December 2009: Microsoft and Yahoo! Finalize PartnershipIn December 2009 Microsoft and Yahoo! finalized a partnership deal that had been rumored for several months, with Yahoo! using Microsoft's Bing technology to power its search engine in exchange for providing Microsoft with its online ad sales expertise. The two sides reached an agreement in principle in July and later reached out to European Union regulators for permission to combine forces.
Media reports put the deal at ten years, with an expected rollout date for the combined effort in early 2010. According to a joint statement released by the company:
"Microsoft and Yahoo! believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers real choice, better value, and more innovation. Yahoo! and Microsoft welcome the broad support the deal has received from key players in the advertising industry and remain hopeful that the closing of the transaction can occur in early 2010."
Submit Express CEO Pierre Zarokian shared some of his formidable knowledge with the world last month, as he laid out his Top 10 Twitter Tools in a guest article for Visibility Magazine. From tools to automate posting to finding relevant keywords, the tools highlighted in the article will help social media beginners and experts alike improve their outreach and get the most out of their Twitter experience.Click here to read the article and take advantage of these amazing Twitter tips.
Google is threatening to leave China after a dispute revolving around a cyber attack the search giant says "resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google." According to DailyFinance.com, Google is vowing to end its censorship of its Chinese language search site, a move that would be seen as thumbing its nose at the communist Chinese government.In a post on the official Google Blog, Google SVP of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond said that Google had been the victim of a cyber attack that originated from inside of China. However, Drummond also said that Google's intellectual property wasn't the main target of the attack; rather, the hackers appeared to be interested in accessing the Gmail accounts of human rights activists in China. While the attack only compromised two accounts on a limited basis, the subsequent investigation showed that "the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties."
According to Drummond, the attacks -- combined with China's efforts to curtail free speech online in the past year -- has led Google to "conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China."
"We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn," he said, "and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."
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