Search Headlines & Links: Nov. 15, 2006

Below, a recap of stories posted today to the Search
Engine Watch Blog, along with other items we’ve spotted but not blogged
separately:

From The SEW Blog…

• Google Expands Mobile Text Ads Beta
  Google has expanded its mobile ads beta test beyond the U.S., U.K., Japan and Germany to eight more countries: France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, China, Ireland, India and Australia. Ads appear above and below Google search results on mobile devices….
• PCNames Domain Search
  The PCNames domain search engine does exactly what might be expected of it – it searches for domain names and returns results with details on their availability. It does this virtually instantaneously as well – when you being typing the engine offers details on .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .us. Ideally I would prefer to see a wider variety and from a British/European perspective the addition of .uk and .eu would be enormously helpful, but even without that, it’s very useful. Once a search has been run it is then possible to get WHOIS information to research the site,…
• Ask.com, Google, & Yahoo Fight Raising SEC Fees
  The Washington Post reports that the SEC wants to charge new fees for accessing and displaying real-time stock quotes. IAC (Ask.com), Google, Yahoo and others in a coalition are fighting back. “The coalition in particular is looking for the SEC to reverse a staff decision allowing the New York Stock Exchange to increase the fees for displaying information from its Archipelago electronic market, some of which had been free. In authorizing the new charges last month, the commission ruled they were legitimate because they were not out of line with those already imposed by the Nasdaq for similar data.”…
• Google To Add 500 Jobs In Dublin, Ireland
  Reuters reports that Google is going to be adding 500 new jobs in the Dublin, Ireland office. This will make the Dublin office fairly large with 1,300 people, after first opening in 2004. If you are looking for a job in that area, you can check out the job openings page here….
• Google Holding $200 Million In Escrow For Possible YouTube Copyright Cases
  First Google was rumored to be keeping $500 million back from the YouTube sale to settle possible legal problems. Then Google CEO Eric Schmidt said they weren’t. Today, turns out they are. Google holds back stock in YouTube deal from the Associated Press covers the details about keeping 12.5 percent of the stock swap for one year “to secure certain indemnification obligations.” What Eric Schmidt Meant When He Said Google Wasn’t Holding $500 Million From YouTube For Lawsuits: We’re Holding $200 Million from TechDirt does a summary, plus gives you a funny headline about the entire thing….
• Loki And ‘Location Pull’
  If you’re not aware of it, Loki is one of the more interesting developments in local search. It’s a downloadable toolbar from Skyhook Wireless, which initially launched in April, 2006 and has recently been upgraded. (The technology actually works on any WiFi-enabled device.) Once on a browser, it automatically determines user location by triangulating WiFi access points rather than GPS, which isn’t on all devices….
• The Intersection of Local Search, Mobile & WiFi
  “Convergence” is one of those buzzwords that’s been around forever, loosely used to describe the blending of media and technologies into one unified platform. Until recently, search marketers could safely ignore the hype, but no longer: convergence is finally real enough to pose both a threat and new opportunities for search marketers. This was a hot topic at the SES Local Edition conference, and guest writer Grant Crowell offers key takeaways on the issue of convergence in today’s SearchDay article, Coping with Convergence: Local Search Meets Mobile and WiFi, Part 1….

WebmasterWorld PubCon Vegas 2006 Roundtable Coverage

• New Age of Web Advertising Keynote by John Battelle, Search Engine Roundtable
• Local and Mobile Local Search, Search Engine Roundtable
• What Every Webmaster Should Know: PHP, PERL, ASP.net, Search Engine Roundtable
• International and European Optimization, Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Blogger and Reporter Forum, Search Engine Roundtable
• Purchasing Links, Search Engine Roundtable
• Duplicate Content Issues (Yahoo & Google), Search Engine Roundtable
• Super Session : Search and Research on a Rail, Search Engine Roundtable

Headlines & News From Elsewhere

Internet Content Filters Fail to Block Sexually Explicit Material

, InformationWeek
• Briefly: Reuters Invests $7 Million in Pluck, Blog Content Continues to Go Mainstream, ResourceShelf
• Search Public Google Calendar Events, Google Blogoscoped
• Creating Advanced Custom Search Engines, Google Blogoscoped
• Myth busting: delays in page loading, Matt Cutts
• New commenting and stats features, Official Google Video Blog
• How do I get my blog to show up?, blog.memeorandum.com
• Google Sponsors the LinuxBIOS project, Slashdot
• Google to create 500 jobs in Dublin plan -source, Reuters
• StumbleUpon (may be) For Sale: $50 million, Techcrunch
• Ask.com advances searching, newsobserver.com
• Huh? YouTube Sends TechCrunch A Cease & Desist, Techcrunch
• Microsoft bets on Web services to battle Google, CNN Money
• Study finds Web isn’t teeming with sex, MercuryNews.com
• Quintura Search Engine gets backing from early Skype investor, readwriteweb.com
• Internet Advertising Revenues Surpass $4 Billion for Q3, IAB Press Release
• Search Public Events in Google Calendar, Google Blog
• Google News in Scandinavia, Google Blog
• Yahoo defeats Google…in tennis, News.com