Steve Bryant

Looking for perspective? Ask an octogenarian. At 84, my grandmother has survived one world war, one economic depression and my grandfather. Grandad was so frugal he ate the marrow out of chicken bones and chewed one-half a stick of Wrigley’s at a time. For eight hours. So Granny, she learned to cut coupons. She reads […]

Just catching up on my notes from SES last week. I’ve often heard people complaining–especially marketing people–that Google’s online applications look different from each other, like they’re not part of the same suite. But one thing that CEO Eric Schmidt (Schmitty? Tall, dark and starchy? Eric-a-palooza?) said during a press briefing was that Google intentionally […]

Google, they say, is everywhere. Maps, e-mail, calendars, video. But one lucrative market the search and advertising giant has so far failed to enter is video games. How lucrative? The entire games market, including console gaming, PC and online, was worth about $7 billion in 2005, according to the Entertainment Software Association. What’s more, some […]

You peeps gotta relax. So yeah, Google’s lawyers sent letters to media companies saying hey, Google isn’t really a verb. But Google had to send those letters as part of its responsibility to its own brand. It’s just establishing a precedent in case its trademark faces a real legal challenge. By sending the letters, it […]

When Google’s video player debuted earlier this year, a lot of people were very upset and confused that the software incorporated digital rights management. Head Geek and primo sci-fi author Cory Doctorow was particularly taken aback, wondering why Hollywood was suddenly more important than users. And Techdirt’s Mike Masnick said Google probably implemented DRM to […]

Google warned investors on Wednesday that a rise in spending on its data centers and other infrastructure, plus a rise in cash compensation to its employees, may crimp its finances. In its quarterly 10-Q report (pictured left), Google said spending on data centers will rise, a point that Google execs have been repeating over the […]

SES Conference, San Jose — Google CEO Eric Schmidt said today that the company is discussing ways in which to reveal more data about click fraud to their advertisers. Schmidt maintained that Google has the click fraud problem under control, and that the rate of incidents is not increasing. But, he said, the company is […]

SES Conference, San Jose — Google CEO Eric Schmidt employed a Donald Rumsfeld-esque form of verbal ninjitsu today when he said click fraud metrics are difficult to understand because “It’s hard to know because you don’t know what you don’t know.” Schmidt also took advantage of the SES keynote to educate the audience on metrics […]

Google went on the offensive today against critics who argue that Google’s advertising system is inherently vulnerable to fraudulent clicks. Those critics argue click fraud can account for 15-30% of all clicks on advertisements. But representatives from the search giant say reports released by third-parties are flawed because they count clicks never made on Google’s […]

SES Conference, San Jose, CA — Yahoo unveiled today for the first time a public demonstration of their new ad platform technology, codenamed Panama. The demonstration revealed several new features that Yahoo will offer, some of which drew scattered applause from the audience: Assists: The new ad platform will show marketers what keywords led up […]