Google's Bid for DoubleClick to Be Reviewed by EU

Google's Bid for DoubleClick to Be Reviewed by EU


July 6 (Bloomberg) -- European Union regulators will review Google Inc.'s plans to buy DoubleClick Inc. for $3.1 billion after national authorities declined to take the case.

Google, owner of the most-popular Internet search engine, asked the European Commission whether the deal should get an EU review. The EU examines mergers with more than 250 million euros ($341 million) in sales in the 27 member states, or 5 billion euros worldwide. National authorities can review transactions if more than two thirds of the revenue occurs in a single country.

``Given the pan-European nature of both Google and DoubleClick's businesses we felt that the commission was best placed to review the acquisition,'' Julia Holtz, a London-based competition lawyer for Google, said in an e-mail today.

Google announced plans to buy DoubleClick in April to bolster its sales of Internet ads that include pictures and videos. The move prompted companies including Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Inc. to ask for a review of the purchase, saying it would hurt competition in the $28.8 billion global online advertising market. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission began probing the deal on May 29.

DoubleClick competes with AQuantive Inc. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, announced its plans to buy AQuantive on May 18 for about $6 billion.

Jonathan Todd, a commission spokesman, had no comment.

Google shares were little changed at 12:12 p.m. on the Nasdaq Stock Market in New York, down 78 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $540.85. The stock has gained 17 percent in value this year.

Market Definition

Google, based in Mountain View, California, generates revenue from selling text-based ads that appear next to search results. DoubleClick's products help advertisers measure how effective their ads are and allow Web publishers to track and manage online advertising. The ads are typically so-called display ads that include graphics or animation.

``Google and DoubleClick play different but complementary roles in online advertising,'' Alex Kinnier, Google's group product manager, said June 26 on the company's blog. ``Google primarily sells ads, and DoubleClick delivers (serves) ads.''

BEUC, a European consumer group, criticized the acquisition, saying in a June 27 letter to the commission that the takeover will give Google a monopoly in online advertising.

The market share of the combined company would leave consumers with ``no real ability to choose services other than those served by Google,'' the group said in the letter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Newman in Brussels at Mnewman6@bloomberg.net

Google China news searches now focus on images

Google China news searches now focus on images

By Sophie Taylor

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Google Inc. sought to close in on its China market rival Baidu.com by allowing users of its Chinese site to find news by first searching for images carried within articles.

The Web giants are vying for market share in the world's second-largest Internet market.

Google's move was mainly aimed at catching up with Baidu -- which already offers a similar search function -- as many Chinese Web surfers tend to be drawn more to images rather than immediately seeking out text articles, said Edward Yu, president at Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.

"The first priority for Google China is to try to build up as much traffic as they can in order to close the gap with Baidu, then they can monetize the traffic to get more advertising dollars," Yu said, adding that Google would also need to launch services which are more tailored to Chinese consumers' tastes.

The function was jointly developed by Google's recently established engineering centre in Shanghai, and its centre in California, spokeswoman Jin Cui said on Wednesday.

Google.cn's news page, alongside its traditional search method, now also allows users to first search for an image, which then automatically calls up the link to the corresponding story when the user rolls the mouse over the picture.

The rollout comes after Google said last week it had won preliminary approval from Beijing in its application for a license to provide Internet content in China.

"It's a grey area ... but after they get their ICP license, they can promote many services without worrying about regulatory barriers," said Liu Bin, principal analyst at research firm BDA.

Baidu dominated China's search engine market with a 57 percent share of the 493 million yuan ($64.7 million) in first quarter market sales, compared with Google's near-19 percent share, according to Analysys.

Google's engineering research centre in Shanghai, reporting rather than simply show news search results, while Google is promoting a Chinese-language map search service and online word processing programs. Both are trying to build online library services. ($1 = 7.6189 Yuan)

A Disappointing Redesign For Google Docs And Spreadsheets

A Disappointing Redesign For Google Docs And Spreadsheets


Google has given Docs and Spreadsheets a makeover and added some new features, including support for folders and live search, but while the new interface is looks different, in some ways the new “features” are a step backwards.

Folders were undoubtedly one of the most requested features for Google Docs and they have indeed arrived, however folder support comes at the expense of labels. Label (or tag if you prefer) support has been dropped in the new Google Docs.

Existing users will note that all their tags have been converted to folders which work more or less like labels, but include drag-and-drop support. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way to re-order the folder list hierarchy other than with creative naming conventions.

But the real problem with the new folders is their inconsistent behavior. Files can be be placed in multiple folders, but rather confusingly this only works from the main list.

If you drag a document from the main list to a any number of folders it will be added to those folders.

However, if you are inside a folder and drag a document to a different folder it will be removed from the first folder, which makes for a rather confusing user experience.

People have been clamoring for folders in various Google Apps for some time, however, this implementation may leave many questioning their wishes.

Given that Google is aiming Docs and Spreadsheets at the business crowd, the move to folders makes sense, folders are a much more familiar organizational metaphor and have a somewhat more “professional” feel about them, but in terms of functionality the new folders differ from labels primarily in name.

I always thought of folders and labels as complimentary, so ditching labels in favor of folders seems, well, kind of pointless. Now everyone is going to clamor for the old labels — why not support both?

And the labels to folders move isn’t the only letdown in the redesign. Those using the collaborative features will likely miss the “last edited by” function, which appears to have gone the way of the Dodo (if you know where it went, let me know). Update: according to a commenter below, the “last edited by” function can still be found, it's just buried: “ Check a document, click more actions, click revisions. The second column is last edited by” (thanks Shruti).

Also, while it’s a minor point, I can’t help thinking that interface has a very un-Google feel to it, I don’t mind the re-design, but it looks more like something Yahoo or AOL would come up with.

But the redesign isn’t a total letdown. There are a couple of truly useful features in the new Docs and Spreadsheets. The live search suggestions tool with dynamic results pulled from your document list as you type (think Google Suggest or Apple Spotlight) is a great time saver and the ability to sort documents by collaborator is also quite handy.

Since there doesn’t appear to be a way to revert to the old version, the Google Docs redesign, for better or worse, appears to be here to stay.

Apple's iPhone Will Stream Google's YouTube Videos

Apple's iPhone Will Stream Google's YouTube Videos



Apple's iPhone will allow subscribers to wirelessly stream material from Google's popular video sharing site YouTube.



Apple's widely anticipated music and video playing iPhone will allow subscribers to wirelessly stream material from Google's popular video sharing site YouTube, Apple said on Wednesday.

YouTube has begun encoding its videos in a new format to improve quality and save battery life when viewed over wireless devices.

The iPhone will be the first mobile device to use the new format, Apple said. More than 10,000 videos will be available on the iPhone when it hit stores on June 29, with more material added each week.

AT&T Inc. has an exclusive deal to sell iPhones with its wireless subscriptions.

While the phone will not support AT&T's highest-speed cellular data links, Apple said YouTube would work well on the phone's short-range Wi-Fi network connection.

Prior to the development of the new mobile format, VerizonWireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, had an exclusive deal to offer a selection of YouTube videos on its phones.

Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said YouTube has been one of its most popular mobile video offerings, frequently taking the top two or three viewership slots.

Apple said YouTube also works on its Apple TV home media hub, which acts as a bridge between a television and desktop computer, playing movies and TV shows.

Adobe joins Google and Microsoft in making programs to go

Adobe joins Google and Microsoft in making programs to go
London, (GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE)

By Jack Schofield

One of the biggest drawbacks of web-based applications is that you can only use them when you are online - and very often you aren't. But that could change. Google, Adobe and Microsoft are all working to make online applications available while you are offline, or vice versa.

Adobe was the latest to join the fray this week when it released a beta version of the AIR, or Adobe Integrated Runtime. This is the desktop player formerly known as Apollo. But it doesn't just play Flash movies. It also supports HTML, JavaScript, Adobe's PDF and SQLite, the small and highly portable relational database. With AIR, companies that have developed rich internet applications (or RIAs) with Adobe's Flash and Flex products should be able to convert them to run on the desktop, or develop applications from scratch. Adobe is offering a free SDK (software development kit) and a "Developer Derby" to encourage programmers.

Separately, Google is tackling the same problem with Google Gears, which also includes SQLite. Gears provides the local server and database facilities needed to run an online application offline. Google produced a version of its RSS Reader as an example, and you have to switch it to offline mode so it can download feeds before you log off.

Microsoft's offering, Silverlight, starts from the other end - you can take a desktop application and convert it to run in a web browser. It works with IE and Firefox on Windows and Mac OS X. A Linux version may emerge from an outside project. Rather than being a killer app, each system meets different needs, and they seem most likely to co-exist.

Silverlight is best for deploying desktop-style applications - but uses Windows Presentation Foundation, which only runs on Vista and Windows XP SP2, and looks like the worst choice if you want a cross-platform application. Gears is conceptually the simplest, while leaving the developer with the most work to do. And Adobe's AIR provides a runtime product that should be properly cross-platform (it's open source). Also, according to Ben Forsaith, Adobe business development manager, AIR enables applications to run on the desktop without using a browser.

"It gives you the best of the web and the best of the desktop," he says, "but it's about building a whole new experience. We're wrapping our arms around the much broader development community. That's the key advantage for Adobe."

If Adobe sounds unusually cuddly, rest assured: it plans to make lots of money from the server side of AIR applications. Still, the fact that Adobe, Google and Microsoft are now duking it out is a reflection on Sun's Java, which was supposed to provide "write once, run anywhere" capabilities a decade ago.

Java father James Gosling says Adobe has "a toolset that works well for people who aren't engineers. One of the things on our 'to do urgently' list is to pay more attention to that corner of the world."