Google Print Ads launched in the United States over the summer, but now is moving on the European turf for the first time.

Print Ads already supplies ads to 600 American newspapers, ranging in circulation from 3,000 a day to 215,000 with the Charlotte Observer.

Google will now publish print ads in British newspapers, a move that once again raises competition concerns for Google in Europe.

“We believe that online and offline are part of the same melting pot,” Google said. “It is not an ‘either or’.”
[more...]

The RIAA’s crusade against file sharing has not worked particularly well. In a country where 69% of teenagers believe it’s legal to copy CD’s and give them to their friends, the message is not getting through.

But instead of recognizing the lay of the land and adjusting to the new media terrain accordingly, the RIAA is instead “going to the mattresses,” to use a Mafia term. They’re taking the war to the next level.

Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, AZ, man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, is being sued by the industry on grounds it is illegal for someone who has legally bought a CD to copy that music onto his or her computer.
[more...]

Remember the early days of the WWW? There were a handful of browsers. I remember starting with Mosaic, but ended up moving on to Netscape Navigator. Most early web users did.

In 1998, AOL purchased Netscape Communications for $4.2 billion, what was at that point a major moment in the web explosion.

Netscape also prompted the creation and free inclusion of Internet Explorer into Windows, which led to an anti-trust suit that Microsoft eventually had to settle.
[more...]

Wal-Mart is offering a program that will help customers launch online ad campaigns for low, low prices.

No, really.

Through Sam’s Club Online Services and starting as low as $100 a month, Wal-Mart will set up a PPC service in AdWords or AdSense that will utilize keywords specific to your business and get you started on the road to internet marketing and search engine optimization.

Admittedly, Wal-Mart does seem to do a fairly good job with their own internet marketing. As Mark Hopkins of Mashable says, “I haven’t done any advanced CPC analysis to figure out if they’re getting good prices on the keywords they bid on, but if you can dream up any keyword based on a product you could find at WalMart, and they’ve got a Google ad up for it.”
[more...]

A new study by Simmons, an arm of Experian Research Services, indicates that the engagement level of viewers of online ads is higher than that of television ads.

According to the study, internet video watchers were 47% more engaged by advertising than traditional TV watchers. The study also found that the viewers were 25% more engaged in the shows themselves than television watchers.

This makes sense since people who watch video content on the web have likely done more to seek that content than a television viewer that may be flipping around. But even if the television viewer is very much into the show they are watching, he or she is so accustomed to TV ads that blocking them out is almost second nature.
[more...]

What a year it has been for Apple.

Today, the computing giant’s stock hit $200 after a year that has seen the stock’s price as low as $76.77. Brisk iPod, iPhone, and Mac sales have contributed to a banner year for Apple.

The stock price has shown a lot of volatility, but has been basically rising since January.

A decline in NAND flash memory prices is also helping Apple cut component costs, so there is more room left for pure profit.
[more...]

Happy Holidays from everybody at Equari.com!

As the New York Times noted, this it is becoming more and more acceptable (and preferable) to use e-greetings for holiday greeting cards. Not only are they much simpler to use, less expensive, and better for the environment, but they offer plenty of networking opportunities and chances to exercise your creative muscles.

More and more people are using social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn to send greetings. Sites such as rattlebox.com and JibJab.com offer customizable greetings, which let people add personal photos and messages to send off to colleagues and friends.
[more...]

Intel’s new breed of efficient ultra-mobile processors will form the backbone of Apple’s next generation of MID’s.

Once rivals, Apple has now chosen to embrace Intel and their dedication to efficient mobile processors like the Silverthorne. It is rumored that the chip will be used in the new 3G iPhone as well as a next-generation Newton.

Intel unveiled an iPhone-like MID at the Fall Intel Developer Forum that would run continuously for 24 hours on Intel’s latest round of chips. The particular device they showed ran on so-called “Moorestown” technology, a 45 nm chip not much different from the Silverthorne.
[more...]

Kayak, the discount travel search site, has acquired competitor SideStep for around $200 million.

Kayak does an estimated $50 million a year in business while SideStep, once on the verge of folding, does a healthy $35 million a year. Two years ago, SideStep wasn’t nearly as profitable but an infusion of new blood with Rob Solomon at the helm allowed them to more than double their profits in two years.
[more...]

In an unusual ruling by the World Trade Organization, Antigua has been permitted to violate copy protections on American films, music, software, etc., as a reward in a dispute over online gambling.

The United States’ ban on online gambling was perceived by Antigua as a violation of the free trade agreement between the two nations (online gambling is a major industry in Antigua). But Antigua saw it this way: if the United States can ignore a free trade agreement that doesn’t allow a trade partners’ gambling websites in the US, then other nations can therefore ignore United States copyright laws.
[more...]