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Déjà Hoo: Yahoo Has Done the Pre-IPO Legal Shakedown Dance Before

Kara Swisher in News on March 13 at 6:29 am PT

Been there, done that.

Voices

The “Mad Men” Years Are Giving Way to the “Math Men” Era

Chris Moore, Partner, Redpoint Ventures in Voices on January 20 at 3:50 pm PT

I love the “Mad Men” version of the ad business. The storytelling. The simplicity. The glasses of scotch at 10 am. But these days in digital, it feels like the Math Men media buyers (with their terabytes of data) are taking over for the Mad Men creatives.

Yahoo's (and Associated Content Founder) Luke Beatty Talks About Google's Content Farm Putsch

Kara Swisher in News on February 28, 2011 at 8:02 am PT

Yahoo’s Luke Beatty said he is not worried. “We welcome the change,” he insisted about Google taking aim last Friday at so-called “content farms,” producers of low-quality content that spam up the Web and the search giant’s results. “And we endorse what Google is doing 100 percent.” That’s ironic, given among those allegedly hit hardest by the tweaking of its famous algorithm–based on early, and perhaps questionable, surveys–is Yahoo’s Associated Content. Its founder talked to BoomTown about the impact.

YouTube Adds Personalized Channels to Lengthen Living Room Sessions

Liz Gannes in Social on December 1, 2010 at 5:30 pm PT

YouTube today is launching a personalization update to its “Leanback” viewing mode, which is meant to be played on televisions. YouTube users who watch through Leanback already spend on average 30 minutes per session, two times longer than sessions on the Web.

Exclusive Video: Bill Gross Talks About TweetUp and Gives a Tour of Idealab

Kara Swisher in News on April 11, 2010 at 9:01 pm PT

Bill Gross is widely considered the man responsible for the invention of paid search advertising, which heralded such Web powerhouses as Google. Now, in a can-lightning-strike-twice effort and armed with $3.5 million in venture funding from a group of leading investors, the well-known entrepreneur talks about his decision to monetize Twitter on his own and gives a tour of his well-known Idealab incubator where his newest start-up, TweetUp, is being cooked up.

Paid Search Inventor Bill Gross Moves to Monetize Tweets With TweetUp–And Without Twitter (Plus Screenshots)

Kara Swisher in News on April 11, 2010 at 9:00 pm PT

Just as Twitter finally prepares to announce its plans to make money–after what has seemed an eternity–the man responsible for the invention of paid search is beating the microblogging site to the potentially profitable punch, and without its involvement. Armed with $3.5 million in venture funding from a group of leading investors, well-known entrepreneur Bill Gross is launching a public beta of TweetUp, a bidding marketplace akin to Overture/Goto.com, the first paid search system he created a decade ago.

Apple Announces Mobile Ad Plans Thursday, and Google Can’t Wait to Tell the FTC [UPDATED]

Peter Kafka in Media on April 6, 2010 at 2:53 pm PT

Apple is likely to introduce its mobile ad platform Thursday at its iPhone developer event, say sources familiar with the company’s plans. Expect to hear a loud cheer from Google, Apple’s former ally and current competitor.

Aardvark Confirms It Has Been Acquired, but Not by What Company (But It's Google)

Kara Swisher in News on February 11, 2010 at 11:20 am PT

Aardvark, the social search engine that has been the subject of much attention since it was founded in late 2007, confirmed that is has been acquired. “We can confirm that we signed a deal to be acquired,” wrote CEO Max Ventilla in an email to BoomTown this morning. But Ventilla would not reveal the buyer, which a report earlier this morning said is Google, for $50 million. Google has since confirmed that it is the buyer.

Yahoo Demos Cool Etch-a-Sketch Mobile Search App and New Search Dude Shashi

Kara Swisher in News on February 10, 2010 at 10:30 am PT

BoomTown will be hoofing it elsewhere today, so I am missing Yahoo’s search event at its Sunnyvale campus this morning. Thankfully, I was at the Silicon Valley Internet giant earlier this week, getting a grilling from CEO Carol Bartz, and was able to talk to both Prabhakar Raghavan, SVP of Yahoo Labs and Search Strategy, and new hire Shashi Seth, the company’s SVP of Search Products. Both talked about what the items on today’s agenda–a six-months’ look back at Yahoo search innovations, its upcoming Olympics shortcut on the search page and a new mobile search app that uses a kind of Etch-A-Sketch drawing technology–using fingers, not keywords–to help users find stuff.

Aardvark's Max Ventilla and Damon Horowitz Speak (Plus a Tour!)

Kara Swisher in News on December 11, 2009 at 12:11 pm PT

Earlier this week, BoomTown motored over to the San Francisco HQ of Aardvark, the social search engine that has been the subject of much attention since it was founded in late 2007. While there, I got a tour of the 30-person start-up and did a video interview with two of its founders about where Aardvark is headed and more.