Phones from Google in partnership with wireless provider Orange may hit the United Kingdom starting in 2008, with the devices optimized to deliver geo-targeted Google ads from local businesses.

I’ve been thinking about brands that are making a difference in our lives and society, and I used the term “worthwhile brand” to define them.

A report released by the U.S. Census Bureau documents the projected amount of time that the average American will devote to the different media platforms in the upcoming year. According to the findings, the Internet has moved ahead of newspapers in the grand scheme of modern media consumption.

There are many webmasters who leverage Google’s search results and other related data by using their SOAP API. However, what are these folks to do now that Google is no longer supporting it?

Business ethics deserve much more attention than they usually receive in operating a company.

Is the popular social media site, Digg.com, just a game?

The Open Directory Project has operated under various names, but its latest incarnation managed at AOL has earned a new name: FUBAR.

The team working on Yahoo Mail has added several new features, and partially addressed the slowness of the service for users.

I have an old Perl project that goes out to a Government web site, ftp’s some files, massages them in various ways, and spits out some output. Over time, the project grew, and now does more than it used to.

The newest version of Opera Software’s web browser adds support from OpenDNS project PhishTank and from GeoTrust to combat phishing sites.

Google continues its pattern of omnigooglization in Europe by acquiring the Internet, mapping and data processing units of Switzerland-based Endoxon, for an undisclosed sum.

Well, it is called Facebook, a name that invites a certain amount of narcissism, or at least some inflated self-worth. Yahoo probably didn’t dream that an offer as high as $1.62 billion would be rejected. But Yahoo probably didn’t expect to hear the metallic hubris pinging out a tune of $8 billion, either.

A brief post on the Google AdSense blog today “clarified” the ad and image placement policy; basically, it’s best to keep unrelated Google ad units and images far, far apart.

The founders of Skype Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrm are close to launching their new Internet TV site, which is currently under the working name The Venice Project. Last year the pair sold their communications business to Ebay for $2.6 billion.

The concept of page cloaking has come under fire; again, because the idea is being used by a number of legitimate sites in order to protect or hide their content from users and/or search engine bots. The fact that these sites do not get punished for using cloaking techniques has become a sore spot with some bloggers.

There has been quite a bit of buzz on the paid search marketing front with the launch of the new Yahoo! Search Advertising platform aka “Panama”.

I’ve known Andy Beal via blogging and search marketing conferences for a while now and had the privilege of speaking with him on a SEO Blogger and Reporter panel at the last WebmasterWorld Pubcon in Las Vegas.

The site still says 1.3, but you can now download Spry 1.4.

Here’s a tip for all the bloggers out there trying to monetize their blogs with Adsense:

In a partnership that was announced earlier today, social networking site MySpace and wireless industry leader Cingular have collaborated to offer customers enhanced MySpace functionality.

Who’ll be keeping it real in ’07?

IBM has announced that it has teamed up with Circuit City to construct an online replica of the retail store within the virtual world of Second Life. The venture is geared at experimenting with the introduction of virtual worlds and 3-D technology into a cross-platform retail environment.

You have by now likely read many collections of rules related to best practices for social media optimization.

Being a father of two young girls, I’m more than a little familiar with Alphabet books. You know the ones I mean.