Olivier Travers

Talking about the Internet is so last year "Wonder why so many people are giving up their weblogs? Because the excitement has died down. There are no amazing new business models to assess, crazy new web sites to explore, theorems to dissect, concepts to discuss." I’m still going to speak to myself about the Internet [...]

Tuning In to Channel Yahoo "It seems that Yahoo, the Internet company that recently hired the former Warner Bros. studio chief, is trying to get something called "Yahoo TV" up and running. Yahoo has had talks with Live Planet, the Hollywood content company that gets big-time points for not to calling itself a content company. [...]

Why Microsoft May Buy AT&T Broadband: Fear, Greed & Envy "Would AT&T Broadband, the nation’s largest cable company, make a good acquisition target for technology giant Microsoft Corp.? There are lots of reasons why such a move would make sense, according to senior Kagan analysts. Recent visits to AT&T headquarters by Microsoft officials, including chairman [...]

Dotcom Scoop: Inktomi trying to acquire Google rumor "Word comes from an informed source that a deal is in the works for Inktomi to acquire Google. Little other information is known about the potential deal at this time. I will tell you this however, the information comes from the same person who tipped me off [...]

Interview: Craig Silverstein (Google’s CTO) "Without ticking off all the paid search engine placement folks, what it really comes down to is if you have a site that other people are interested in, then that’s really the key? Yes, once you have that it’s not difficult to get good search engine placement. But for a [...]

Meta Search Or Meta Ads? "What people may not realize is that many meta search services are now also bringing back paid placement listings and mixing these in among the more traditional editorial-style results that they retrieve. In fact, a Search Engine Watch survey shows that some meta search services are providing results where more [...]

Interview with Sarah Perry; Director, Visa

The meaning of Web cartography (see May 28th, not a permalink) "My thoughts begin with the question, "Is the Web mappable?" or, more generally, "Are information spaces mappable?" Maps represent static entities that have a generally agreed-upon orientation. Information, though, is fluid, and attempts to diagram relationships are wholly dependent on an individual’s perception. There [...]

Telling A Story "Personal computers have forever changed the way people make publications, movies, and music. But they have not changed the people who do these things. If you lack writing or editing or illustration skills, or filmic flair or musical ability, then desktop publishing or video or music tools can’t change that. What they [...]

How Yahoo! Japan Beat eBay at Its Own Game "Yahoo Japan–the country’s largest portal–has 95% of the online-auction market, where last year $1.6 billion worth of goods were traded. By contrast, eBay Japan–whose only business is auctions and whose parent dominates online auctions in the U.S.–has a measly 3% of the Japanese market."