algorithmic

Exclusive: AOL Fires Moviefone Editor Who Offered Fired Freelancers the Chance to Work for, Um, Free

Kara Swisher in News on April 6, 2011 at 1:28 pm PT

Yesterday, AOL’s Huffington Post Media Group got into hot water after the top editor at its Moviefone unit sent a memo to freelancers it was in the midst of firing, offering them an opportunity to “contribute as part of our non-paid blogger system.” Today, sources said that exec–Moviefone Editor-in-Chief Patricia Chui–was fired by the company, which is in the midst of drastically rejiggering its stable of writers.

Demand Media Clears SEC and Prices IPO

Kara Swisher in News on January 12, 2011 at 7:06 am PT

Demand Media is set to go public, according to an amended filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, with shares priced from $14 to $16 each. The online publisher could sell up to 8.625 million shares and, if it prices at the top of the range, it could be worth about $1.3 billion and raise $138 million.

Ask Adds to Consensus: Social Is the Way to Compete With Google

Liz Gannes in Social on November 9, 2010 at 1:00 pm PT

IAC’s Ask.com is giving up the ghost on algorithmic search and Web crawling. Rather than continuing to wilt on search or competing directly with Google, IAC said today it is changing strategy to Q&A search. That will strike 130 engineering jobs in New Jersey and China, according to Bloomberg.

Fist Pump! Microsoft Now Powers Yahoo Paid Search 100 Percent in U.S. and Canada

Kara Swisher in News on October 27, 2010 at 7:45 am PT

Microsoft’s adCenter is now officially powering 100 percent of paid search on the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s owned-and-operated properties and its publisher network in the U.S. and Canada. The pair have already completed algorithmic integration of Bing and Yahoo. Thus, they are as tight as ticks–fist pump!–kind of like the JWoww and Snooki of search!

Liveblogging Yahoo’s 3Q Earnings: Busy, Busy, Busy (So Go Away, Tim Armstrong!)

Kara Swisher in News on October 19, 2010 at 2:12 pm PT

Here we go with the Yahoo third-quarter earnings call starring CEO Carol Bartz, who has some–in the immortal words of Ricky Ricardo–‘splaining to do. Yahoo turned in a much-needed solid quarterly earnings report, with slightly better-than-expected earnings, although still weak revenues. CEO Carol Bartz sounded subdued and very much on script. Probably a good idea, considering!

Yahoo Upgrades Search Experience With "Accordion"–As It Ports Over Tech to Microsoft

Kara Swisher in News on October 6, 2010 at 9:00 pm PT

Tonight, Yahoo is introducing a new set of search upgrades, moving to focus on boosting its experience for consumers as it ports responsibility for underlying search technology to Microsoft under its new partnership. Among the new enhancements: A vertical “accordion” paradigm with shortcuts on search results that allow for new kinds of information presentation; “quick apps,” beginning with one for Netflix that lets its members add movies to their queue directly from the search results page; slideshows within search from the “Trending Now” lists on Yahoo; more immersive and theater-style photo and video search; and a new mobile search experience that uses HTML5 technology.

Say You, Say (Google) Me–When Will the Search Giant Get Social Graces?

Kara Swisher in News on August 25, 2010 at 8:16 am PT

We all want to be something else, don’t we? And so it is with Google, the robotic, algorithmic, black-box search behemoth girding the globe with datacenters stacked up to heaven. As it turns out, all it really wants is to be our friend. The big question is when it is going to do that, by introducing a social strategy that actually works, even as perceived rival Facebook barrels ahead.

Zynga and SoftBank in an Online Games Joint Venture in Japan–And Officially Confirm $150 Million Investment

Kara Swisher in News on July 28, 2010 at 11:28 pm PT

Online games phenom Zynga and Japanese Internet and telecom giant SoftBank announced a joint venture to develop and distribute social games across Japan. The new Tokyo-based service will be called Zynga Japan and is Zynga’s first foray into that country. The companies also said SoftBank had completed a $150 million investment in Zynga, which had been previously reported.

Google Says Pending Search Dominance in Japan Has Not Riled Regulators. But Maybe It Should.

Kara Swisher in News on July 27, 2010 at 8:50 am PT

If at first you don’t succeed, at least according to Google…try Japan. In what amounts to an even more aggressive move than it made in trying–and failing due to regulatory objection–to strike a search partnership deal with Yahoo in the U.S. in 2008, Google and Yahoo Japan announced yesterday that the search giant will take over both the algorithmic and paid search businesses, giving the pair a more than 90 percent combined market share in the Asian nation. Google said Japanese regulators have no problem with the deal. Reaaaaaaallllly?

Googzilla! Yahoo Japan Confirms Google Switch From Yahoo for Both Paid and Algo Search

Kara Swisher in News on July 26, 2010 at 11:44 pm PT

As BoomTown reported earlier today, Yahoo Japan confirmed it would switch its search technology and paid search provider to Google from Yahoo. The move is a definite blow to Yahoo’s new search and advertising alliance with Microsoft, although Yahoo sought to minimize the damage in a statement. But make no mistake, given the huge Japanese market: It’s Googzilla totally wiping the floor with MicroHooSoftra.