Filed under: Business, Internet, Google, Yahoo!, Search

Now that Yahoo! has finally decided things are really over with Microsoft, the company has found room in its heart for a new love: Google. The two companies today announced an advertising partnership that will basically place Google AdSense advertisements alongside Yahoo! search results.

The deal isn't exactly comprehensive. It covers "some of" Yahoo!'s web properties, and the ads will only be displayed in the US and Canada. The agreement is non-exclusive, which means that Yahoo! may display its own ads or ads from other parties as well.

In a press release, Yahoo! says it expects to raise about $800 million in revenue per year from the deal. Google, in return, posted a blog entry saying the deal is "good for users, advertisers, and publishers." The US government isn't quite convinced yet. Back in April, the Justice Department responded to a test run of a Google/Yahoo! partnership with an investigation. And today the chairman of the US Senate Antitrust Subcommittee said the Senate will be closely examining the deal.

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Filed under: Utilities, Productivity, Web services, Social Software

iBreadcrumbs is a browser toolbar you can use to record the websites you visit while you're working on a particular project, so you can find your research again or share your sources with someone else. Sure, you could do this manually, by posting your finds to del.icio.us or a similar bookmarking service, and giving them all the same tag, but iBreadcrumbs makes that look like way too much work. All you have to do is click start, and everything gets saved automatically.

Your sessions (Breadcrumbs) each get saved to their own dedicated page, where you can organize them and add additional notes. You can combine a new Breadcrumb with an existing one, which makes the service useful for longer research projects. There's also a social aspect to the site: you can add friends for easy collaboration. iBreadcrumbs is flexible enough that we're sure it can be applied to all sorts of non-research functions. Don't be put off by the "University" field in the sign-up process - this service isn't just for academics.

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Filed under: Internet, Windows, Freeware, Beta

Eluma has released a public beta version of its social RSS reader for Windows, which has been in private beta for the last few months. Eluma is basically a desktop application that lets you sift through RSS feeds and bookmarks.

You can also rate individual items with a thumbs up or down button or tag items to make them easier to find later, or share them online with other Eluma users. There are also browser toolbars for Firefox and Internet Explorer that let you add web pages or RSS feeds to Eluma with a single click.

The public version of Eluma has a few new features, including:

• New local search feature for searching local data
• Improved navigation of public web collections
• Improved interface with new menus and desktop alert options
• Support for Firefox 3 and 64 bit versions of Windows

if you're a fan of desktop RSS readers, Eluma might be worth checking out. One complaint we have is that here doesn't appear to be a way to view all of your unread items in a "river of news" format.

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Filed under: Blogging, Google, Social Software, Beta, web 2.0

It's been about a month since Google announced its new Friend Connect platform which lets you add social widgets to any blog or web site. If you've been waiting patiently to see these widgets start popping up on the wild, wild web, it looks like the wait is over. Tech blogger Orli Yakuel has added a widget to her blog, Go2Web20.

The widget looks a lot like the recent readers widgets you find from services like MyBlogLog. But Friend Connect offers users the opportunity to interact with their contacts and communities more deeply without leaving the current web page. For example, Yakuel has added a comment widget that lets FriendConnect users who sign up to be members of her blog to leave comments that are visible to other members.

When you visit a site with a FriendConnect widget you can invite your Google contacts or friends from other sites including MySpace, Hi5, Orkut, or Plaxo to join the community.

Yakuel says there are only a handful of Google gadgets available at the moment, but says there is a section where you can grab gadgets from third party developers, much like the gadget gallery for iGoogle and Google Desktop.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

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Filed under: Internet, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Search

If you thought things were over between Microsoft and Yahoo!, you ain't seen nothing yet. Because now it's really, officially, super duper over. Yahoo! issued a press releases this afternoon making it clear that that not only will Microsoft not be purchasing all of Yahoo!, but Yahoo! won't be selling Microsoft even a part of its business. Not its search engine; not it's email service; not even the key to replace the toilet paper and paper towels int he company restrooms (although honestly, we're not sure that was ever on the table).

According to the Yahoo! press release, Yahoo! board members decided that it would not be in the company's best interest to sell its search business.

Microsoft, on the other hand, released a statement saying that such a partnership would have provided value for Yahoo! shareholders while ensuring a competitive marketplace. Oh, while Microsoft has withdrawn its proposal to buy all of Yahoo!, if Yahoo! decides to change its mind and come crawling back, Microsoft says its offer to buy just the search engine "remains available for discussion." So umm, yeah, maybe it's not really over yet.

[via Techmeme]

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Filed under: Internet

Tired of feeling like you're getting ripped off every time you take your car in for maintenance or repairs? RepairPal is a new web site that maintains a huge database of local garages, mechanics, and price estimates for common things like oil changes, tire rotation, or brake pad replacement.

If you're confident in your ability to speak mechanicese, you can just use the shop finder featue to find the closest garage. But if you want to go armed a price estimate, you can enter your car make, model, mileage, and other information and select the type of service. Note that price estimates can vary pretty widely, but if your mechanic tries to quote you a rate that's completely out of the range RepairPal provides, it might be a good time to walk out and find another shop.

You can also store your automotive service history online with RepairPal if you register for a free account. But you don't need to register to use the basic service. You can also pay $9 to get answers to your individual questions from an actual mechanic.

[via TechCrunch]

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Filed under: Internet

Tired of feeling like you're getting ripped off every time you take your car in for maintenance or repairs? RepairPal is a new web site that maintains a huge database of local garages, mechanics, and price estimates for common things like oil changes, tire rotation, or brake pad replacement.

If you're confident in your ability to speak mechanicese, you can just use the shop finder featue to find the closest garage. But if you want to go armed a price estimate, you can enter your car make, model, mileage, and other information and select the type of service. Note that price estimates can vary pretty widely, but if your mechanic tries to quote you a rate that's completely out of the range RepairPal provides, it might be a good time to walk out and find another shop.

You can also store your automotive service history online with RepairPal if you register for a free account. But you don't need to register to use the basic service. You can also pay $9 to get answers to your individual questions from an actual mechanic.

[via TechCrunch]

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Filed under: Internet, Search, web 2.0

Looking to buy a house or rent an apartment? There are hundreds of web sites that can help you in your search. But HotPads takes a rather unique approach with its real estate search engine. Not only can you search by price, location, and number of bedrooms, but you can also apply a series of heat maps that give you a better sense of the neighborhood.

Want to know how crowded the area is? Just click the population density heat map option and you'll get a good idea of how many neighbors will be sucking up your oxygen. You can also apply heat maps for per capita income, household income, median age, and median rent. There are even heat maps that show you the foreclosure rate per household, and the rent ratio. What's rent ratio? It's a comparison of rental rates versus mortgage rates in an area. In other words, if you see lots of blue, it means you'll probably save money by purchasing a home, while if an area is red, you're probably better off renting.

If you're looking for more mundane information, you can also plot schools, universities, and subway stops on the map.

[via TechCrunch]

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Filed under: Internet, Video

Warner Brothers is broadening its online video strategy. The company recently launched a private beta version of a web site featuring WB television programs from years gone by including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls, and Friends. There's also a smattering of original content. Now the WB has announced plans to spread the video love through a series of partnerships.

The WB will be launching two web sites, TheWB.com and KidsWB.com. You'll be able to watch videos on those two sites, but the WB will also be distributing content via DailyMotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo, and Veoh Networks.

The whole thing actually sounds an awful lot like Hulu, a similar venture started by Fox and NBC. While you can watch videos at Hulu.com, you can also find Hulu content at other online video portals like AOL Video or MSN Video. The WB already distributes a handful of shows through Hulu, but nowhere near the number you'll be able to find at the new web sites.

Honestly, it would have been kind of awesome if the WB had partnered with Hulu so you could find most of the content you were looking for at a single site instead of visiting yet another page to find a video. Fortunately, some of these partners, including Veoh will have partnerships with both Hulu and the WB, which means you may be able to find a one-stop shop. It just won't be managed by Hulu, Fox, NBC, or the WB.

The new channels will launch in mid-September.

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Filed under: Internet, Features, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Freeware, web 2.0

Despite the ominous name, DestroyFlickr isn't an application that deletes your Flickr account and removes all of your photos. Rather, it's a desktop client for Flickr that uses Adobe AIR and the Flickr API to enhance the Flickr experience.

First up, the browser has a dark background which makes it easier to focus on images rather than the white space surrounding them. You can view your stored Flickr images, browse your contacts' photos, or view interesting photos uploaded by other Flickr users. You can also upload and download photos.

But like any good Adobe AIR application, what makes DestroyFlickr a little bit cooler than the web site it's based on are a series of nifty animations. When you navigate from one view to another, the images slide off the screen. And when you click the Workspaces button to View All, the whole screen zooms out to show what you've been up to. In other words, if you were browsing a friend's photostream, looking at interesting photos, and leaving comments on one individual picture, you can see each view and zoom in on the one you want to return to. The effect is actually quite similar to the way the concept UI for Firefox Mobile manages tabbed browsing.

Noticeably absent is any sort of search function.

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