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bits.blogs.NYTimes.com >_ Ignore Orkut, OpenSocial, Yahoo Mash and Yahoo 360. Google and Yahoo have come up 
with new and very similar plans to respond to the challenge from MySpace and Facebook: They hope to turn their e-mail systems and personalized home page services (iGoogle and MyYahoo) into social networks.
Web-based e-mail systems already contain much of what Facebook calls the social graph — the connections between people. That’s why the social networks offer to import the e-mail address books of new users to jump-start their list of friends. Yahoo and Google realize that they have this information and can use it to build their own services that connect people to their contacts.
I don’t have a lot of detail from Google, but I’ve heard from several executives that this is their plan. When I talked recently with Joe Kraus, who runs Google’s OpenSocial project, he said: “We believe there are opportunities with iGoogle to make it more social.” And when I pressed him about the relationship between the social aspects of iGoogle and Gmail versus Orkut or some other social network, he said, “It is much easier to extend an existing habit than to create a brand.”
Brad Garlinghouse, who runs the communication and community products for Yahoo, was a lot more forthcoming. He didn’t-have dates or specific product details either. But he did say that Yahoo was working on what he called “Inbox 2.0.”
This has several features. First, the e-mail service is made more personal because it displays messages more prominently from people who are more important to you. Yahoo is testing a method that can automatically determine the strength of your relationship to someone by how often you exchange e-mail and instant messages with him or her.
“The inbox you have today is based on what people send you, not what you want to see,” Mr. Garlinghouse said. “We can say, here are the messages from the people you care about most.
Yahoo Mail will also be extended to display other information about your friends as well. This can be a link to a profile page, and also what Yahoo calls “vitality” –- updated information much like the news feed on Facebook. There could also be simple features that are common on social networks, like displaying a list of friends whose birthdays are coming up.
“The exciting part is that a lot of this information already exists on our network, but it’s dormant,” Mr. Garlinghouse said. (more…)
theRegister >_ Yahoo! and Microsoft have removed Iran from the country lists of their webmail services as stronger US sanctions against the Islamic republic begin to bite.Google has kept Iran as an option on the Gmail registration page, however.
The US administration stepped up economic pressure on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s eccentric government less than two weeks ago.
A Yahoo! spokeswoman told The Reg: “Yahoo! continually reviews its business operations to ensure compliance with these restrictions. Consistent with this policy, we cannot accept registrations from countries subject to these restrictions.
So essentially, you can’t choose Iran as a country option because we are restricted from conducting business there – all US companies must comply with this policy.” She was unable to tell us exactly when Yahoo! applied the rules.
Microsoft said it was unable to comment on the issue. (more…)
SearchEngineLand >> Reports have been coming in that people trying to reach Google, Yahoo and Microsoft from within China or via Chinese ISPs are being redirected to Baidu.
Some have accused Baidu of hijacking the traffic, but we think it’s likely that China is upset with the US over the award it granted to the Dalai Lama and is retaliating by hurting US-based search engines.
Back in 2002, when China was upset with Google, it similarly redirected traffic. From a Reuters article at that time:
Some users in Beijing and Shanghai were redirected to Peking University’s no-frills search site Tianwang, the little known cj888.com and the German-invested Baidu.com, among others. Users in Guangzhou were rerouted to the local portal 21cn.com.
Information Industry and Internet officials had no comment on the move. Sites gaining exposure from it denied any role in the reroutings. “It is definitely not done by us,” said a Baidu official. “We have no idea where it comes from.” (more…)
TechCrunch - Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba.com
is looking to raise HK$10.3 billion ($1.3 billion) from its IPO
according to documents released to potential investors today.Alibaba.com Ltd. and Alibaba.com Corp. will sell a combined 858.9 million shares (17%) in Alibaba.com at HK$10 to HK$12 apiece, with Yahoo, currently a 40% share holder in the Alibaba Group buying HK$776 million of the IPO shares, resulting in 8.2% ownership of Alibaba.com Ltd, the newly listed IPO entity.
As we reported in July, the IPO will see the partial spin-off of Alibaba.com from the Alibaba Group, the China based holding company that owns sites including Alipay, Taabao.com and Yahoo China.
The IPO will value Alibaba.com at up to $7.8 billion. (more…)
Monday October 8, 6:52 pm ET
By Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer
Google’s Stock Price Surpasses $600 Per Share for First Time, Extending Monthlong Rally
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google Inc.’s stock price sailed past $600 for the first time Monday, extending a monthlong rally propelled by the lofty expectations surrounding the Internet search leader’s upcoming third-quarter earnings report.
he Mountain View-based company’s shares traded as high as $610.26 before slipping back to $609.62, a gain of $15.57, or 2.6 percent. It marked the sixth time in the past 12 trading sessions that the stock has reached a new peak, indicating investors are confident Google’s third-quarter profit will be impressive. The results are scheduled to be released Oct. 18.
The latest milestone served as yet another reminder of the immense wealth created since Google went public in August 2004.
The shares have increased more than sevenfold from their initial public offering price of $85, bringing the nine-year-old company’s market value to $190 billion — eclipsing bigger, more mature businesses like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Coca-Cola Co., Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp.
It took 10 1/2 months for Google’s stock to leap from $500 to $600 and more than a year for the journey from $400 to $500. The shares hurdled $300 in June 2005 after passing the $100 and $200 thresholds in 2004.
Analysts began predicting Google’s stock would reach $600 at the start of 2006 when the shares were still hovering around $420. Some analysts already are predicting Google’s stock will hit $700 within the next year, but the average target price for the stock is $614.64 among analysts polled by Thomson Financial. (more…)
Every fantasy football guru knows that the key to winning your league lies in your running backs. Yahoo! Fantasy Sports has released its pre-season rankings and to no one’s surprise the top 10 players are running backs. However, being a fantasy all-star myself, I know that the pre-season rankings never accurately reflect this coming season’s actual post-season rankings. So, I have provided a list of who the top 10 RBs will be at the end of the season.
Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football (IVANCAMPOS.COM rankings in bold)
1. LaDainian Tomlinson
(#1-This is a no-brainer. LT is the best, but not necessary to win your league)
2. Steven Jackson
(#3 - My starting RB from last year can reach the end zone from the ground or air)
3. Larry Johnson
(#2 - LJ should challenge LT in terms of rushing yards, but is not a great pass catcher)
4. Joseph Addai
(OVER-RATED - #6 - Let someone else draft the Super Bowl Champion RB as the Colts’ line has yet to prove itself)
5. Shaun Alexander
(#4 - Alexander’s numbers fell off due to injury, but expect a strong comeback this season)
6. Frank Gore
(#5 - I was able to steal Frank Gore with my second to last pick last season, expect this former U. of Miami star to continue shining in ‘07)
