Google in sight, search engines are getting smarter

Internet search engines are getting smarter, thanks to a technological race among various leaders in the business such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and smaller firms which are trying to make a name for themselves.

The latest technology update on the search horizon is 'artificial intelligence'—a science used to make intelligent machines using computer programmes.

A search using artificial intelligence would take all words keyed in together to come up with an appropriate answer— unlike particular keyword-based results thrown up by popular search engines currently available.

Sobha Renaissance IT (SRIT), an arm of Sobha Developers, has developed a search called “Icognue”, which works on an artificial intelligence-based algorithm. Yahoo has built a specific search facility on its www.yahoo.in Website, which the company says incorporates elements of artificial intelligence.

Increasing revenues from search engines are driving players in this industry to come up with newer solutions. It is estimated that by 2010, revenues from Internet search would garner as much as Rs 40,000 crore ($10 billion).

“Currently, artificial intelligence is not being used by most Internet search providers,” says Syed Yasin, the brain behind Icognue. Industry experts say current search offerings of companies like Google will be history when a technology like Latent Metonymical Analysis and Indexing, an algorithm that uses mathematical techniques for search queries.

“Using artificial intelligence in every search query made by the user would be the future of Internet search,” Tapan Bhat, vice president, Yahoo.

Companies are resorting to newer technologies to differentiate and grab market-share from Google, which has cornered over 60 per cent of search-oriented Internet usage globally.

Newer search facilities include knowing the content of a web page as the mouse courses through the result instead of clicking on to the web page. However, they admit there is a long way to go. As Yasin puts it, “We have started gathering and indexing encyclopedia portals on the web for now but we have to increase this to the whole world of the worldwide web to be a force to reckon with.”

Taken from: http://publication.samachar.com/pub_article.php?id=1997503

Ask.com Getting Sued Over Click Fraud

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Ask Jeeves (Ask.com) parent company IAC Search & Media Inc. over failing to prevent "click fraud" on advertisements purchased from the company.

Put simply, "click fraud" occurs where a person or program clicks on an advertisers sponsored listing in an attempt to defraud an advertiser who pays a CPC (cost-per-click) each time the listing is clicked on.

Details of the class action lawsuit are revealed below in an email send to ask advertisers:

"If you purchased online advertising from IAC Search & Media, Inc. and/or Ask Jeeves, Inc. (collectively "Ask") between August 1, 2005 and the present, you may be a class member in a class-action lawsuit, Lane's Gifts and Collectibles et al. v. Ask Jeeves, Inc. et al., Case No. CV-2005-52-1, in the Circuit Court of Miller County, Arkansas. This notice advises you of your legal rights.

You should review the detailed Settlement Notice as soon as possible, as there are several important deadlines that you must meet to take certain actions in connection with a proposed settlement of the class action lawsuit. Your legal rights are affected whether you act or do not act. The deadline for filing an objection or excluding yourself from the proposed settlement is February 2, 2008, and the last day to file a claim under the proposed settlement is February 2, 2008. For further information, please refer to the Settlement Notice.

The Settlement Notice informs you of the Court's certification of a class for settlement purposes; the nature of the claims alleged; your right to participate in, or exclude yourself from, the class; a proposed settlement; and how you can claim an award of advertising credits under the settlement or object to the settlement.

The proposed settlement will provide advertising credits to class members who certify that they were the victims of "click fraud" or other invalid or improper clicks on online advertisements purchased from IAC Search & Media, Inc. and/or Ask Jeeves, Inc. on or after August 1, 2005.

The proposed settlement will resolve claims that IAC Search & Media, Inc. and/or Ask Jeeves, Inc. breached its contracts with advertisers and violated other laws by failing to adequately detect and stop "click fraud" or other invalid or improper clicks on online advertisements.

If you are a member of the class, your legal rights are affected by whether you act or do not act.

For a copy of the Settlement Notice, click on the link, or visit the case website at www.AskSettlement.com.
To file a claim for your award of advertising credits under the settlement, click on the following link: AskSettlement.com/claim. Each advertiser will be allowed one claim per account."

According to Wikipedia, "Lane's Gifts and Collectibles" also raised a successful suit against Google in March 2006 in which Google agreed to a $90m settlement fund in a class action filed by the company.

This legal challenge may act as a wake up call to other advertising networks over the need to proactively prevent and detect click fraud in their advertising programs. If the case affects you, we'd love to hear your thoughts via our blog comments.

Source: www.ineedhits.com

Google Grants (Beta) - Free Advertising to Non-Profits

Google Grants (Beta) is a scheme to provide free AdWords advertising to non-profit organizations. There are some default Ads for some non-profitable organizations, these Ads usually shown when there is no suitable AdWords ad available for searchers. Google selects Ads randomly for its Google Grant scheme.

Google says: "In-kind advertising for non-profit organizations"
"The Google Grants program supports organizations sharing our philosophy of community service to help the world in areas such as science and technology, education, global public health, the environment, youth advocacy, and the arts.

Designed for 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, Google Grants is a unique in-kind advertising program. It harnesses the power of our flagship advertising product, Google AdWords, to non-profits seeking to inform and engage their constituents online. Google Grants has awarded AdWords advertising to hundreds of non-profit groups whose missions range from animal welfare to literacy, from supporting homeless children to promoting HIV education.

Google Grant recipients use their award of free AdWords advertising on Google.com to raise awareness and increase traffic. Three of our award recipients have achieved these results:

• Room to Read, which educates children in Vietnam, Nepal, India and Cambodia, attracted a sponsor who clicked on its AdWords ad. He has donated funds to support the education of 25 girls for the next 10 years.
• The US Fund for UNICEF's e-commerce site, Shop UNICEF, has experienced a 43 percent increase in sales over the previous year.
• CoachArt, supporting children with life-threatening illnesses through art and athletics programs, has seen a 60 to 70 percent increase in volunteers.

Each organization awarded a Google Grant receives at least three months of in-kind advertising."

Know more about Google Grants

Windows Live SkyDrive-Beta - A New Online Storage

Microsoft has launched its online storage service names Microsoft SkyDrive (beta). You can use this service with Windows Live (hotmail) ID. SkyDrive provides 1 GB Storage space that you can access from anywhere in the world. You can access this service from any web browser i.e., Internet Explorer 6 or higher, Firefox 1.5 or higher. You can avail this service whether you are windows or Mac. computer user. SkyDrive has flexibility to creat your own folders and make them private or share the information with others or you can make your folder public that anyone can view your files.

Try it Now ... Windows Live SkyDrive - Beta

Upcoming referrals changes in Google Adsense

Are you currently displaying a referral unit for AdSense on your website? Then read on, because there are some upcoming changes to the referral program that you should be aware of. But first let me clarify that only referral units promoting AdSense will be affected by this change; referrals to other products and services remain unaffected at this time. This change to referrals promoting AdSense will differ depending on your location, regardless of where your users are located.

- If you're in North America, Latin America, or Japan, the pricing structure for AdSense referrals is changing.

About a year ago, as an experiment, we changed the pricing structure for AdSense referrals so that when a user you referred to the program earned $5 within 180 days of sign-up, you would also earn $5. When that publisher earned $100 within 180 days and removed all payment holds, you'd receive $250. We have decided to conclude this experiment and return to the original pricing structure. As a result, we'll soon no longer be offering the $5 bonus or $2000 bonus, and the payout for referring a user who generates $100 with AdSense in the first 180 days will return to $100.

These pricing changes will take place during the last week of January. A referred user who reaches $100 within 180 days of signing up and who removes all payments holds before the change occurs will generate earnings of $250 for the referring publisher. Any referred user who meets this conversion criteria after the change occurs will only generate $100 in earnings for the referring publisher. In addition, the $5 bonus will be removed at that time. Please note that the date a user was referred will only affect where the 180-day window is set but not necessarily the payout the referring publisher receives. For example, it's possible that a user referred in early January will meet the conversion criteria before a user referred in early November, and so the resulting payout may differ.

- If you're outside of North America, Latin America, and Japan, AdSense referrals will be retired.

For publishers not located in any of the three regions detailed above, we'll soon be retiring referrals promoting AdSense. We've found that this referral product has not performed as well as we had hoped in these regions. Again, please keep in mind that you can still generate referrals for the other products listed under the 'Referrals' section of your AdSense Setup tab.

Soon, you'll no longer see the option to create a referral button for AdSense in your account, although existing buttons will display as normal. This specific referral type will then be retired during the last week of January - any users who meet the conversion criteria (reaching $100 in earnings within 180 days of sign-up and removing all payment holds) before the change will generate earnings of $250 for the referring publishers. Any conversions which occur after this change is made will not be recorded in your account. You may wish to begin replacing any existing referrals promoting AdSense with referrals for another product or an AdSense for content unit.

We appreciate your support of this referral product, and hope it won't cause you any inconvenience.

Article Source : Google Adsense Blog