blogWS.com: Blog for Webmasters

Google to shut down Google.cn?

2010-01-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

Google today anounced on their blog that, they may close google.cn and their offices in china, according to a post from official google blog

We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that "we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China."

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised

You can read more about from google blog

Twitter Search Deal

2009-10-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

The deal between Twitter and search giants Google and Microsoft to blend the microblog into their search results will have a big impact on the search marketing industry. Doug Platts, head of natural search at iCrossing, tells you what you need to know

Its important for travel brands :-

Travel is already one of the biggest sectors in search, both paid and natural, and these deals have potentially massive implications for the sector. One of the big issues for travel marketers is trying to communicate last minute deals in real time. At the moment the best routes are by constantly updating paid search inventory and communicating via your own website. Now that Twitter results are going to be feature in Google and Bing's search engine results pages, however, travel brands can potentially just tweet their latest deals and let the search engines do the rest.

Its going to be big for retailers this Christmas :-

This Christmas online is going to be all about price, and retailers will ideally want to be able to price reactively and in real time, and to be able to communicate these price changes quickly. At the moment they're relying on search engines spidering their sites quickly, but that's never guaranteed. With tweets feeding directly into the search engines, you can now just release new pricing information via Twitter and it will appear in relevant search results in real time.

Twitter becomes important for transactional sites :-

Hitwise recently unveiled figures showing that, while 55.9 per cent of outbound traffic from Twitter goes to media sites, only 9.5 per cent of traffic goes to transactional sites. This is going to fundamentally change with these deals. The attractions of marketing via the newly-increased distribution of Twitter mean that this is likely to fundamentally change as brands jump on board. This could have significant implications for Twitter's business model - instead of covering their service with ads they could potentially just look to sell it as a qualified traffic driving tool.

Customer service becomes more important :-

A lot of brands are already using Twitter as a customer service and research tool - monitoring for negative brand comments and trying to resolve customers' issues raised on the service. With tweets appearing in mainstream SERPs then this is going to be more important than ever as negative customer comments could potentially be exposed to massive audiences via the search engines. You don't want a customer tweet saying ‘I'm never going to shop there again' appearing against your search results. There's a also a black-hat spam opportunity here for the less ethically minded - if you post negative comments about your competitors on Twitter, those tweets could then appear against your competitor's brand search terms.

Twitter's only going to get more important for marketers :-

This announcement shows how important Twitter is becoming to the internet ecosystem. If both Microsoft and Google have decided that Twitter is the only game in town when it comes to this sort of real-time search, then you can take it that it's going to be an ever more important part of the way people navigate the web. If you haven't already got a Twitter strategy in place then you're going to need to get one quickly - Twitter's audience is going to jump massively as a result of this announcement and if you're not on board then you're going to miss the boat.

Web 2.0 crowned one millionth English word

2009-06-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

A U.S.-based language monitoring group crowned Web 2.0 as the one millionth word or phrase in the English language on Wednesday, although other linguists slammed it as nonsense and a stunt.

The Global Language Monitor, which uses a math formula to track the frequency of words and phrases in print and electronic media, said Web 2.0 appeared over 25,000 times in searches and was widely accepted, making it the legitimate, one millionth word.

It said Web 2.0 started out as a technical term meaning the next generation of World Wide Web products and services but had crossed into far wider circulation in the last six months.

This list included "Jai Ho!" an Indian exclamation signifying victory or accomplishment, and "slumdog," a derisive term for children living in the slums of India that became popular with the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire."

Other linguists, however, denounced the list as pure publicity and unscientific, saying it was impossible to count English words in use or to agree on how many times a word must be used before it is officially accepted.

There are no set rules for such a count as there is no certified arbiter of what constitutes a legitimate English word and classifying the language is complicated by the number of compound words, verbs and obsolete terms.

"I think it's pure fraud ... It's not bad science. It's nonsense," Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, told reporters.

Paul JJ Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor, brushed off the criticism, saying his method was technically sound.

"If you want to count the stars in the sky, you have to define what a star is first and then count. Our criteria is quite plain and if you follow those criteria you can count words. Most academics say what we are doing is very valuable," said Payack.

He has calculated that about 14.7 new English words or phrases are generated daily and said the five words leading up to the millionth highlighted how English was changing along with current social trends.

The list also included "cloud computing", meaning services delivered via the cloud or Internet, "carbon neutral", a widely used term in the climate change debate, and "N00b," a derogatory term from the gaming community for a newcomer.

"Some 400 years after the death of the Bard, the words and phrases were coined far from Stratford-Upon-Avon, emerging instead from Silicon Valley, India, China, and Poland, as well as Australia, Canada, the U.S. and the UK," said Texas-based Payack.

YouTube to show Movies, TV shows

2009-04-18T00:52:00.000-07:00

YouTube has reached agreement with Sony Pictures and other Hollywood studios to show full-length movies and television shows on the video-sharing website, leading technology blogs reported.

TechCrunch, a well-connected Silicon Valley blog, said other studios and media companies which have agreed to allow their content to be posted for free on the Google-owned site include Metro Goldwyn Mayer, CBS, Lionsgate, Starz and the BBC.

The move by YouTube is its latest attempt to bring more professional content to the site known for its amateur videos and to generate revenue.

YouTube already has agreements with MGM, CBS and Lionsgate, but they concern the hosting of only a few shows from their vast archives.

Earlier this month, Universal Music Group and YouTube announced plans to launch a music video website, VEVO.com, featuring artists from the world's largest music company.

Google purchased YouTube in 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars and has been searching for ways to translate its immense popularity into a money-making venture.

Internet Explorer 8

2009-03-21T00:40:00.000-07:00

Microsoft on Thursday released Internet Explorer 8, a new version of its ubiquitous Web browser, adding features which the US software giant claims makes it safer and loads pages faster.

Internet Explorer 8 was available for downloading in 25 languages starting on Thursday at www.microsoft.com/ie8, the Redmond, Washington-based computer software giant announced in a statement.

Microsoft said IE 8 was faster than previous IE browsers and included "leading-edge security features in direct response to people?s increasing concerns about online safety."

According to the Internet research firm Net Applications, IE had a total browser market share of 67.5 percent in January.

Mozilla's Firefox was next with 21.53 percent, followed by Apple's Safari with 8.29 percent and Google Chrome with 1.12 percent.

The Planet Announces Reseller Hosting Promotions

2009-02-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

The Planet(www.theplanet.com), a privately held dedicated hosting company, announced a promotion to help resellers increase hosting revenues. The company states that beginning today and through March 31, customers who purchase five or more select servers will receive per-server discounts up to 68 percent.

It further states that resellers can use these bulk servers to provide an upgrade path for their larger customers who require a dedicated platform. The company adds that the additional servers can also accommodate an expanded infrastructure for resellers looking to provide shared or value-added offerings, including applications and custom services.

''In the competitive hosting landscape, resellers are tasked with offering their customers a wide range of options, coupled with the best value for their dollar,'' said Urvish Vashi, General Manager of dedicated hosting for The Planet. ''With this bulk-discount offering, resellers can move their customers to a dedicated environment cost effectively.''

Google Ocean

2009-02-27T10:31:00.001-08:00

Google Ocean (http://earth.google.com/ocean/), which is included in the newest download version of Google Earth, allows users to explore the high seas with thousands of images of underwater landscapes from volcanoes to sea life.

Users can also watch videos, read stories and contribute photos as they explore the ocean.

Google Earth, which combines satellite photos, maps and information to enable users to explore streets and cities around the world, has been downloaded 500 million times since it was introduced in 2005.

Microsoft’s online employment resource

2009-02-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Corp on Sunday announced the creation of a website, Elevate America, aimed at improving access to job training tools.

www.microsoft.com/ElevateAmerica, provides resources to help individuals gain the technical skills needed for acquiring jobs, the world’s largest software company said.

The economy has shed 3.6 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007 with about half of the decline occurring in the past three months, recent Labor Department data showed.

The website provides access to several Microsoft online training programs, including how to use the Internet, send e-mail and create a resume, as well as more advanced programs on using specific Microsoft applications.

“We are also providing a full range of work force development resources for state and local governments so they can offer specialized training for their workers,” said Pamela Passman, corporate vice president of Microsoft Global Corporate Affairs.

Microsoft tapped Washington state as the first state to provide Elevate America to its residents.

Microsoft To Kill Vista, XP Upgrade Blockers

2009-02-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

Microsoft wants users of its Windows operating systems to move to upgraded versions of the software, so it's killing a tool that prevents upgrades from automatically self-installing.

"I have some important information for those of you who have installed the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows XP or Windows Vista," wrote Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft's in-house Windows blogger, in a Friday post.

"The Service Pack Blocker Tool temporarily prevents the installation of a service pack through Windows Update, typically for one year after general availability of the service pack. We are announcing the upcoming expiration dates for the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3," LeBlanc wrote.
LeBlanc said the blocker for Vista SP1 will expire on April 28, while the blocker for XP SP3 will expire on May 19.

Despite the tools' expiration, LeBlanc noted that companies that don't want to upgrade to the Windows service packs won't be forced to do so. Users that have the Automatic Updates feature turned on will receive an alert from Windows Updates indicating that an important update is available for installation. Users can then elect to install the service packs or ignore the update.

Users that don't have Automatic Updates turned on will receive the alert only after manually checking for updates in Windows Update.

LeBlanc said Microsoft is urging enterprises that haven't already done so to install the service packs. "Microsoft strongly recommends all customers move to Windows Vista SP1 if they are running Windows Vista or Windows XP SP3 if they are running Windows XP," he wrote.

Software makers typically issue service packs to improve security, stability, and other product attributes.

"Our goal in announcing the removal of the blockers early is to provide you with an early notification to ensure you're prepared to deploy the appropriate service pack when the blockers expire," wrote LeBlanc.

Google's Chrome browser is released

2008-09-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

The new rival to Explorer and Firefox, now available for testing in Windows, makes up in exceptional speed for any minor shortcomings. And it's got a nice array of features.

Google's much-anticipated new Web browser, Chrome, arrived today. It's streamlined, has some great new features and is very, very fast.

Chrome, the most talked-about new tech product is ready for download as a free download is officially called a beta test version.

Download Google Chrome from here.

.ME Domain Crosses 100,000

2008-08-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

The .ME Registry today announced that more than 100,000 domain names have been registered. This milestone comes a little more than two weeks after opening for live, real-time registrations by the general public and less than four months after opening its doors.

The company says that the registration process for .ME began in May with the Sunrise period for trademark holders. Land Rush for the general public to register names began in June. It avers that in total more than 30,000 applications were received in the Sunrise and Land Rush periods.

It also articulates that more than 100 registrars currently offer .ME domains through their registration platform. .ME has seen its greatest interest among English speaking countries including the United States (71%), the United Kingdom (6%), Canada (4%), and Australia (2%). More than a thousand auctions are currently open for popular .ME domains, with the highest bid over $32,000.

New .INFO Product Site from Afilias

2008-05-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

Afilias, a global provider of registry services, today announced that it has launched a new product site (www.info.info) where domain name registrars and Internet users can get information about the .INFO domain.

The company avers that the new site contains .INFO WHOIS search, a news blog, statistical information, links, and FAQs about the domain name registration process. A major feature is also a directory of .INFO sites and a submission form where site owners can submit their .INFO Web site to be added to the directory and possibly be featured on the home page. It adds that internet users can also use the ShareThis feature to post information from the new info.info site into their favorite social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, del.icio.us, digg, etc.

Microsoft withdraws Yahoo bid

2008-05-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

Microsoft walked away from its bid to buy Yahoo on Saturday after the Internet company turned down its offer to raise the price by $5 billion to $47.5 billion. Microsoft’s offer was for $33 a share but Yahoo would not lower its demand below $37, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said. The software company initially bid $31 per share for Yahoo more than three months ago.

.ORG Registry Launches New Online Resource Center

2008-04-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

.ORG, The Public Interest Registry, announced the launch of the .ORG Resource Center. Committed to improving the online experience of the .ORG Community, it has created a comprehensive library of information, interactive tools, examples and guides to help community members harness the power of the Internet and social networks to advance their mission, claims the Registry.

The Registry states that .ORG Resource Center will serve as a guide through the many uses of .ORG, a non-restricted, versatile global domain name, along with examples of websites where one can see the numerous ways .ORG domain names are being used today. In addition, there is a wide variety of resources available, including social networking tools, wiki building software, fundraising gadgets for websites, technology resources for nonprofit organizations, best practices in web marketing, website building tools, and a number of other easy and useful free widgets for websites.

It declared that along with the .ORG Resource Center it includes the .ORG Featured Partner Program, made up of companies with the experience to be a trusted provider to the .ORG Community. Featured Partners are highlighted with a link to their website as well as an in-depth description of their company, products and services.

"The trends such as collaboration, community building, micro-donations and grassroots advocacy are all ones that fit right in with the values of the .ORG community," says Director of Marketing Lance Wolak. "We are simply aligning proven tools to help our customers further enhance the viability and effectiveness of their .ORG websites."

"Social media's ability to facilitate engagement, self expression and communication is a tremendously powerful weapon for .ORGs," said Jeff Zaretsky, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development at KickApps. "KickApps' vision is based largely on making the power of social media as accessible as possible to every web publisher seeking to grow their website's audience. We're very excited to be included in the partner program and look forward to helping .ORGs further their mission."

HostGator Offers 4,500 Free Web Templates

2008-01-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

HostGator, a shared hosting service provider offers 4,500 free website templates to customers and resellers. The templates cover nearly 120 different types of businesses and helps non-technical people to build websites.

The company claims that the free templates cover a broad range of page designs suitable for nearly 120 different types of small and medium-sized businesses from accountants and auto dealers, to cleaning services, consultants, martial arts studios, toy stores, women's health clinics, and everything in between.

It further states that the wide variety of templates makes it easier for resellers to attract people and businesses who want websites, but don't have the knowledge or design abilities needed to create good looking Websites.

The company even states that a reseller or webmaster simply browses through the templates, selects one or more to use and they automatically begin downloading to their computer. And further affirms that hosting resellers and webmasters are also welcome to modify the templates, so long as their websites remain hosted by HostGator. As an added feature, resellers can mirror the templates pages to show to their customers. That can make accessing the templates easy, while maintaining control over who can accesss them.

Although it's common for web hosting companies to offer a variety of perks, including free or low cost web tools, and even a limited number of templates, Oxley says the number of free templates HostGator has is far beyond the average: "I really don't know of any other large hosting company offering this many templates. We may be setting the trend here."

"These templates are free to any Website hosted by HostGator, whether on a shared or dedicated hosting plan, or through a hosting reseller," says HostGator founder and president Brent Oxley.

"We want to make hosting domains or building Websites as painless as possible, that's why we offer the free templates. We also offer free Site Builder, one of the easiest tools available for anybody wanting to custom build a Website, rather than use a template."

"The only restriction," says Oxley, "is that the templates can't be sold or distributed for use on Websites not hosted by us."

Coming soon: 'Google's Gdrive?

2007-11-28T10:25:00.000-08:00

Google Inc is preparing a service that would enable users to store data from their personal hard drives on its computers, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday in its online edition.

Users would be able to house files they would normally store on personal computers -- such as word-processing documents, digital music, video clips and images -- on Google's computers, the Journal said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

According to the Journal, the service could let users access their files through the Internet from different computers and mobile devices when they sign on using a password.

Google launches India Labs, local search

2007-09-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

Google India has launched Google India Labs, and two India-centric products, local search and Google local business centre.

Google Local Search promises to be a useful tool for Indian users who are looking for locally relevant information on the Web. With the launch of this product, users will be able to search for information on local businesses such as restaurants, shops, and hotels by simply doing a search on Local Search

Google Local Business Centre allow any business to add its information to Google Local for free. When users search on Google Local Search, the listed business information will be displayed. Local Business Centre already exists in other geographies and has provided owners with means to provide visibility to their businesses.

Sun Deploys Three New Datacenters

2007-08-25T04:26:00.000-07:00

Sun Microsystems today publicly unveiled three active, new datacenters in Santa Clara, California; Blackwater, U.K.; and Bangalore, India, as part of the company's ongoing commitment to greening its global operations. Put into operation between January and June of this year, all three datacenters were built using breakthrough designs and next-generation energy efficient systems, power and cooling. Sun estimates that the company's datacenter efforts will save the planet nearly 4,100 tons of CO2 per year and trim 1% from Sun's total carbon footprint.

The Santa Clara datacenter is the largest of the three datacenters at 76,000 square feet. Phase One of the Santa Clara project began with a hardware consolidation and refresh project that took three months, increased compute power by more than 450% and is expected to save $1.1 million in energy costs a year. Accomplished in an aggressive 12 months, phase Two involved designing the Santa Clara space and installing the new hardware. Sun estimates that Phase Two will yield an additional 30% savings in energy costs. Silicon Valley Power, a local utility company, has recognized the breakthrough efficiencies and design of Sun's Santa Clara datacenter by giving Sun nearly $1 million in rebates and awards.

The three new datacenters run exclusively on Sun's line of energy efficient products, including Sun Fire(TM) T1000/T2000 servers, Sun's x64 servers and the Solaris(TM) Operating System. Today Sun also announced a suite of programs and solutions under its Eco Innovation(SM) Initiative to help customers architect more energy efficient datacenters and save money.

Is MSN have removed access to backlinks?

2007-05-21T23:49:00.001-07:00

Looks like MSN has removed access to backlinks, queries such as link:, linkdomain: are not working.

For those of you who use some of the advanced query syntax in our search engine such as link:, linkdomain: and inurl:, you may have noticed that this functionality has been recently turned off. We have been seeing broad use of these features by legitimate users but unfortunately also what appears to be mass automated usage for data mining. So for now, we have made the tough call to block all queries with these operators.

You can find more at MSN blog

New Version of Hotmail

2007-05-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp today announced the global launch of Windows Live Hotmail, a new version of its popular e-mail service, in 36 languages.

"The new service has been built to be a vast improvement over the previous Hotmail, having incorporated inputs from more than 20 million 'beta' testers," a Microsoft release said.

The new Live Hotmail will deliver safer, more powerful and productive e-mail experience with flexible access via the web, on a mobile phone or with an e-mail client, it said.

Later this month, Live Hotmail subscribers will be able to access their Windows Live Hotmail email and contacts for free, using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Office Outlook 2007 via the new Microsoft Office Outlook Connector Beta.

"With Windows Live Hotmail, you can preview your email, drag and drop emails and personalise your inbox"

Is Microsoft looking to buy Yahoo?

2007-05-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

New York: Microsoft Corp is resuming its pursuit of search engine operator Yahoo Inc that could help it better compete with Web search leader Google Inc, published reports said on Friday.

The New York Post reported Friday that Microsoft has asked Yahoo to enter formal negotiations for an acquisition that could be worth $50 billion. Yahoo's market capitalization was about $38 billion on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal said executives of the two companies are looking at a merger or some other kind of matchup and said the talks appear to be early-stage discussions. It said the companies explored the idea of combining last year but the talks led nowhere. The newspaper reports each cited unidentified people familiar with the situation.

The Post story said Microsoft and Yahoo have held informal talks over the years and said Microsoft's latest approach to Yahoo signals increased urgency.

Earlier this week, Yahoo said it would buy 80 per cent of advertising exchange Right Media for $680 million, increasing its stake in that company to full control.

Private Nameserver Voice Tutorials from DemoWolf

2007-03-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

DemoWolf.com, a flash tutorials company for web hosting industry, on Tuesday announced the release of a new series of Flash-based Voice/Audio tutorials for creating private nameservers at 15 domain name registrars.

According to the company, these Private Nameserver Voice tutorials are ideal for web hosting companies who allow customers to setup their own private nameservers, and wish to reduce the number of support calls asking for help on how to do just that.

When hosting companies purchase DemoWolf tutorials, they receive tutorials that are branded for their own company. The hosting company's logo is inserted into the first and last frame of every tutorial, and they also get their choice of custom text box colors to further brand the tutorials as their own. The new Private Nameservers Voice tutorials sell for $99.95 for the complete set of 15 tutorials. Each tutorial explains how to create private nameservers and covers a different domain registrar.

Microsoft Launches Windows Vista

2007-01-31T03:38:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Corp., today rolled out Windows Vista at retailers in 70 countries, delivering a new computer operating system that aims to better manage the explosion of digital media and protect users from the dangers of the Internet.

The new operating system arrives after years of delays and a shift away from desktop-based software and towards web-based applications. Nevertheless, the PC industry is counting on the new software to help reignite stagnant growth.

Windows runs on more than 95 percent of the worlds computers, and the long delayed new version is the first major release of a new Microsoft operating system since it introduced Windows XP in 2001.

The company called Vista the most important release of its dominant operating system since Windows 95 more than a decade ago, when shoppers waited for hours to be among the first to run the new software.

Google Apps for Your Domain

2006-12-20T06:51:00.000-08:00

Google, announced the launch of Google Apps for Your Domain, a platform that allows organizations to offer tools like email and shared calendaring to all of their users and have them all hosted by Google.

The company says that they've added domain registration services to Google Apps for Your Domain. The service provides no hardware or software to be installed for the services.

Started on December 14, Google partners with eNom and GoDaddy.com, two domain registrar, to offer users without a domain an easy way to find, register and buy a domain and start immediately using our services. When user's register a new domain as part of the sign-up process for Google Apps for Your Domain, Google will work with their partners and automatically configure everything so it works with all of the services available through Google Apps for Your Domain. It also gives users full control of their domain settings, in order to use their domain for other services not provided by Google.

Google also offers domains for $10 per year, which includes private registration. The company currently support .com, .org, .net, .biz, .info and expect to support more domains over time.

Google Apps for Your Domain includes Gmail web email, Google Calendar shared calendaring, Google Talk instant messaging, Google Page Creator web page creation tools and the Start Page feature for creating a personalized home page for users on their domain.

Google Checkout goes International

2006-12-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

Google Checkout an online payment processing system opens its doors to other countries.

Previously it was opened for only US residents. Now, regardless of where you live, you can purchase items with Google Checkout