April 2006 Archives

Microsoft lost 3 percentage points in the search market year over year. This is even after annual announcements that they will spend billions in R&D on various initiatives including search. They hope the new addition of Steven Berkowitz, the chief executive of Ask Jeeves will help them compete with Google more effectively.

There has been so much talk about how easy it is to steal market-share away from Google and we used to see survey after survey saying the majority of users would switch search engines if they found something better.

I suppose the question worth asking is why is it so difficult to make a search engine better than Google. Is it the interface? The results? Perhaps it is a combination of both.

There are thousands of ultra-smart people at Microsoft and Yahoo! for that matter. Why can't these companies slow Google down?

If the answer is because Google has the momentum, then will it be a matter of time before Google makes a mistake and gives the others an opportunity to catch up? Certainly this is a strange position for Microsoft and Yahoo to be in.

While we're at it, let's throw eBay into the mix as there seems to be a secret pact being made by Google's top competitors of the present and future.

You see Google keeps expanding its products from things like Google Base allowing it to become a competitor to the newspaper classified section to an upcoming service allowing it to take payments perhaps exactly like PayPal.

The basic problem Google competitors face is that Google is becoming the middleman of the web. How do you compete with that?

Perhaps the only way to compete is to become a better middleman. Yahoo is in the best position to be this as they have a super-strong portal offering. MSN isn't far behind.

But although Google is a loosely distributed portal they act more like a company trying to get in the middle of everything web surfers do. They do this one service/piece of software at a time. This is a killer strategy as they are becoming an essential part of web transactions whether they are financial or informational.

Admittedly the portal strategy seems like it should be an even better way to provide service as you can keep adding services and existing portal users will start to naturally explore them.

So if the portal idea is logical then banding together portals should make even more sense. Of course it isn't clear if eBay, Microsoft and Yahoo will do this but it seems like a smart strategy allowing all three players to fight what seems to be an ever-growing threat to virtually all Internet business models.

But I see banding together a short-term fix. Furthermore, the portal strategy while a great way to hold onto market share doesn't seem to be a great way to get more people to use your search engine.

Obviously superior search is the hallmark of what Google does and is its edge. The competition is going to have to build a better search engine than Google if they want to compete long-term. But even though massive investments are made continually in rival search technology, no one is able to catch up.

In the long-run the middleman of the Internet is going to own it. The question is will forming deeper partnerships with your potential competitors help you become a universal middleman? It is possible this could happen but if this partnership strategy doesn't work out, Microsoft better hope that Steven Berkowitz will be the I'm Feeling Lucky result in their search for search engine dominance.

Be sure to check out the TMCnet channels when you get a moment… Think of them as micro-publications on various topics. There are a number of new ones here and there are XML feeds on the channels if you would prefer to use an RSS reader.

 

 

Be sure to check out the TMCnet channels when you get a moment… Think of them as micro-publications on various topics. There are a number of new ones here and there are XML feeds on the channels if you would prefer to use an RSS reader.

 

 

Here is the release on TMC video – I have had many questions on this today. We are very excited to get this rolling.

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Critical Mention Launches ClipSyndicate, a 'One Stop Shop' For Web Site Publishers to Syndicate Video News Segments From Respected Broadcasters  
Clear Channel, MultiVu, a PR Newswire company, and Other Leading Broadcast  News Providers, Ink Deals with ClipSyndicate to Drive Syndication Revenue and Brand Extension to Vertical Web Sites

NEW YORK, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Critical Mention, Inc., the leading Web-based television news search and broadcast monitoring service, today announced the formation of a new technology platform and business venture, ClipSyndicate, providing an exceptional value proposition for broadcasters, advertisers and Web site publishers in the "long tail" of the Internet. Broadcasters can extend the reach and value of their news clips, advertisers are able to get their video and banner ads in front of targeted "eyeballs" and Web site publishers are provided with the simplest way to syndicate and profit from timely and respected broadcast news segments that are relevant to their users/visitors.

ClipSyndicate enables broadcasters and other video content producers to easily monetize their content and extend their brands through an Internet distribution channel that syndicates video clips to thousands of vertical Web sites in need of content for their end-users, while providing advertisers new reach to an extremely targeted audience.

"The world of video distribution over the Web is rapidly evolving," says Allen Weiner, research vice president with Gartner, Inc. "Broadcasters need a broad Internet distribution strategy to seize the emerging opportunity of video distribution over the web, publishers need quick and easy access to respected rich media video clips, and marketers need new ways to cost- effectively find their target markets. A key element missing is the establishment of a sensible end-to-end business platform, backed by a secure and monetizable ecosystem."

"ClipSyndicate provides broadcasters with a huge opportunity to find new markets for their previously broadcast assets," said Sean Morgan, founder and CEO of Critical Mention. "We are offering broadcasters the means to reach vertical markets, generate new revenue streams and extend their brand to the long tail of the Internet, previously inaccessible to them."

The Online Gateway To The World of Video Content Syndication

Clear Channel Television, MultiVu, a PR Newswire company, and other leading broadcast news providers have already signed agreements with ClipSyndicate. Clear Channel Television owns or operates 42 stations nationwide. They serve in 25 markets from coast to coast and are affiliated with all 7 networks, including 2 independents. Full service news departments operate in 24 markets including two in Spanish. MultiVu(TM), a PR Newswire company, provides unsurpassed broadcast and multimedia production and global distribution services to organizations that want to reach the media, financial community, general public and other key audiences with their visual and audio messages.

"ClipSyndicate allows us to focus on what we do best -- produce award winning and highly engaging broadcast content," said Jason Gould, Regional Vice President and General Manager of Inergize Digital Media. "We expect ClipSyndicate to be a significant part of our supplemental online distribution strategy."

A Win-Win for Advertisers and Web Publishers

EMarketer projects that Internet video advertising in the US will nearly triple in 2007 to $640 million, and advertisers will spend at least $1.5 billion for online video ads by the end of the decade. Broadcast content providers and Web publishers alike will benefit financially from ClipSyndicate by sharing in advertising revenues to an extremely targeted audience.

"As more and more video moves onto the Web, and proliferation of broadband access continues, advertisers hungry for new, more impactful ways of reaching key audiences will follow suit," notes Morgan. "We believe that as the business scales up, our emphasis on aggregating vertical sites will drive some of the highest CPMs for video advertising on the Internet."

ClipSyndicate's Web interface allows vertical Web site publishers to syndicate relevant video clips from respected broadcasters and integrate them simply and rapidly onto their sites. Any site that syndicates a clip will be delivered a thumbnail, headline and summary directly through the ClipSyndicate platform to post on their site.

"ClipSyndicate represents the Web publisher's gateway to the ever-growing online world of video content distribution," added Morgan. "It's never been easier for Web publishers to add rich media content from the world's most respected broadcast outlets."

During the beta of ClipSyndicate, membership in the network will be by invitation only. Some of the beta clients of ClipSyndicate include: SmartBrief, Cygnus Business Media Interactive, mediabistro.com's TV Newser.com, and Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC).

- SmartBrief provides targeted, aggregated content to over 900,000   professionals every day. In partnership with leading trade associations   and professional societies, SmartBrief reaches its audience through 55   email services and Web site feeds covering industries such as aviation,   telecommunications, retail and healthcare.

- Cygnus Business Media's Interactive Division is a leading online   provider of essential news, information, utilities and e-commerce   services to 15 unique markets via more 68 Web site destinations. - mediabistro.com's TVNewser - mediabistro.com is dedicated to anyone who   creates or works with content, or who is a non-creative professional   working in a content/creative industry. TVnewser.com is   mediabistro.com's blog about TV news.

- TMC publishes Internet Telephony, Customer Interaction Solutions, IMS   Magazine, and SIP Magazine; and is the producer of TMCnet, the world's   leading Website covering communications and technology. TMCnet's traffic is ranked among the top 1,400 sites by alexa.com, an amazon.com company   that monitors and ranks sites by traffic levels. TMC produces INTERNET   TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, the VoIP Developer Conference, IMS Expo,   VoIP Demo and Call Center 2.0 Conference.

Through ClipSyndicate, all of these Web and email publishers will begin to add broadcast content to their already robust publishing efforts. "ClipSyndicate allows us to select and integrate video stories into our publications that are relevant to our audience. We know our subscribers want video content -- and ClipSyndicate offers the platform for us to deliver it," said Rick Stamberger, CEO of SmartBrief.

The Next Generation of Online Content Syndication

The founders of ClipSyndicate are true syndication veterans. Sean Morgan is one of the founders of Screamingmedia, the Internet's largest text news syndication service. Screamingmedia, which went public in August 2000 and was subsequently acquired by CBS Marketwatch for over $100 million, provides articles from thousands of text news publishers for syndication to hundreds of vertical Web properties.

In addition, CNBC contributor Ron Insana will provide strategic direction and counsel in support of Critical Mention and ClipSyndicate as a member of Critical Mention's Board of Directors.

"We believe the utility of one single platform that provides all the infrastructure, technology and service for video search and clip integration, combined with the aggregation of world class internationally-recognized broadcast brands and our leadership team will create a fast-growing and highly successful opportunity for all participants in the ClipSyndicate network," said Ron Insana.

Ron Insana will be joining the Critical Mention team at the NAB Conference in Las Vegas, April 24th - 27th, at the ViewCast booth, LVCC Exhibit Hall South 2, Booth Number: SL2840. Please contact Sharon Tolpin at 917-826-2894 if you are interested in a meeting at the NAB Conference. For more information please visit http://www.clipsyndicate.com.

About Critical Mention

Critical Mention Inc., the most comprehensive Web-based television search and broadcast monitoring service, is changing the way corporate communications and business intelligence professionals search, track and view critical information from television news. The company's CriticalTV Pro platform provides real-time monitoring and email alerts for organizations that require up-to-the-minute news about their company, clients and competitors. Critical Mention provides clients the ability to search over 3 million clips and over 10 terabytes of indexed television information, watch a clip within seconds of airing, and securely share clips with colleagues and clients. Critical Mention currently serves more than 450 clients, including Fortune 500 companies and market leaders in corporate communications, financial services, professional services, non-profit and government industries. Founded in 2002, Critical Mention (http://www.criticalmention.com) is privately held, with headquarters in New York City. 

I received an e-mail below from freepress.net pushing me to savetheinternet.com. The e-mail and site are intended to save net neutrality. With all the talk on this topic I expected the savetheinternet domain to have huge traffic. I checked to see when it was registered and the records indicate it was picked up back in January 1999. It is currently owned by The Graven Group, LLC.

I was surprised to see this site doesn’t register at all on Alexa. Is it possible that consumers just resonate with net neutrality regardless of how much this issue has come up lately?

Perhaps this site has only recently started to be promoted as I have found little media coverage on it.

 

Update 04/24/06: Wow! This site just jumped to 8,921 out of all websites in the world. That was quick!

My view on net neutrality issue has been evolving recently.

In the early days I believed consumers were best served by net neutrality but in thinking about it further net neutrality could slowly erode the revenue streams of broadband service providers and equipment providers.

In time there would be less money for investment in new infrastructure and at this point consumers would start to lose out.

If we are to have a telecom industry someone is going to have to pay for things like calling. Free calling around the world is very nice but then how does the industry make money? How does the industry feed its family and more importantly who will be left to give us one gigabit access to the Internet in the future?

The one reservation I still have however is that broadband providers could kill competition on their networks from a company like Vonage.

So while my views are evolving I am not firmly in either camp at this moment. The one thing I am sure of is that we need to ensure a healthy environment for consumers as well as broadband providers, service providers (video streaming, VoIP, etc) and equipment providers. Everyone has to be able to make a living.


Here is the e-mail:

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Congress is about to sell out the Internet by letting big phone and cable companies set up toll booths along the information superhighway.

Companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are spending tens of millions in Washington to kill "network neutrality" -- a principle that keeps the Internet open to all.

A bill moving quickly through Congress would let these companies become Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow -- and which won't load at all -- based on who pays them more. The rest of us will be detoured to the "slow lane," clicking furiously and waiting for our favorite sites to download.

Don't let Congress ruin the Internet:

Tell Congress to Save Net Neutrality Now

Our elected representatives are trading favors for campaign donations from phone and cable companies. They're being wooed by people like AT&T's CEO, who says "the Internet can't be free" and wants to decide what you do, where you go and what you watch online.

The best ideas never come from those with the deepest pockets. If the phone and cable companies get their way, the free and open Internet could soon be fenced in by large corporations. If Congress turns the Internet over to giants like AT&T, everyone who uses the Internet will suffer:

Google users -- Another search engine could pay AT&T to guarantee that it opens faster than Google on your computer.

iPod listeners -- Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that paid for the privilege.

Work-at-home parents -- Connecting to your office could take longer if you don't purchase your carrier's preferred applications. Sending family photos and videos could
slow to a crawl.

Retirees -- Web pages you always use for online banking, access to health care information, planning a trip or communicating with friends and family could fall victim to Verizon's pay-for-speed schemes.

Bloggers -- Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips -- silencing citizen journalists and amplifying the mainstream media.

Online activists -- Political organizing could be slowed by the handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay a fee to join the "fast lane."

Small businesses -- When AT&T favors their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, and Internet phone calls.

Innovators with the "next big idea" -- Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top spot on the Web.

We can't let Congress ruin the free and open Internet.

I was recently quoted in RCR Wireless a magazine from Crain Communications. If you don’t subscribe, you should check it out at http://www.rcrnews.com/. I am a subscriber by the way. Here is the article. I would have just run an excerpt and put a link to the article online but it doesn’t appear online.

So just to give RCR Wireless one more plug check them out at http://www.rcrnews.com/.

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Flying High; FCC's auction of air-to-ground spectrum could enable in-flight communications

Heather Forsgren Weaver

RCR Wireless News

(c) 2006 Crain Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

In about a month, the Federal Communications Commission plans to hold an auction that eventually could eliminate the one place that is still a no-cell-phone zone-the airplane.

The prospect of passengers chatting on trans-Atlantic or cross-country flights has some flight attendants and passengers concerned, but federal regulatory agencies-the FCC and the Federal Aviation Administration-to date have only focused on interference concerns when addressing cell-phone use in flight.

However, interference is not a factor in the government auction of air-to-ground spectrum, which is already used for communications while in flight. The FAA must approve the use of transmitting devices that work outside of the ATG band (such as phones that operate over cellular networks). While the FCC is considering relaxing those rules, the FAA said that it would continue to ban cell phones on airplanes.

Citing safety concerns and passenger confusion, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA wants the FCC and the FAA to maintain the cell-phone ban.

Devices used in the ATG band likely would be Voice over Internet Protocol phones using a broadband connection deployed by ATG auction winners. Future VoIP phones could look like cell phones, raising the question of how flight attendants would be able to distinguish between approved devices and ones that are not permitted.

"We are going to have to deal with the fact that people are going to make phone calls on airlines. So you have to think about what the airlines are going to do, what the FAA is going to do, what the FCC is going to do. I don't have a clear picture, but it will take everyone working together," said Greg Welch, president and chief executive officer of GlobalTouch Telecom Inc., which has a VoIP product it believes could be used on airplanes. "Ultimately it will be the flight attendants who will decide whether you can talk on the phone."

Welch said he would prefer industry set parameters for in-flight phone use rather than a government mandate. "As a business owner, I would rather the government not tell me what and how to do it."

Welch also wants the government to allow flexible use of the spectrum. "If the FCC believes in network neutrality, they should say it, they should act on it. I think when you are auctioning something, you are trying to give the bidders the maximum ability to recoup and make a profit on their investment. No mandate on what can and cannot be on that spectrum," said Welch.

The government and prospective auction winners are banking on people wanting to be connected everywhere, including airplanes. "We seem to be at a place with this technology that people want Internet access everywhere," said Rich Tehrani, president of Technology Marketing Corp. "If you are business traveler and have a laptop and a BlackBerry, you are going to be connected."

Reinforcing the fact that men and women are from different planets, it would seem that men and women are wired quite differently. Scientists surmise evolutionary pressures such as childbirth have contributed to some of these differences.