'Net Features : 41310

Yahoo! Firehose Released

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:04:00 GMT

The Yahoo! Developer Network announced the release of the Yahoo! Updates Firehose service, a Web service for accessing and searching the full, real-time index of Yahoo! updates and a stream of activity from various Web services like Flickr.

The Yahoo! Firehose is accessed via Yahoo! Query Language (YQL), an SQL-like query language that is used as the primary vehicle for accessing Yahoo! data and services. It allows developers to call, update, and combine data from across Yahoo! for use on sites and within applications.

Using YQL, you can now query the Updates Firehose for common keywords used across all updates, updates from a specific application, all updates of a specific language, updates associated with a location, updates associated with a specific URL, or updates of a specific type (including status updates, ratings, comments, and reviews). The latter caused a small stir in the comments of the official announcement.

Sedo Rolls out Domain Advertising

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:16:00 GMT

Domain name market Sedo launched a new service today which will allow advertisers to purchase ads directly on domain names that are parked at Sedo with performance-based pricing.

SedoDNA (short for Sedo Domain Name Advertising) will enable advertisers to display advertising in relevant categories and on geographical domains - but it might just work best on keyword rich domain names. With a network securing over 92 million unique monthly visitors and with 6 million domain names currently parked at Sedo this is a genuine advertising opportunity to consider.

SedoDNA relies on the belief that direct navigation traffic is worthwhile to acquire. I'm not personally a believer yet. There are few details on how the service works (or how well it works) and Sedo is doing nothing more at this point than touting the same benefits that every other advertising network uses; exceptional ROI, targeting traffic, flexible customization, and of course an opportunity to "diversity and support" existing SEM campaigns.

SugarCRM Announces Sugar iPad App

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:23:00 GMT

Open source CRM software SugarCRM made what I consider a whopper of an announcement today at its SugarCon Conference - a customizable SugarCRM application for the iPad.

Features of the application included a quick view display to see the most urgent opportunities, important contacts and upcoming meetings. A Customizable Modules Screen wnables users to drag-and-drop their favorite modules to organize the app according to their needs. Data synchronization is also available so keeping contacts and other information synced between the iPad and the cloud will be possible.

“We’re pleased to announce a native application of Sugar on the iPad,” noted Larry Augustin, CEO, SugarCRM. “The ultra-portability and groundbreaking iPad user experience that is made possible for us as a web-based business by Appcelerator fits perfectly with the extensible SugarCRM architecture that can scale across multiple platforms. We believe that our mobile workforce customers will benefit greatly from the enhanced capabilities that this new platform offers.”

Perhaps the most interesting part of this announcement is that SugarCRM used Appcelerators Titanium open source platform for building the iPad applications. This will enable SugarCRM to port its application to other mobile platforms including Android and Blackberry by using a single Titanium codebase.

WordPress Font Fun

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:27:00 GMT

According to WordPress’ official download counter, the open-source blogging software has been downloaded more than 6.6 million times, as of this writing. Chances are, if you are running WordPress, your site has a lot in common with some other sites out there. And that raises an important question: How do you make your site stand out from the crowd?

One way, without labor intensive hacks, is by altering your website’s fonts.

If the default font in your WordPress installation is leaving you uninspired, and the concept of tweaking CSS files seems a bit too daunting, try the following WordPress plugins to dress up your design and have some fun.

Read more: FONT FUN WITH WORDPRESS

Is Yahoo! Back? Q1 2010 SE Advertising Report

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:43:00 GMT

AdGooroo released its quarterly Search Engine Advertiser Update today and the news looks good (very good) for Yahoo!. The report indicated a 12 percent increase in Yahoo!'s first-page advertisers and a corresponding increase in its total share of advertisers.

“In February and March, Yahoo! had a nearly 28 percent share of total search advertisers, marking a long-time high,” said AdGooroo Founder and CEO Rich Stokes. “AdGooroo’s data suggests that a great deal of Yahoo!’s growth may be coming from outside the United States, and its international ad coverage reached a high of 4.7 ads per keyword in February, which is the most ads Yahoo! has shown since July 2007.”

Additional key insights from the report include:

- The travel industry showed higher spends during Q1.

- Computer hardware and mobile carriers/equipment are showing atypical gains.

- Online retailers are experiencing post-holiday dip, but women's fashion websites have been trending up since July 2009.

- Ad spend reductions in online education and home loans are occurring. Ad spending on home loans has been declining since July 2008.

Clearly the main takeaway is the advertiser movement on Yahoo!.

Is Yahoo! making a comeback? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.