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In-depth analysis and expert insight into Bing, MSN, adCenter, and more.Who Facebook Thinks Your Friends Are
A programmer has created a simple bookmarklet that reveals which users Facebook expects you to be searching for. This is notable in two respects: first, it’s a look into your Facebook preferences—not just who you’re looking for, but who you’d decide to be looking for given an ambiguous query. It’s also…
Google’s Intrinsically Boring Patent Deal
Google is buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5bn. There are three parts of this deal: the assets Google will immediately liquidate (low-margin phones, cash), the assets they’ll reluctantly liquidate (the set-top box business), and the assets they only bought in order to avoid being sued (the patents).
It’s unfortunate that Google’s…
Buddy Media Raises $54mm for Facebook Marketing
Buddy Media, provider of high-end Facebook pages to large brands, has raised another huge round to fund further expansion. Facebook seems eager to have companies raise money in order to expand on their platform. This, despite Facebook being ranked the worst API in a survey of developers.
Opt-In Privacy on…
The Worst Business Story in the World
Yesterday, we argued that the worst business stories were of the “X nearly reaches Y” genre. We could have cited the example of the “Index reaches round number” stories, but we chose the ever popular “Apple’s earnings/market cap/etc. approach Microsoft’s.”
What Monday was to the S&P, yesterday…
How Startups are Outsourcing Distributed Spam Attacks
There are two practical reasons not to spam:
If you’re using your own server, your ISP will quickly identify you as a pest and shut you down. If you’re paying to use a mailing service, they will identify you as a pest before your ISP gets around to it.
The…
Alipay Settlement Doesn’t Impress Yahoo Shareholders
Yahoo’s Alipay settlement, announced early Friday morning, initially pushed the stock up. By the end of the day, Yahoo was down slightly. This was due, in part, to negative comments from analysts, who are still concerned that Yahoo essentially gave away part of an extremely valuable business.
Epocrates:…
People who talk about search engines act as if Google owns the market. “Don’t do that. Google won’t like it.” “Do that—you’ll rank better on Google.” Google does own a big piece of the market—66% in the US, more in most other places, and it’s a contender even in the few countries where it’s not…
AirBNB’s First Big Crisis
AirBNB takes a commission for letting strangers pay to sleep in one another’s houses. Anyone who hears about this business model immediately brings up the question of what happens when you rent to, or from, a psycho. (Note that Psycho took place in a standard-issue hotel.) This is a case study in what…
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