by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
The Federal Trade Commission is planning three public discussions, starting in December, devoted to technology and consumer privacy.
According to the FTC, the roundtables will address topics such as social networking, cloud computing, online advertising and mobile marketing, the goal being “to determine how best to protect consumer privacy while supporting beneficial uses of the information and technological innovation.”
by Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Shares of Internet infrastructure software vendor Omniture are taking a beating this evening after the company reported Q2 sales that trailed estimates and a lower-than-expected Q3 forecast.
by Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Internet streaming media software developer RealNetworks this evening reported Q1 sales of $140.8 million, down 5 percent year over year, and in line with analysts’ estimates, and a net loss of 10 cents per share, worse than the 6-cent loss expected.
When NBC Universal and News Corp. created Hulu, they gave the video portal a valuable but short-term asset: exclusive rights to distribute NBC and Fox shows outside of the media giants’ own websites. Hulu.com has become the fourth-biggest online video distributor. But with exclusivity deal ending soon, Hulu will have to see if it can defend the audience and brand it has built.
Like Napoleon marching into an abandoned Moscow, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have led Google’s advance into traditional advertising only to find nothing to loot. Now begins Google’s long imperial retreat, starting with 40 layoffs. But the real cut here is to Google’s ambitions.
Since the early days of the Web, consumers have been complaining about banner ads, pop-ups, pop-unders and all sorts of advertising. We constantly hear from consumers and from those who design Web sites about how much consumers hate online ads–they never click on them and would prefer ad-free sites.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
So, there are a couple of ways to think about Google’s (GOOG) big post-second-quarter sell-off this morning. For starters, as I noted last night, there seems to be increasing evidence that online advertising is actually feeling the effects of the slower economy.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Sorry to disappoint everyone, but the evidence is piling up today: The Internet really is a part of the overall economy. While the optimists had hoped that the efficiency of Internet-based advertising would make it a more appealing place to buy ads in a downturn, it is increasingly obvious that the current economic straits are too widespread for Internet businesses to avoid.
Well, imagine that: the economy really does have an impact on the growth of online advertising.
In a research note this morning, Pacific Crest analyst Steve Weinstein reports that Q2 online advertising is likely to grow in “the high teens” versus a year earlier, down from Q1 growth just under 20% and Q4 growth of 23%, “indicating a modest but steady deceleration.”
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