Type in any product on Google and you’ll notice something interesting at the top of the page – two links, one that says “web” and the other that says “products.” These links are right below the search box and right above the first three sponsored links. When you click on products you are, of course, taken to Google Base. Now take a look at the top of Google Base – you’ll notice that there are two prominent sort options “Show all items” and “Show Google Checkout items only.” … Continue reading →

Lately I’ve been playing around with StumbleUpon.com and it’s pretty addictive. For those of you not familiar with this site, it works like this: you download a toolbar for your browser that says “Stumble.” When you click on it, it takes you to a site that it thinks you might like. This is determined by the categories you select as areas of interest, and also by how you rate past sites you have visited. For example, let’s say that StumbleUpon shows me PayScale.com, an online compensation survey. I … Continue reading →

Ask.com is spending millions on TV, billboards and newspaper ads proclaiming “the algorithm killed Jeeves” among other things. No doubt, the message of these ads is that Ask uses very complicated technology to provide great search results. This message was definitely drilled home with Ask’s full page ad on page B5 of today’s Wall Street Journal. While I couldn’t find an image file of the ad online, the ad headline pretty much sums up the concept: “The Algorithm Sees the Internet The Way Dmitry Sklyarov Sees a Poorly … Continue reading →

In the two years I worked for Adteractive, I met a lot of great people. What has really amazed me, though, is how many of those great people have gone on to found, fund, or lead Internet companies post-Adteractive. As you will see from the list below, out of maybe 150 ex-Adteractive employees, there are literally dozens of CEO and founders scattered throughout Silicon Valley. The FoundersCesare Alessandrini – Founder, Company Name UnknownAndrew Barenbom – Founder, TellAPalViva Chu – Founder, Company Name UnknownDan Ellis – Founder, SynderoSanj Goyle … Continue reading →

1. Google Universal Search. Lots of hype, but really is it that different than what is already there? My friend Owen doesn’t think so. To me, it seems like both Google and Yahoo are acknowledging that “searches for Web sites” is just a piece of the puzzle – Google chooses to address it by incorporating books, news, videos, etc into search results. Yahoo focuses on social networking like delicio.us and Flickr as an alternative to traditional search altogether. 2. Nextag and the A word? Rumors are flying that … Continue reading →