| www.freelinereport.com After losing its campaign in the European Union to block Google from buying DoubleClick, Microsoft now plans to buy Rapt, a software company that helps web publishers optimize the selling of their ad space. Rapt is a software solution that's kind of like the tools that help airlines sell seats. As a former customer, Microsoft increased its own ads revenue by 15 percent. Now, they'll combine Rapt with their previous purchases of aQuantive for $6 billion, AdECN, a stockmarket type exchange for ad space -- and Massive, which inserts ads in video games. With these tools, Microsoft plans to be the dominant player in the online display advertising game. Now when it comes to Search ads, they're still waiting to hear from Yahoo on their $40 billion offer. http Well, Google just rolled out its latest map application, called Google Sky. This program turns your web browser into a telescope, letting you browse and zoom in on the night sky with extreme detail. Mousing over certain galaxies pops up boxes that give you information on what you're looking at, making this application educational as well as pretty darn interesting. www.freelinereport.com YouTube just released their snazzy new API, giving developers the ability to create their own video sites, with all the videos hosted by YouTube, for free. If you want to create your own video site, YouTube will handle all of the messy stuff, including the video uploading and transcoding process, while you take care ... |
