Nicholas Carlson

AOL today announced it bought online behavioral targeting advertising network Tacoda for an undisclosed sum. Tacoda makes software that serves ads based on consumers’ online behaviors. AOL AOL President and COO Ron Grant said in a statement the buy will improve AOL’s ability to “precisely target” ads to consumers on behalf of advertisers and publishers. […]

Ask.com and Microsoft today suggested that the search industry have a conversation about consumer privacy in an age of online advertising and search. What it really is: the third- and fifth-place U.S. search providers calling out the market leaders. That means Google and Yahoo . In a statement, the companies said they want “leading search […]

Viacom and Google go to court July 27 to decide which of the two companies should bear the cost of keeping Viacom’s copyrighted content off YouTube, Google’s video-sharing Web site. Viacom says Google and seeks $1 billion in damages. Whatever the result, the case will impact most Internet users. According to comScore, nearly 75 percent […]

With all three of its business units pulling their weight, EBay today reported second quarter profits jumped 50 percent year over year to $376 million, or $0.27 earnings per diluted share. EBay also reported record-setting second-quarter net revenues of $1.83 billion, which represents a growth rate of 30 percent year over year. EBay President and […]

Yahoo second quarter profit dropped 2.3 percent to $160.6 million on 11 cents per share from net income of $164.3 million on 11 cents per share in the year-ago period. The dip, which securities analysts expected, continued a bout of struggle for a company that has seen many management and structural changes in the last […]

ValueClick today said it purchased comparison-shopping Web site operator MeziMedia. ValueClick, an online advertising company that operates the European comparison shopping site PriceRunner, said it will acquire MeziMedia for approximately $100 million in cash. After the deal closes, however, that price could go as high as $352 million, depending on whether certain performance thresholds are […]

What’s with the sudden hype over Facebook? In May, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the Facebook Platform, which allows third-party developers to build applications for the social utility’s users. The parade hasn’t stopped since. Whether it happens on the Today Show or tech gossip blog Valleywag, coverage for Facebook since the platform launch has been nothing […]

Google Mapplets is ready for its close up. Google today opened the maps-based mini-applications platform to users weeks after announcing it at Where 2.0 and Google Developer Day. Mapplets enables users to view and layer third-party information, such as real estate listings, jogging trails, events and photos, directly onto Google Maps. Some of the Mapplets […]

MySpace has submitted another list of sex offenders to authorities. In response to a subpoena by New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram, the social network this week handed over information on sex offenders that joined the service since May 21, a spokesperson for Milgram’s office told internetnews.com. On June 29, Milgram served the Fox Interactive […]

MySpace may be following Facebook’s lead. Evidence from a page on the social network’s domain indicates the Fox Interactive Media company plans to open its platform to third parties through new APIs . On the page, titled Albums Web Service, MySpace links to a series of sample requests and responses that third parties should expect […]

Anyone bargain hunting for a Second Life sex toy may find some deals are too good to be true. A company called Eros says it’s been being victimized by cheap, illegal knock-offs. The faux Eros SexGen Platinum Base Unit is said to animate coupled avatars in the same erotic manner as the “real” thing. The […]

Google Earth is changing as fast as the world it virtually replicates. And Google wants to increase the pace. It wants Google Earth to organize all the world’s geo-spatial information through user-annotation. That’s why earlier this summer, Google Earth and Google Maps general manager John Hanke announced that Google would open the new version of […]