Chris Lake

Google Maps launches printable coupons scheme

Get some, get some – Google Maps is inviting local business owners to add their company listing to its maps alongside a printable coupon, which can be redeemed offline by consumers.

The move, a push to increase listings and increase reach among SMEs, is interesting not least for the offline focus.

by Chris Lake 15 August 2006 16:33pm 0 comments

Web 2.0 and UK newspaper groups

On a scale of one to two point zero, how are the UK’s newspaper groups doing in terms of their adoption of Web 2.0 concepts, tools and approaches?

Ian Delaney, a UK journalist who blogs about Web 2.0 over at twopointouch.com, alerted me to a fine piece of analysis conducted by the BBC’s Robin Hammon, who has looked into this topic in some detail.

by Chris Lake 11 August 2006 10:50am 1 comment

Viacom fancies coy Bebo, and with good reason

This week’s Bebo acquisition rumour comes in the shape of Viacom, the also-rans in the MySpace courtship battle. With Bebo in no rush to sell, we don’t anticipate this latest industry gossip will become a reality anytime soon.

It is plainly obvious that Big Media Companies are now scrambling all of their M&A jets in search of social networking sites to buy. This was previously something that seemed a little bit like bandwagon jumping a few months ago, but now there is a real reason for it.

by Chris Lake 08 August 2006 12:44pm 1 comment

Is Google News on holiday?

What's happened to Google News today? Is Newsbot on vacation? We noticed that stories stopped being indexed at about midday GMT, and other publishers are reporting similar issues.

Highly unusual...

by Chris Lake 07 August 2006 17:05pm 0 comments

Why isn’t ebookers top of Google for a search on ‘ebookers’?

While doing some project-based research last week I noticed that ebookers isn’t on the first page in Google for a search on its own brand name. Ouch.

The travel group is currently paying Google for an Adwords ad, to achieve the brand visibility it needs, but it is puzzling as to why an established dotcom with many thousands of inbound links is failing to capture the number one spot for its own brand.

by Chris Lake 07 August 2006 16:58pm 7 comments

French government censors Greenpeace's mashup

The French government has instructed Greenpeace to remove a webpage featuring a customised Google Map with details of the locations of Monsanto’s genetically-modified cornfields.

The ban, issued via a French court, flies in the face of EU law, which states that this sort of information should be made available to the public by governments.

by Chris Lake 31 July 2006 13:22pm 0 comments

10 reasons why I’ll swap my iPod for a Zune

I was given an iPod as a birthday gift a couple of years ago. Immediately, I fell in love with it, and it revolutionised my listening habits. It looks good, it is easy to use, and my particular model stored 5,000 songs, about half of my CD-based music collection.

But my love affair quickly turned sour. Over time, I have experienced various problems with the iPod and iTunes, some of which are listed after the jump.

by Chris Lake 28 July 2006 17:29pm 43 comments

Netscape cracked, presumably by Digg fan

The Netscape vs Digg war has escalated to new heights over the past few days and is reaching some sort of crescendo today after a Netscape security hole was spotted by – presumably – a Digg fan, who promptly inserted a pop-up with the message: “Hi to all you Diggers out there ; )”.

For those of you not following this sometimes hilarious battle of wits, the conflict escalated after Jason ‘mad dog’ Calacanis offered $1,000 to the top Digg contributors to migrate to Netscape, which is widely viewed as a clone of Digg.

by Chris Lake 27 July 2006 16:11pm 0 comments

Digital Bites - A Week In The Video Downloads Sector

LOVEFiLM's Craig Sullivan provides a weekly overview of the key news stories to emerge this week in the online video sector...

by Chris Lake 27 July 2006 14:03pm 0 comments

Google launches Adwords click fraud tool

Google has responded to calls for greater transparency on click fraud by introducing a new tool for Adwords users that displays "invalid clicks".

Google business product manager Shuman Ghosemajumder explains: "The metrics of 'invalid clicks' and 'invalid clicks rate' will show virtually all the invalid clicks affecting an account."

This should provide advertisers with an overview of how Google is dealing with clicks already identified as possibly fraudulent, aka 'invalid', though for many marketers this might not be enough.

by Chris Lake 26 July 2006 13:22pm 2 comments