• More blues for Yahoo: Yahoo has had a run of bad press, mostly in the form of flack for CEO and chair Terry Semel. He has been under fire for a lack of decisiveness, incoherent strategy and too much bureaucracy - and that was just from his own SVP. See here for the infamous "peanut butter memo".
The latest grief is the departure of David Katz, who joined last July to head sports and entertainment, and the collapse of a partnership with pioneering citizen journalism network Current TV.
Katz is said to have fallen out with Yahoo media group head Lloyd Braun, according to Variety, while Current TV has split from Yahoo Video after just three months. Current said it is "exploring better opportunities to distribute our content", which doesn't sounds too amicable.
• Mobile search: The Financial Times (subscription) reports on Targetize, an Israeli firm offering what it says is a very fast, very efficient search tool for mobiles.
"We inserted "olm" and the search engine immediately responded by asking "Did you mean Ehud Olmert, prime minister?".
"We just entered "min" and out came a list of all the ministers mentioned in the day's news, ranked by news-worthiness, and listed by first name, surname and ministerial portfolio. A second click took us directly to the relevant stories rather than a deluge of links."
The search will prioritise results based on a user's history, so Dylan fans would get Dylan at the top of search results, for example. There's an incentive for music companies to join particularly because the conversion rate is about 33%. Universal Music is using Targetize for its "Anysong" Dutch mobile music service and other deals with Swisscom and Warner are imminent.
All sounds good - if a bit press release-y - but the down side is that sites have to be linked to the service to be included, so results won't be as comprehensive.
• MySpace in China: It's inevitable that MySpace, along with just about every other tech business, will have the Chinese market on its battle plan. Web use in China has grown at about 18% for the last few years to more than 123m this year, though that's less than 10% of its 1.3bn population. It's the largest internet market in the world after the US. MySpace wants to expand onto mobile as well as internationally through its localised versions.
The latest from the Wall Street Journal (subscription) is that following Murdoch's trip to China last month, MySpace could be partnering with China Netcom to launch the site in China. Former MSN China GM Luo Chuan is rumoured to be announced as president of MySpace China and Wendy Deng, Murdoch's wife, could be lined up for the board in her first official News Corp role.
WSJ reports that MySpace could face problems in China because of state restrictions: this summer one agency said it was considering introducing regulations against sites that broadcast short films without state permission.
• Baidu expands to Japan: Chinese search site Baidu has retained control of the search market on its home turf against Google and Yahoo. Baidu accounted for 189m Yuan of a 386m Yuan market in the second quarter of 2006. Wall Street Journal reports that the site has plans to expand to Japan early next year. Analysts said Baidu will be an unknown brand in Japan against international rivals like Yahoo and Google, and that the firm's success in China has been seen as a result of compliance with regulatory authorities. CEO Robin Li said Baidu has been successful because of local knowledge and said the firm has spent six months preparing its move into the Japanese market.
• Ask steps up local search ads: In the US, Ask.com has launched a local search service called AskCity.com that will provide contact details, maps and reviews for restaurants and ticket buying for films. CNet reports Ask.com has marginally increased its share of the US search market in from 2.6% in October 2005 to 2.8% in October 2006, though the wider Ask network recorded about 5.6%. Group owners IAC Search recorded a $2m operating loss in the last quarter but the group is aiming to tap into the growth area of online local search advertising.
• The Christmas of consoles battles: Nintendo's long-awaiting Wii games console went on sale in Japan on Saturday, reports Reuters. This is part of a wider console battle between Nintendo, Microsoft's X-Box and Sony's PS3, which has hit various production problem and won't now be launched in the UK for Christmas. The Wii has a great trailer here that explains everything visually. Basically the gamers are stoked because it has this natty wireless controller that you can wave maniacally round your head, but it's also more sociable because it does lots of stuff that makes it a living room essential - like photo galleries, a news channel, web browser and instant messaging. So that's what all the fuss is about.
• US finance sites targeted by extremists: The US government has warned that financial and banking websites could be the target of a virus or denial-of-service attack initiated by an Islamic militant group, according to Reuters. The ANHIAR al-Dollar group put a warning note on its website saying it would target sites throughout December in retaliation for the detention of suspects in Guantanamo Bay.
• Malaysia considering legislation against bloggers: From AFP - Bloggers must be stopped from spreading "disharmony, chaos, seditious material and lies", according to a report by Malaysia's government. Malay bloggers are relied on for an alternative view to mainstream coverage but the mischievous posting of a photo last month that appeared, allegedly allegedly allegedly, to show two Muslim lawmakers in an inappropriately close proximity in a hotel room.
Cho Ha, deputy science and technology minister accused bloggers of posting controversial articles just to attract readers and said authorities may create cyber laws to control those who "misuse the internet" to prevent them "disseminating disharmony, chaos, seditious material and lies." Anything else?
• The kids love mobile: Research by Harris Interactive surveying more than 3,000 people found that more than half of 16-to-24 year-olds prefer to access mobile web content through their operator's site. That's quite surprising as everyone I know starts at Google, just as they would on a PC.
The survey also found that 22.8% of the 16-to-24 year -olds polled said it was acceptable to dump someone by text message. Wouldn't have happened in my day.
Incidentally, Finland's "sexiest man" Matti Vanhanen - who also happens to be the country's Prime Minister - just dumped his girlfriend by text message.
