Website design newsletter
Every month we publish interesting news articles relating to website design, search engine trends and other exciting changes happening online.
Current issue: August 2008
Contents
Google leaps into Olympic content race
Google launches Maori version of search engine
Yahoo profit falls 19pc
43pc profits rise tipped for Amazon
Google leaps into Olympic content race
8 August 2008
Google's not in its usual place ahead of the pack; you could almost compare the search giant to a runner who somehow got his feet stuck in the starting blocks. But, following Yahoo and Microsoft, Google's finally unveiled some things related to the Summer Games.
2008 Summer Games on Google is described on the Official Google Blog as "a site that features a number of our products to help you stay updated on Summer Games happenings." The site appears to work just fine.
Where Google falls (farther) behind is with the site's accessibility. Yahoo and Microsoft put most of their Olympic content a click or two away from their traditional homepages, while Google's Summer Games 2008 is stuck athttp://www.google.com/landing/summergames2008/index.html#source=sgob Random folks won't find it.
A similar problem seems to be affecting YouTube's Summer Games channel. Although it offers content from impressive sources like the Associated Press, The New York Times, Getty Images, and Reuters, there have only been around 1,300 channel views.
Google seems to lack athlete-focused information, too, whereas both Yahoo and Microsoft offer special profiles and stats following normal searches.
Source: www.webpronews.com
Google launches Maori version of search engine
23 July 2008
The Maori-language interface of Google, the world's largest online search engine, was launched today at Te Wananga o Aotearoa, in Rotorua.
IThe search page is labelled Google Aotearoa.
A team of volunteers has translated more than 8750 words which enables anyone to navigate the Google interface in te reo Maori - all the words, messages, buttons and advanced search fields are now in Maori.
"Digital technology is a vital means of transmitting te reo Maori, matauranga Maori, strengthening Maori identity, expressing a Maori world view and communicating with the world" said Huhana Rokx, chief executive of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori (the Maori Language Commission).
"Fluent and native speakers are able to search and access online content and connections in te reo Maori."
Source: www.3news.co.nz
Yahoo profit falls 19pc
23 July 2008
Yahoo has posted a nearly 19 per cent fall in net profit, and net revenue short of lowered Wall Street expectations, as it faced a weakening economy and the distraction of Microsoft's pursuit.
Net income for the second quarter fell to US$131 million (NZ$170 million), or 9 cents per diluted share, from US$161 million, or 11 cents per diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter.
Excluding one-time items, profit was US$139 million, or 10 cents per share, down from US$163 million, or 12 cents per share, a year ago.
Gross revenue rose 6 per cent to US$1.798 billion. Net revenue excluding off-the-top payments to affiliated websites who carry Yahoo advertising services rose 8 per cent to US$1.35 billion.
Wall Street analysts, on average, were looking for profit excluding items of 10 cents per share and net revenue of US$1.37 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
Yahoo's earnings come a day after the internet pioneer agreed to appoint activist investor Carl Icahn and two of his nominees to its board, ending a proxy battle and reducing the chances of immediately revisiting a Microsoft deal.
Source: www.stuff.co.nz
43pc profits rise tipped for Amazon
24 July 2008
Amazon.com, the world's largest internet retailer, is expected to announce profit rose as online shoppers bought more flat-screen televisions and video-game players and a weaker dollar boosted overseas sales.
Second-quarter net income may have risen 43 per cent to US$111.6 million ($147.2 million), or 26c a share, the average estimate of 15 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. A year earlier, Seattle-based Amazon had net income of US$78 million, or 19c.
Sales of electronics, jewellery and baby clothes have outpaced those of books and CDs, Amazon's original wares, as chief executive office Jeff Bezos, 44, adds new categories, and international revenue has grown faster than US sales.
"Amazon.com has historically been known for media, but they're not tied to media," Scott Tilghman, an analyst at Soleil Securities Corp, said yesterday. "You want to have what the customer is looking for in a one-stop shop."
The dollar's decline boosted the value of Amazon.com's overseas sales when translated into the US currency. The dollar dropped 12 per cent against a basket of six foreign currencies during the quarter. International sales accounted for 45 per cent of Amazon.com's revenue last year.
The company was to report second-quarter results yesterday after the close of US markets.
In April the company forecast second-quarter sales of US$3.88 billion to US$4.08 billion and operating income of as much as US$160 million. The average revenue estimate of 18 analysts is US$3.96 billion.
Amazon is benefiting from more rapid growth of internet sales compared with total sales. Sales by online merchants increased 14 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, compared with a 2.8 per cent gain overall.
Source: www.nzherald.co.nz
