MSN finally got one right with this nifty search feature they've just added. You can now pull multiple stock quotes with a single search and the engine will neatly graph it for you. See an example

While this isn't likely to win MSN's Live Search the search engine war, it is a step in the right direction. While the quality of their results continues to improve they are also adding innovative features.

Let's check the Search Engine Scoreboard
Live Search - 1
Google Search - 3,321

Cisco, the company famous for high-end networking equipment is attempting to reinvent itself. A few weeks ago they launched a new redesign of their logo and website which now offers a fresh Web 2.0-type feel to it. They are trying to be more customer friendly and their new logo says that to me.
Well, now they have teamed with Fox for some fairly obvious product placement in the new Fox show 'Vanished'. It's One of the detectives is wanting to see some evidence from the FBI office in another city and he says "Connect us to DC via Cisco." Obviously referring to Cisco's Telepresence logo that is on the large screens behind him. You can watch this short video for yourself on Cisco's site here.

I was able to connect with someone at Cisco to get this tidbit of knowledge

Cisco’s Telepresence technology is the next generation in video teleconferencing. Telepresence provides a 3 dimensional environment for video teleconferencing so unique that it literally looks, feels, and sounds like the plasma display is merely an extension of the room you are sitting in. This system is so detailed that the audio itself is heard from the left or right positions of the respective people on the conference.

They also went on to tell me some more about this Telepresence technology which also has the ability to add web collaboration for increased impact. You have a full 3 dimensional view of the remote parties, so no more twiddling thumbs or playing with the blackberries under the table. Scheduling is easily done by creating a meeting from your scheduling application such as Outlook and all of this is integrated in to Cisco’s unified messaging solution.

It all sounds pretty cool and if it works like it seems to on TV (I believe everything I see on TV, dont you?) then this may revolutionize the video conferencing industry, at least among big business who can afford it.

The show Vanished airs Oct 27th on Fox.

Allen highlighted some interesting thoughts on how the (RED) Aids awareness business model has taken off and how they've done an incredible job of starting, building and engaging a community behind it in a short period of time. One of the best descriptions he gave was in reference to branding and business ideas.

"...when a brand is based on a simple idea, it leads to brilliant branding..."

Sound vaguely familiar? Some people call it Web 2.0. You know, where business names (domain names too) have nothing to do with keywords and everything to do with the people behind the app. I think my favorite of all of those is Wufoo. Named cause the two guys that started it like Wu Tang Clan and the Foo Fighters... it doesn't get any better than that.

Verizon is turning to humor to bolster its VCast service, but once WiFi is ubiquitous, it may be a tougher sell. The subscription service ($3 per day or $15 for the month) will offer sketch comedy being developed by JibJab, which is organizing a contest promoting up and coming comedy groups.

Selling entertainment services isn't easy with the limitation of bandwidth and small screens of mobile phones (hurry up 3G networks) and it is only going to get tougher. If Apple introduces a WiFi iPod, the company could steal the market for wireless video clips and music video distribution.

Also, as more cities develope comprehensive WiFi coverage and wireless start hitting autos, it will be hard to find a place where you can't download content to a laptop or handheld for far less than the cost of a mobile phone service. If you can get wireless access to video everywhere, why pay through the nose?

And the expectation of mobile entertainment demand may be overblown anyway. ESPN's mobile service crashed and burned in a year, and sports fan are among the demanding for wanting immediate access to information.

Google's purchase price for YouTube is getting higher by the minute. According to the New York Times, the record labels all got a cut of the transaction and will share in future ad revenue when their music and or videos displayed on YouTube.

So having a licensing deal in place with the labels is good for GooTube, and they need to sign similar deals with the movie and television producers to avoid lawsuits. YouTube reportedly had to remove 30,000 videos made from copyrighted Japanese TV, and that's just the tip of the iceberg in copyrighted content.

YouTube also agreed to add technology for identifying copyrighted content, which will be a costly and time consuming endeavor. When you include the cost of monitoring the site, paying off the lawyers on both sides of copyright cases and the licensing fees, Google's tab sharply increases. And if the contributors start asking for a share of the ad revenue from when their videos are posted, YouTube's revenue stream could end up being a trickle.

The folks over at Sumo Lounge were kind enough to give Evan and I complimentary chairs (think oversized bean bag) in exchange for reviewing them here on mshift. When we were first approached I thought to myself, hmmm, looks pretty much like an oversized bean bag chair, wonder if it's big enough to function as a couch in my office? And then I thought, what the heck, I love getting free stuff (books, magazines, gadgets, clothing, software, office furniture, you name it) so I accepted their offer.

Well, the chair arrived in this huge box and was a bit of a chore to get out. I was afraid I might have to put the stuffing (small foam pebbles - keep away from your little ones) in the chair but that wasn't the case. The Sumo was inside a clear plastic bag and already put together.

Upon first inspection, I was really surprised at the sturdiness of the fabric used for the bean bag. It feels like a cross between parachute material and heavy duty canvas. I'm not sure but the chair looks to be water resistant so I'm guessing the fabric repels water and doesn't stain easily, so far no problems with mine.

Something that stands out about the chair... It's huge. It's approximately 4ft by 4ft and you can mold it into just about any shape you want. My favorite use of the chair is around 2 PM on days that I've spend sitting at the desk all morning. I just grab the laptop, set the chair against a wall and plop down. After a few seconds of adjusting I'm able to find a comfy position that doesn't bother my wrists and allows me to completely change my posture. To me that's invaluable. When you're use to sitting at your desk all day and not really moving around unless your yappin on the phone, a change of pace in seating that also allows you to retain your productivity is a huge blessing.

My personal thought on these is that they're great for an office environment full of creative types like an ad agency or a pr firm. Second best use would be at home for playing video games. However, I'm not taking mine home because I think the dog would enjoy it a bit more than me and then I lose my ergonomic benefits of keeping it at my office.

Lawyer and spyware/fraud hunter Ben Edelman says that many companies are using Google to spread spyware or sell software that is supposed to be free. Edelman says companies are charging for free software such as Skype through deceptive means, a clear violation of FTC rules.

Edelman holds Google responsible for allowing these folks to use their ad network and search service to defraud users and infect their users.

The evildoers are targeting Google's network, much like virus distributors target Windows because it is the biggest platform, and therefore the easiest way to do the most harm. But Google certainly should do more to police its network and evict any advertisers who offer spyware or sell "free" software.

I enjoyed reading the survey of varied opinions about the usefulness of blogging by academics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
While some profs are writings blogs to relay information to their students, others don't read them at all.

But blogs are changing how we communicate that will extend beyond the blogosphere. Here's my list of how blogging is good and bad for business and society.

1. Blogging holds writers accountable and is bi-directional. Enabling people to comment on posts enables incorrect information to be immediately pointed out, and allows other opinions to be part of the conversation. An error in a high-profile blog will get greater exposure than an error in a news article. Companies can talk directly with their clients and get feedback that was previously impossible to collect.

2. The language of blogging is more digestible. You can't write a blog like a press release, so the words have to be more direct, unscripted, and easier to understand. Bloggers who try to hide behind marketing-speak will be called out. Blogs are written in a narrative style that gives better insight into the author's thought process as events are occurring, unlike polished policy papers that have been sanitized.

3. Blogging breaks control of information distribution from the media. Allowing new voices is a positive, and it is changing the political discussion, critically assaying the media and government from all sides.

4. Blogs provide a filter that focuses on interests. If your interest is in Internet technology, shoes, or biodiesel, there's a blog for you, saving time scouring the universe.

On the other hand:

1. Reading blogs can be a huge waste of time. Productivity is lost during the millions of hours per week that workers are reading blogs instead of doing what they are paid to do.

2. It takes time to trust blog authors. Since everyone can publish, there are many untrustworthy sources spewing rumor, inaccuracies and propaganda and truth (just like TV!), so be careful whom you read. Professional writers at news organizations and experts in their field are the best sources to start with, but of course many bloggers have earned their stripes over time.

Blogging is changing the expectations of communication, focusing on immediacy, niches, and accountable. Corporate communications and news will never be the same.

Back in 2000 the internet bubble was nearing the end of it's ascent into the euphoric entrepreneurial atmosphere. As such, most dot com CEO's were either on their way out or scrambling to replace advertising revenue with some other form of revenue. One of the best online revenue models to come from this period was the subscription model. Instead of charging $500 a year for a license to use a web site a user pays $49.95 a month for the same service and can cancel at any time. This allowed some dot coms to make a buck and stay afloat while charging a higher premium for their services. It also transferred some perceived control to the customer. Now the customer has the ability to stop paying for a service as soon as they are tired of it (or no longer need it) and thus they can save a good bit of money if they end their subscription before the 12 month period they previously had to commit to.

Long story short, this model has thrived for the reasons mentioned above and many more. However, with anything in life and business, there are those that will use this for good and others that will use it for evil.

Class, if you'll direct your attention to the whiteboard you'll see case study of the day...
Vonage.

This morning I received an email from Vonage, here are the main contents of the email.

"Dear Jason Dowdell,

As a convenience to you and to reduce unnecessary emails, starting next month we will no longer send you monthly billing notification emails. As always, you will continue to have access to all of your monthly billing information through your Vonage web account. You can login 24/7 from any computer with an Internet connection, worldwide, to check your billing and payment information as well as make any changes to your account. You can also continue to review payment information from your credit card provider."

Let me translate this email from Vonage-ese into English.

Hey man,
Listen, we know that every time you get a bill from us you're reminded of how crappy our service is and you think that this month will be the month that you decide to cancel or transfer your line to one of our competitors.

We completely understand that but we're not going to make it that easy for you. So starting next month we're not going to tell you that you've been socked with another overpriced charge for voip service.

Put yourself in our shoes, if you had a crappy voip service that doesn't even allow calls from your local area from landline phones to reach your phone number, you'd be figuring out ways to retain customers too. I mean, come on, it's only like $150 a month that you pay us, that's mice nuts, right?!

Well, I'm going to take care of Vonage cause I'm fed up with marketing ploys on crappy service.

Today many of the "free" services such as YouTube, podcasts, and the upcoming SpiralFrog are basing their business models on banner or pre-roll ads, but they should make a place for co-registration and email marketing.

As I've said before, sites like YouTube and ABC.com should require free registration to get basic demographic information that could be used to justify higher CPM. But also they could use co-registration during this process to introduce customers to partners that could greatly increase their revenue. I doubt that many people would stop using these free services because of a one-time registration process that requires filling out a form.

For example, ABC.com could offer Netflix subscriptions when signing up (great for renting the DVD sets of prior seasons) while YouTube could introduce members to an electronics retailer such as Circuit City so that videographers could buy better editing equipment. Likewise SpiralFrog could offer subscriptions to Rolling Stone. The media companies could also develop customized email newsletters to pitch pay-for services.

Companies such as ClickDiario and ConsumerBase are developing new co-registration services that are non-invasive and could help media companies to turn a profit from their online operations.

Yahoo reported that despite a 20 percent growth in sales over the previous year, its profits for the 3rd quarter dropped by 38 percent.

Yahoo blamed the reduced profitability on its inability to deliver a new advertising system (Project Panama) as well as a slowdown in financial and automotive advertising, accord to the Mercury News.

While its never good to lose more than a third of your profitability, the numbers indicate that Yahoo is spending too fast for its growth, even though 20 percent is nothing to sneeze at. Yahoo continued to see more visitors than Google, but Yahoo actually pays for much of its content rather than simply linking out. It is a more complicated model than Google's, but continued rapid growth is possible.

Yahoo's model requires higher CPMs to pay for the licensing fees, so a better ad system is crucial to its continued success. Investors were smart not to slam Yahoo's bad earnings, and it even looks like a decent time to buy the stock.

While today Yahoo is a better destination for finding media, Google's acquisition of YouTube will hurt the company's growth. Yahoo needs to continue to stay ahead of Google in efficiently matching users with their desired content, and their acquisition of AdInterax should help them to monetize search.

Yahoo will be rolling out rich media advertising products soon thanks to the acquisition of AdInterax. According to Adotas, AdInterax supports floating animations, expandable banners, and streaming video" and tracks campaign performance.

I would expect that Yahoo with its media focus would stay ahead of Google's text-based advertising initiatives. While I have trained my eyes to look past nearly all banner ads, I can't help but watch the video ads for Apple and the like that automatically launch. If a picture is worth a thousand clicks, then Flash or video must be worth 100,000.

Of course rich media ads aren't for all advertisers as they require more creative resources (as well as thinking). While AdSense will continue to own the majority of the ad dollars, rich media advertising will blossom, offering greater returns for companies that pay the premium.

Yahoo signed up with a group of CBS stations to provide streaming video to its news website. Yahoo's "exclusive" deal with 16 CBS affiliates gives Yahoo the video while driving traffic to the affiliates' websites.

But I don't think most netizens care to watch local TV news online because, well, it sucks. Sure, people who customize their Yahoo page may occasionally watch a video from their local station, but by and large people are getting their news online because the local coverage is pathetic.

Who outside of the viewing area really wants to see stories about murders, car accidents and the occasional octogenarian marching in a parade? Local news crews only come in handy during a car chase of a celebrity or a hurricane, but we can get most of that stuff on CNN anyway.

By way of exclusivity, the deal doesn't prohibit Yahoo News from linking to articles from ABC or NBC affiliates, just their video. Looking at Yahoo today, CBS has much less space than its competitors, so maybe its not such a great deal for them.

Video has yet to be integrated into news. If you search Google or Yahoo news you will get some links to affiliates, but you have to click on the link to find out if there's video. They should put camera icons on the links if the pages contain video. And video searches don't have a section for news, so anyone who actually would want to see video of breaking news must go to CNN or MSNBC.

Some high profile affiliate have received notice that their Amazon Associates Account will no longer receive commissions on any product. Associates will be granted permission on only a select number of products that they will be able to make commissions from customers they refer.

Personally, I have not received any notice of this in any of my Amazon Associates accounts but was told by a few who were and they were not happy about the changes. Is this a move to move more affiliates to use Astore? How will this affect affiliates who use the Amazon API? Will this affect ALL Amazon associates? These are questions I think we will see unfold over the next few months.

Now that Google wants to own online video through its YouTube purchase, the path has been cleared for GoogleTV to index all programming and make it searchable online and through the remote.

If the company can afford $1.6 billion for a profitless platform, certainly they can afford $700 million for TiVo (a slight increase over their current market cap) to get access to the great interface and demographic data. (This idea just came to me, but I did find one reference to rumors of a Google-TiVo deal from 18 months ago).

Think about -- search for video content online, and then get the best related TiVo content automatically recorded without leaving your keyboard. TiVo has a version of this service now, but adding Google's advertising solution and search capabilities would greatly increase its reach.

Google is starting to have the relationships with TV content providers, and streamlining the search process between online and TV would be huge. Why settle for the small screen when you can get the content automatically uploaded to your DVR?

Also, Google could mine the data that TiVo collects about consumers and develop custom contextual video ad content. TiVo's urgent needs are a bigger audience and inroads into advertising. Google would benefit from the TiVo interface, and a superior viewing experience. What's not to like?

The fallout from Google's over paying for YouTube is only starting. According to articles on MediaPost, TimeWarner, NBC, Fox and Viacom are all planning to sue GooTube for the thousands of daily viewings of copyrighted content to get a good revenue sharing deal.

Google will have to give most of the ad revenue to stay out of court, and this will make their payment of $1.6 billion as the biggest DotCom debacle since Yahoo bought Broadcast.com for $5 billion. Cuban himself says the investments in online video companies have gone too far and, the bubble is about to burst.

As much as I've been a booster for online video, GooTube probably will never provide a positive return on investment, and companies are probably overly hyping the potential. Online video will be very big, but those profiting will be few and far between, and the biggest winners will be the service companies that archive, store, and index video, not the consumer companies.

Online video puts pressure on cable to come up with more comprehensive video on demand, which will happen in the next few years. The advantage that the internet has is the variety of choices for playing video whenever you want, but a better interface driven by the TV remote, VOD and network DVRs will someday provide a superior viewing alternative because lets face it, watching on the big screen is more fun.

User generated video will become a niche, but like reality TV, its days in the sun won't last long. However, if Google were to develop a video search engine that could be accessed from the sofa, then they might turn GooTube into a money maker. This seems like a more natural fit than Google's print ad venture. But would the networks want Google competing on their turf, even if they got a slice of the revenue? I'm not so sure.