Old news for April 2006

Complete WS-Policy Submitted to W3C

2006.04.28WS-Policy has been submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for formal approval as a standard after its developers filled a hole in the spec that made companies reluctant to write to it. The move should open the floodgates for Web services security specifications that have been held up by the omission.

Microsoft targets social networking space with Wallop

2006.04.27Microsoft has taken the unusual step -- for Microsoft, that is -- of spinning off technology developed by a research subsidiary with the aim of entering the social networking space.
The new startup is called Wallop. Its aim, according to Microsoft, is to roll out a next generation social networking application developed by Microsoft IP Ventures, a nearly one-year-old research arm of the company.

Microsoft starts Windows auto-piracy check

2006.04.26PCs using Microsoft's automatic Windows update service will be checked for pirate versions of the operating system from today – and dodgy copies will be refused all upgrades except critical security patches.
Users will have the option, in a pop-up box that appears at the start of a scheduled update, to opt out of the validation, but they too will be refused full updates.

Internet Explorer 7, beta 2 version is out

2006.04.25The new IE version is now out in beta 2. Most of the bugs and crashes were fixed and you can definitely download it now and test it. Download link.
The looks is great and the rhythm is much faster. Microsoft added a new add-ons site for the explorer, you should check it out too.

Changes to Adwords API Program:Quota Fees Start July 1

2006.04.14Google has announced changes to their Adwords API program. Starting July 1, users will no longer have limited quotas. Instead, they will have unlimited use of the API, but pay a fee of .25/1000 quota units.
Link to announcement at Google Groups: here.
Link to new API terms: here.

Google buys search algorithm invented by Israeli student

2006.04.11Search engine giant Google recently acquired an advanced text search algorithm invented by Ori Alon, an Israeli student... Orion, as it is called, which Alon developed with faculty, relates only to the most relevant textual results..."For example, if you search information on the War of Independence, you'll receive a list of related words, like Etzel, Palmach, Ben-Gurion," he explained. The text will only appear on the results page if enough words relevant to the search and the link between them is reasonable.

Yahoo to Change PPC Algorithm

2006.04.09Codenamed “Project Panama,” Yahoo’s new model will be similar to that of Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ), which ranks search-engine ads by both the amount advertisers pay for keywords and the relevance of the ad. Maybe we'll have a good alternative to Google Adwords soon or the upcoming Microsoft paid search.

Track AdSense Clicks With Google Analytics

2006.04.07I've searched for a solution to this issue and found a great script you can add to your pages, allowing your Google Analytics to track the Adsense clicks. Try it, it's working! Now you can know the refferar of every click you get in Adsense and know where to put your efforts in marketing your website. The script and instructions can be found here.

Apple releases software to let Macs run Windows

2006.04.05Apple Computer Inc., the maker of the Macintosh computer and iPod music devices, on Wednesday rolled out a software patch under its plan to move its computers over to Intel Corp. microprocessors.
Apple said that the new software, called "Boot Camp", enables Intel-based Macs to install and run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system software. Boot Camp is available as a download beginning today.

New Google Related Links

2006.04.04Google Related Links use the power of Google to automatically bring fresh, dynamic and interesting content links to any website. Webmasters can place these units on their site to provide visitors with links to useful information related to the site's content, including relevant news, searches, and pages.
Learn more here.

New Ad Type for Google Local

2006.04.01Last night, AdWords launched a new ad type for Google Local - Local Business Ad.
At the AdGroup level, one can create these ad types. On content match, search, and Google, they appear as a standard local ad type.

However, on local.google.com they take on special characteristics:
Ability to have a custom icon
Ability to use a 125x125 logo
Ability to control your local business data (i.e. display special phone number, ad, etc).

The requirements for adding one of these ad types is that your business must be listed in Google Local.
If you're not listed in Google local, you can add your business through the local business center (sends you a pin card in the mail), through the froogle small business center, through Google base, or through one of the local data providers that distributes your data to all of the local search sites.
One is not charged for the initial view. So, the first ad click opens up an information box on the page. If one clicks from the information box to your website, then one is charged per click.

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