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Google news

Most of Google's news this month has been in the advertising arena - web hosting provider explains.

Some Google text ads are running on mobile phones for free until November 18, 2007. The ads appear when people use their mobile phones to search Google. As with online text ads, users can click on the links to go to advertisers' websites. Landing pages may be adapted so that they display better on mobile phones. Advertisers can opt out at any time, and if they don't opt out, they'll be charged for mobile ads effective November 19.

DoubleClick is also offering advertising services for mobile phones. DoubleClick's technology converts ads to fit mobile phone screen sizes, and mobile ad scheduling is integrated with online ad scheduling.

Google announced its acquisition of DoubleClick in April 2007, but the deal is now considered a proposed acquisition while concerns about competition and privacy issues are investigated.

With Gadget ads, Google offers more ways for advertisers to engage their audience. Advertise can include video, images, real-time data feeds, and other features using Flash and HTML. Gadget ads are intended to function more like content than typical ads, and they offer a variety of targeting options.

Google Print Ads for newspaper advertising now has a free print ad tool to go with it. Advertisers can enter their text and images in pre-designed ad templates, and the ad tool automatically generates several designs for advertisers to choose from. Ads can be edited and resized.

Webmaster tools now have some new features, including subscriber stats and improved navigation.They're now available in 20 languages.

On a different note, Iran has blocked access to Google and Gmail. No reason was given, but Iran has already banned thousands of websites with sexual and politically critical content as well as social networking sites.

Yahoo news

Yahoo is making several new acquisitions and partnerships this month.

Yahoo has announced their agreement to acquire BlueLithium, a major online global ad network. With BlueLithium as a wholly owned subsidiary, Yahoo will be able to offer more advanced targeting and analytical tools, among other features.

The news site Buzztracker has also become a Yahoo acquisition. BuzzTracker technology will be used to improve the breadth and relevancy of Yahoo News, and Buzztracker founder Alan Warms will be the general manager.

Yahoo has agreed to acquire Zimbra, an email and collaboration software provider. Zimbra's technology and relationships with large ISPs will help Yahoo expand their offerings and partnerships.

Yahoo UK and Ireland now have a deal with Bebo, the most popular social networking site in the UK and Ireland. Yahoo will sell ads for Bebo, and with Bebo's information about the 16-to-24-year-old market, Yahoo will be able to offer their advertisers more enhanced behaviorally targeted advertising. In addition, Bebo will integrate Yahoo Answers so that users can take part from the Bebo site, and Yahoo will create a Bebo toolbar.

AOL news

AOL is taking steps to increase their role in online advertising. They aim to have local portals in 14 countries and cover over 95 percent of the European online market in the next 18 months, starting with the just-launched AOL.it in Italy.

Back in the US, AOL is moving their corporate headquarters from Dulle to New York City to be central to the media advertising marketplace. Their recent advertising business acquisitions have been combined in their new Platform A, which offers advertisers a range of targeting and measurement tools.

AOL has also signed a new agreement with Hewlett-Packard. HP will offer co-branded and localized versions of their portal, toolbar, and search on HP computers.

Bluestring is a new AOL project where users can store photos, videos, and music, and combine them into multimedia presentations.

Netscape, an older AOL project, is undergoing a transition. Social news has been migrated to Propeller.com, and Netscape is returning to more traditional news.

Other search engine news

Project Gatineau is the name of Microsoft's beta free web analytics tool. According to this presentation with screenshots, one of the aims of Gatineau is to take on Google Analytics.

At Ask.com, users can now embed mapped results into their own web pages. More map features are in the Ask.com blog.

Other news

The mobile phone company Nokia has entered an agreement to acquire Enpocket, a leader in mobile advertising. Nokia expects to build on their mobile advertising services by using Enpocket's platform and partnerships with advertisers, publishers, and operators.

1001 days after it was released, the Firefox browser reached 400 million downloads. The July 2007 statistics at w3schools.com show Firefox with 34.5 percent of the market share, while the IT Productivity Center shows Firefox at just over 14 percent in the same month and at 17.4 percent in September 2007.

20 years in jail for typo-squatting? That's what a Nevada man is facing for pretending to be an intellectual property lawyer to scam typo-squatters out of the domains they'd registered. He was caught after one of his victims became suspicious and contacted authorities.

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