success, with nearly 15,000 applications written for the site.

These include photo-sharing and music recommendation tools as well as games such as scrabble. However, despite its popularity, Facebook still lags behind MySpace in terms of overall users. MySpace has around 200 million registered users, compared to 63 million who use Facebook.

Last October MySpace announced that it would join OpenSocial, Google’s platform designed to allow developers to build applications that will work on any website.

Other networks such as Bebo, LinkedIn and Orkut already use the tools.

The tools, available from 5 February, will allow developers to build applications that make use of MySpace member profile information and their connections with other users.More at BBC News.

WASHINGTON — Feb 01, `08 — Although a major auction of prime public airwaves, the 700 MHz, is far from finished, there already appears to be a big winner: the US consumer.

A bid on the largest portion of public wireless airwaves, now being auctioned by the US government, reached $4.7 billion Thursday, surpassing a threshold price that would trigger so-called open-access rules that would allow any legal mobile device or software program to use those airwaves.

While bidding was anonymous, analysts speculated that Google and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, were the likely bidders on that swath, or about one-third of the total spectrum being auctioned.

Winners, however, will not be known until the entire auction by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission ends, a process that could take several more weeks. The auction began Jan. 24.

To retain the open-access conditions on that spectrum, a minimum $4.6 billion bid was required. The commission is selling a spectrum that is being freed as part of the switch to digital television in February 2009. The airwaves are considered especially valuable because the frequencies travel long distances and can easily pass through walls.

The rules, advocated by Google and a coalition of consumer and public interest groups, will help pry open traditionally closed wireless networks that prevent people from taking their phones with them when switching providers.

Google, AT&T and Verizon Communications are among 214 qualified bidders for nearly 1,100 licenses to pieces of the spectrum that vary from a nationwide swath to regional slivers.

Because of strict rules to prevent collusion, bidders won’t be identified until the auction ends, and companies are forbidden from commenting on their activity. Based on the limited bidding information available, Verizon is probably the high bidder on the open-access chunk, but Google is also a possibility, said Blair Levin, an analyst at brokerage Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

“The amount of activity that we’ve already seen occurring demonstrates just how significant the interest is in this piece of spectrum,” FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said.

“The openness requirement is important both in terms of the innovation it will lead to on the edges of the network and the ability of consumers to take advantage of that innovation,” Martin further added during a briefing with reporters yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Feb 01, `08 — US and European antitrust regulators aren’t likely to prevent Microsoft from buying Yahoo, analysts said Friday, though scrutiny of the deal could drag on for months, the AP reported.

A major factor weighing in Microsoft’s favor, analysts said, is Google’s dominance in the online search and advertising businesses — the two areas regulators are likely to focus on when weighing market power issues raised by the nearly $45 billion unsolicited bid.

The Justice Department said it is “interested” in reviewing competition issues raised by Microsoft’s surprise offer. The Federal Trade Commission and European Union officials declined to comment. If the deal goes through, analysts expect Congress and European regulators to review the combined company’s increased competitive edge.

“I don’t see this just sailing through, regulators will look at it,” Ted Henneberry of the London law firm Heller Ehrman said. But even after a review that could take up to six months, he said a Microsoft-Yahoo combination isn’t likely to be stopped because the new entity’s share of the online ad space would still be dwarfed by Google, which already controls nearly 60 percent of the U.S. search market.

“The fact that Google dominates this business will be a big factor in (Microsoft’s) favor in trying to get this approved by the regulators,” said Keith Hylton, a professor of antitrust law at Boston University. More at AP.

San Francisco, CA — Feb 01, `08 — Microsoft made an unsolicited $44.6 billion cash and stock bid for Yahoo late Thursday, a deal that could shake up the competitive and lucrative market for online advertising.

The surprise offer of $31 per share, which represents a 62% premium from where Yahoo stock closed on Thursday, made late Thursday and announced Friday, seizes on Yahoo’s weakness while Microsoft tries to muscle up in a high-stakes battle with Google likely to define the technology landscape for years to come. Shares of Yahoo shot up 50% at the start of trading Friday, while shares of Dow component Microsoft tumbled about 5%.

In a statement Friday, Yahoo said it will “carefully and promptly” study Microsoft’s bid.

With its profits steadily sliding, Yahoo’s stock slipped to a four-year low earlier this week and a new management team has been trying to steer a turnaround but sees more turbulence through 2008.

In conference call Friday morning, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer indicated he won’t take no for an answer after Yahoo rebuffed takeover overtures a year ago.

“This is a decision we have — and I have — thought long and hard about,” Ballmer said. “We are confident it’s the right path for Microsoft and Yahoo.”

Besides the question of Yahoo’s acceptance, Microsoft’s bid also faces regulatory scrutiny in Washington and Europe. On Friday, the Justice Department said it is “interested” in reviewing antitrust issues. European Union officials declined to comment.

If the deal is consummated, it would be by far the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history, eclipsing last year’s $6 billion purchase of online ad service aQuantive.

Microsoft publicly disclosed its cash-and-stock offer in hopes of rallying support from Yahoo’s shareholders, making it more difficult for Yahoo’s board to turn down the bid.

Microsoft’s previous offer was rebuffed by Terry Semel, who stepped aside last year as chief executive under shareholder pressure.

Microsoft sent its latest takeover offer to Yahoo late Thursday, shortly after Semel resigned as the company’s chairman. The letter is addressed to Semel’s successors, new Chairman Roy Bostock and the current CEO, co-founder Jerry Yang, who is one of Yahoo’s largest shareholders.

In a prepared statement, Yahoo said its board “will evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo’s strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders.”

“We are very, very confident this is the right path for Microsoft and for Yahoo,” he said.

Microsoft hopes to close the deal by the end of the year. Ballmer said that Microsoft has been in “off and on” talks with Yahoo for 18 months and said he called Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang Thursday night to tell him the bid was coming.

A Microsoft-Yahoo combination would create a powerful number two player in the online search business, which Google commands. The leading search engine reigns over 58.4% of the U.S. search market, while Yahoo has 22.9% and Microsoft’s share is just 9.8%, according to comScore, a research firm that tracks Internet traffic.

A Google spokesman, Matt Furman, declined to comment on Microsoft’s move on Yahoo. “It would be premature to comment at this point,” he said.

A federal appeals court handed Google a setback in a patent fight on Wednesday, Dec 26, tossing out part of a summary judgment in Google’s favor in a lawsuit filed by Hyperphrase Technologies.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit revived part of HyperPhrase Technologies’ lawsuit, throwing out a lower court ruling that Google’s AutoLink feature didn’t infringe the company’s patents.

As part of the Google toolbar, AutoLink gives users more information than standard links. It recognizes data such as addresses and book titles, then provides links to online maps or books at Amazon.com.

The appeals court ruled that Google’s immensely profitable AdSense did not infringe on Hyperphrase’s patents. It handed down a split decision on AutoLink, agreeing that Google did not infringe, as claimed, on one of the Hyperphrase patents. But it vacated a summary judgment in Google’s favor on two others and sent it back to the Wisconsin district court.

HyperPhrase claimed in an April 2006 suit that Google used its inventions without permission. It sought cash compensation and an order blocking Mountain View, Calif.-based Google from using the technology.

More at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling here (in pdf).

Dec 25, `07 — Slashdot reports on Google linking up Google Reader with Google Talk to make shared items visible to your contacts on Google Talk.

“One week ago Google Reader’s team decided to begin showing your private data to all your GMail contacts. No need to opt-in, NO way to opt-out. Complaints haven’t been answered. Some users share their problems, including one family who says they won’t be able to enjoy this Christmas because of this ‘feature.’ Will Google start doing this with all their products? You can browse the thread in Google Groups.”

Comments from Google Groups

User ‘banzaimonkey’ writes:
“I think the basic mistake here, as Modulo has noted, is that the people on my contact list are not necessarily my “friends”. I have business contacts, school contacts, family contacts, etc., and not only do I not really have any interest in seeing all of their feed information, I don’t want them seeing mine either. This is a major privacy problem.”

User ‘Paul Russell’ writes:
“Using my Gmail contacts as a friends list is a dangerous thing. Especially because a lot of the addresses in there were added automatically when people emailed me. I understand that sharing is a public activity, but to date Google reader shares were pseudo private by obscurity. In reality the only people that were going to see my share were people I told about it. I don’t like the idea of an opt out only mechanism. Facebook just took a bath on this concept. Granted Beacon was a complete disaster, but I think the lesson to be learned is when you change personal sharing to become more public it should be an opt in process.”

Chrix Finne at Official Google Reader Blog invites your feedback on Google Reader features here at Google Groups.

WASHINGTON — Dec 20, `07 — The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday approved Google’s $3.1 billion purchase of advertising rival DoubleClick, saying the deal would not substantially lessen competition.

The deal, which combines Google’s dominance in pay-per-click Internet advertising with DoubleClick’s market-leading position in flashier display ads, is also being scrutinized by European antitrust officials.

In a 4-1 vote, the FTC decided to end its eight-month investigation of the transaction.

Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour dissented and issued a separate statement expressing reservations, arguing that the deal “may substantially lessen competition.”

She said the takeover “will affect the evolution of the entire online advertising market” as this evolves and have wide-ranging implications for consumers. “The transaction will combine not only the two firms’ products and services, but also their vast troves of data about consumer behavior on the Internet,” she said.

European antitrust authorities are expected to rule on the deal sometime next year. The European Commission last month launched a probe and said the merger “would raise competition concerns.” The European Commission declined to comment on the FTC’s decision, spokesman Jonathan Todd said.

Microsoft and other critics argue the deal would enable Google to dominate two aspects of the Internet advertising market — ad sales and ad-serving tools.

The FTC said in a report on its investigation that both the online ad sales and ad-serving markets have numerous competitors, several of which have been bolstered by recent acquisitions.

Those include Microsoft’s $6 billion purchase of DoubleClick rival aQuantive, the acquisition of online advertising provider Tacoda by Time Warner’s AOL, and Yahoo’s purchase of Internet advertising exchange Right Media for $680 million.

Other competitors include ValueClick and 24/7 Real Media, which was purchased by London-based advertising giant WPP Group PLC for $649 million in May, the FTC said.

Privacy advocates say the combined company will have access to a huge amount of data on individual Web-surfing habits. The FTC said it lacked the legal authority to block the deal on any grounds except on antitrust matters.

However, in an apparent nod to these concerns, the FTC on Thursday proposed a set of privacy guidelines for the online advertising industry, describing them as something that “clearly transcend” the Google-DoubleClick deal. It remains to be seen how such guidelines would be enforced.

Google has a dominant position in pay-per-click ads, which are based on a computer user’s searches. Its ads are usually in the form of text and are shown on the right-hand side of the screen.

DoubleClick is a market leader in the display ads preferred by many corporate advertisers. More at FTC.

St. Louis, MO — Dec 19, `07 — Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google have entered into settlements with the US to resolve claims that they promoted illegal gambling, United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced today. The total amount of the three settlements is $31.5 million in value to the United States.

Three companies also agreed to stop accepting ads for sports wagering and other online gambling, US Attorney Catherine Hanaway said.

The investigation conducted by Hanaway’s office, along with the IRS and the FBI, dates to 2000, she said. Negotiations have been going on for 12 to 18 months, she added.

All three companies said they stopped taking the ads years ago.

As part of the settlement, the companies will pay cash to the US government and provide millions of dollars worth of public service advertisements informing young adults and teenagers that Internet gambling is illegal.

The US Attorney’s office in St. Louis, MO has led in the effort to halt illegal Web-based gambling, a roughly $6 billion a year industry in the US that violates the Federal Wire Wager Act among other federal laws.

Earlier this year, the London-based Internet gambling firm BetOnSports pleaded guilty in St. Louis to federal racketeering charges. Cases are still pending against company executives. Hanaway’s office also settled a civil case against BetOnSports in November 2006. That settlement prohibits the company from accepting any bets from gamblers in the U.S.

Microsoft will pay $4.5 million to the US government, $7.5 million to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and provide $9 million worth of public service advertising.

Yahoo’s settlement of $7.5 million includes forfeiting $3 million to the US govt and providing $4.5 million worth of online ads for a public service advertising campaign. Google will pay $3 million, the department said.

Google will pay $3 million, the department said. More at US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri.

BUCHAREST, Romania – On Tuesday, Dec 18, BitDefender announced that BitDefender antivirus analysts have detected a new trojan, which hijacks Google text advertisements, replacing them with ads from a different provider.

The threat, which is identified by BitDefender as Trojan.Qhost.WU, modifies the infected computers’ Hosts file (a local storage for domain name / IP address mappings, which is consulted before domain name servers and is considered authoritative).

The modified file contains a line redirecting the host “page2.googlesyndication.com” which should point to an IP of the form 6x.xxx.xxx.xxx to a different address, of the form 9x.xxx.xxx.xxx, so that the infected machines’ browsers read ads from server at the replacement address rather than from Google.

“This is a serious situation that damages users and webmasters alike,” said Attila-Mihaly Balazs, a BitDefender virus analyst. “Users are affected because the advertisements and/or the linked sites may contain malicious code, which is a very likely situation, given that they are promoted using malware in the first place. Webmasters are affected because the trojan takes away viewers and thus a possible money source from their websites.”

Users are advised to let BitDefender software delete the trojan. More info on the ad-hijacking trojan at BitDefender here and Real-time Virus Reporting here.

On Tuesday, Dec 18, Nick Weininger, Software Engineer at Google introduced a new “Flight Status Check Feature” on Official GoogleBlog.

In his words, “The holiday season is upon us, and we know that many amongst you are traveling to be with family and friends. To make sure you spend more time celebrating and less time waiting at the airport, we’re introducing a new flight status feature that we hope will make your travels easier.

For the latest information on a flight’s status, simply search for an airline and flight number, and the first result will tell you whether your flight is on time or delayed as well as the estimated departure and arrival times.

P.S. We’re still working on building a search feature that will find your lost luggage ;-) More at GoogleBlog.

Here’s a quick example for a specific American Airlines flight 118:

Washington — Dec 18, ‘07 — A venture led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has applied to bid in an upcoming auction of 700 MHz wireless airwaves, according to FCC’s “Accepted Applications” list released on late Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Allen was listed with an entity called Vulcan Spectrum LLC among the applicants who filed to bid in the FCC auction of 700-megahertz spectrum, which is scheduled to begin on January 24.

Allen and Vulcan Spectrum were on a list of scores of potential bidders who filed applications ahead of a December 3 FCC deadline. The auction applicants also included, Google, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm.

The FCC-run auction is expected to take several weeks, or even months, of daily, back-and-forth bidding, with the identities of the bidders kept secret. The radio waves are being returned by broadcasters as they move from analog to digital signals early in 2009. The signals can go long distances and penetrate thick walls.

FCC List of “Accepted Applications“, “Incomplete Applications” (in pdf). More at FCC (in Word).

SAN JOSE, Calif — Dec 17, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — As a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance, SiRF today announced it will rapidly implement key end-to-end location-awareness features needed to enable mobile devices powered by the Android platform to provide an optimal location awareness experience for consumers.

SiRF has joined with Google and more than 30 other companies worldwide to develop and deploy Android, the Alliance’s open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. SiRF’s commitment to Android is the latest in the company’s efforts to bring the power of location to the mainstream market by making location an intrinsic part of the mobile experience.

SiRF is actively working on the Android platform to include some of the more innovative features of Secure User Plane Location (SUPL), a standards-based protocol that allows a mobile handset client to communicate with a SUPL Location Platform (SLP), including transport layer security (TLS) for location privacy and multiple session capabilities to provide the most compelling user experience.

SiRF is also implementing support for Android-based assisted GPS (A-GPS) handsets, including mobile station based (MSB) and mobile station assisted (MSA) positioning methods to facilitate the Android platform passing Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and 3GPP conformance testing for third-party certification.

On Dec 13, Udi Manber, VP Engineering at Google announced - Knol - a knowledge project.

On official Google blog he elaborates, “The web contains an enormous amount of information, and Google has helped to make that information more easily accessible by providing pretty good search facilities. But not everything is written nor is everything well organized to make it easily discoverable.

There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it. We believe that many do not share that knowledge today simply because it is not easy enough to do that. The challenge posed to us by Larry, Sergey and Eric was to find a way to help people share their knowledge. This is our main goal.”

Manber further goes on, “Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “Knol“, which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it.

The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.

The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors.

At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word “knol” as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably.

It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we’ll do the rest.

Once testing is completed, participation in knols will be completely open, and we cannot expect that all of them will be of high quality. Our job in Search Quality will be to rank the knols appropriately when they appear in Google search results.

We are quite experienced with ranking web pages, and we feel confident that we will be up to the challenge. We are very excited by the potential to substantially increase the dissemination of knowledge.

We do not want to build a walled garden of content; we want to disseminate it as widely as possible. Google will not ask for any exclusivity on any of this content and will make that content available to any other search engine.

As always, a picture is worth a thousands words, so an example of a knol is here.” More at Official GoogleBlog.

WASHINGTON — Dec 14, ‘07 — The head of the Federal Trade Commission said Friday she won’t remove herself from an antitrust review of Google’s purchase of online advertising company DoubleClick, rebuffing requests from privacy groups opposed to the transaction.

Deborah Platt Majoras, chairwoman of the FTC, said she has reviewed a petition from the groups with the agency’s ethics official and other staff, and determined that “the relevant laws and rules…neither require nor support recusal.”

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy said in a petition Wednesday that Majoras’ husband, John M. Majoras, is a partner at the Jones Day law firm. The groups alleged that DoubleClick hired Jones Day to represent the company before the FTC on its acquisition by Google, the leading Internet search company.

The Majoras’ relationship “calls into question the ability of the commission to render decisions that are fair and just,” the groups said.

Deborah Majoras said Friday that Jones Day hasn’t appeared before the FTC on the transaction, and is only representing DoubleClick before the European Commission, which is also scrutinizing the deal. John Majoras said Wednesday that he has not been involved in any aspect of the transaction.

In a statement, Deborah Majoras said that her husband was no longer an equity partner in the firm.

“Any decisions that I may make in any case in which Jones Day represent a party cannot be said to directly and predictably affect my husband’s interest in Jones Day. Hence, I do not have a financial conflict in this matter,” Majoras said in a statement.

Marc Rotenberg, of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and Jeff Chester, of the Center for Digital Democracy, said in a statement that “we do not believe that the chairman has made a persuasive case against recusal.” The two groups requested the recusal on Wednesday.

They argued that, contrary to what Majoras said, Jones Day had advertised on its Web site that it represented DoubleClick at the FTC. But, they said, that information was pulled off the site after their recusal request.

Statement of Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras

More at FTC.

Related:

Senators Urge FTC to Review Google-DoubleClick Deal Closely

EU Opens In-Depth Investigation of Google’s DoubleClick Purchase

On Wednesday, Dec 12, Google Mobile released new iPhone interface for Picasa. After you go to Picasa on your iPhone and log in, you can quickly see all your albums that you’ve uploaded to Picasa Web.

If you click on any of the albums, you can get a full view of your picture with comments from your friends. Or you can click on Slideshow, sit back and watch the pictures scroll. You can also search for photos in your album or through community photos. Finally, you can view your friends’ albums through favorites.

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch go to http://picasaweb.google.com and check it out. More at Google Mobile Blog.

OAKLAND, Calif — Ask.com a search engine owned by IAC on Tuesday, Dec 11, announced the launch of AskEraser, the first product to give consumers privacy control over their online searches.

When enabled by the user, AskEraser completely deletes all future search queries and associated cookie information from Ask.com servers, including IP address, User ID, Session ID, and the complete text of their queries.

An AskEraser link is featured prominently in the upper right corner of the Ask.com homepage and search results pages - clearly and constantly indicating to the user that their search activity will be ‘erased’ from Ask.com servers. AskEraser remains ‘on’ for searches conducted across Ask.com’s major search verticals: Web, Images, AskCity, News, Blogs, Video, and Maps & Directions - and can be turned ‘on’ or ‘off’ by the user at anytime.

“For people who worry about their online privacy, AskEraser now gives them control of their search information,” said Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask.com. “AskEraser is simple, straightforward, and easy-to-use. It is an idea whose time has come.”

Earlier this year, Ask.com also announced that it is implementing a new data retention policy to disassociate search history from IP address and User ID after 18 months.

In addition, Ask.com has taken steps to further industry collaboration and dialogue on privacy issues. In July, Ask.com and Microsoft joined together in urging the online industry to develop global privacy principles for data collection, use and protection related to searching and online advertising.

AskEraser launched Tuesday in the United States and in the United Kingdom - and will be deployed globally in 2008. More at Ask.com.

Dec 07, ‘07 — UNICEF, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and Google today announced the launch of ” Our Stories “, a joint initiative to preserve and share the histories and identities of cultures around the world by making personal stories available online in many languages.

Using laptops, mobile phones and other recording devices, children will record, in their native languages, the stories of elders, family members and friends. These stories will be shared globally through the Our Stories website, where they can be found on a Google Map.

By making these stories accessible around the world, the Our Stories project hopes to contribute to a better understanding of our shared humanity across countries and cultures, across religious traditions, across languages, and across generations.

Low-cost XO laptops by One Laptop per Child will serve as a foundation to help build this digital archive of personal stories by providing children in developing countries with easy-to-use technology to record their stories and interviews.

The Our Stories website will initially include stories collected by Brazil’s Museum of the Person and stories recorded for UNICEF by young people in Ghana, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Our Stories has taken inspiration from the StoryCorps project in the United States founded by MacArthur Fellow Dave Isay. “StoryCorps is proud to lend its experience in recording the conversations of nearly 30,000 Americans to this global undertaking,” said Isay. “These efforts teach us that the lives of everyone – whether they are in New York or Nairobi – matter, and that they will not be forgotten.”

More stories from more countries will be added to the site every month in an effort to preserve an oral history of humanity in the 21st Century.

Leading figures have already lent their voices to the project: Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Queen of Jordan and UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children, and Ishmael Beah, UNICEF Advocate for Children Affected by War and best-selling author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, have all recorded messages welcoming users to the site and encouraging them to share their stories.

Listen to a story today at OurStories.org.