Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Classmates.com is one of the biggest advertisers on the ‘net.  It’s been around since before MySpace, Facebook, or Friendster grew to the popularity they have now.  They spend wicked amounts of money on their online advertising; $30 million was spent in 2005 to give you an idea.  However, now they just may have to answer for some of their “lure the customer in” tactics.

Anthony Michaels had been a free member of the Classmates.com site since last year.  Then, Classmates.com informed Michaels that his old school pals were trying to contact him.  He got that familiar to many message “Your former classmates are trying to contact you! Upgrade now to see their messages!“ sent to him from Classmates.com.  So, curious as to whether it was an old grade school buddy or that girl he was always secretly smitten by, Michaels did what many others are suckered into doing with that message. 

Keep reading to find out what could happen to Classmates.com.

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Sections: Web, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Web Browsers, Websites

Things aren’t looking good for Yahoo right now.  Google has pulled out of the advertising deal that looked so promising for both companies citing potential antitrust issues.  Now, CEO Jerry Yang is saying that the Microsoft buyout was probably the best thing that could have happened.  This coming even after a rumor saying that Microsoft and Yahoo “were in advanced talks to sell the company for between $17 and $19 a share,“ that Yahoo discredited.

Aside from turning down the Microsoft deal, Yahoo’s problems aren’t necessarily its own fault.  It is slowly rolling out the new Yahoo homepage to compete more against iGoogle.  It still owns Flickr, one of, if not the most popular photo hosting site.  Yahoo Answers seems to have grown quite a lot as well. 

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Sections: Web, Web 2.0, Google

Ring back tones, that music you can opt to hear instead of a ring phone when you place a call is getting more intelligent.  Ring Plus, a US company, has been offering free calls (even international) to its subscribers in exchange for listening to an advertisement while waiting for your callee to pick up.  Could it be just that easy?

Ring Plus thinks so.  They’ve just completed a six month beta test of the service and were impressed with the results.  They believe they are going to revolutionize the telecom industry.  Keep reading to find out more.

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Since the advent of television news, newspapers have been struggling.  Sales have been slowing, circulation and staffs shrinking, with more and more small town papers dying out.  Some would call print news a dying business.

The Internet boom since the 1990’s threatened to be the death sentence for newspapers, but instead many of them have looked at it as an opportunity to adapt to the changing world.  Recently, newspapers’ websites have become an even better and more interactive source of news than their print counterparts.  In addition to the Internet hallmark of posting breaking news in real time, newspapers have been adding blogs by their most popular journalists and commentators, podcasts, audio and video, and a growing number of interactive features that allow readers to connect with one-another and discuss the news.

While it’s true that print sales and circulations have been steadily declining, web revenue has been pouring in more and more.

That is, until now.  Keep reading for more details.

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Sections: Communications, Web, Websites

It is very easy to get caught up in all the Android excitement and possibilities this T-Mobile device offers.  The gloss of this press event seems to dulling faster than a App store download.  Our man Iyaz got in Google’s grill and demand answers to questions Gadgetell has over the device and what Google hopes to achieve.  Last time we checked, Google is looking to make some money.

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So, the first question is how will Google present advertising on the phone?  Integration into street view and compass mode seems like a natural fit, right?  When Iyaz asked a Google rep: he said, “We cannot comment on future products.“  Iyaz said back “You’re not saying no?“  His response, “I cannot comment”

Will Iyaz press on?  Will security haul him away?  Will Google guy throw a punch?  Hit the jump and find out…

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Sections: Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile, Web, Google

In an attempt to lock into some kind of deal before their board re-election August 1st, Yahoo! is trying to resume talks with Time Warner about a possible merger with their internet arm AOL in a deal worth up to $10 billion. 

These talks have come to the forefront after it came to light that Microsoft is also talking to companies including Time Warner in an effort to launch a break up bid of Yahoo!.  Microsoft is attempting such a breakup in order to place themselves on a more level playing field with their big search competitor Google, and snag a larger slice of the advertising market pie estimated to be worth about $40 million. (This number is set to double in the next two years). Microsoft is not a happy camper after being promptly rebuffed in their revised offer to Yahoo!, and it is also rumored that they approached Mr Icahn, the billionaire activist investor who already nominated himself and other execs to replace the Yahoo! board, last week.

Mr. Icahn is not pleased that the Yahoo! shareholders weren’t given the chance to vote on the initial cash/shares offer from Microsoft in May, and he wants investors to boot the board when they meet on the 1st. However, Jerry Yang, the co-founder and chief executive of Yahoo! is wanting to be able to present the shareholders with an alternate offer at the annual meeting. A hostile takeover by Microsoft is NOT the direction he wants to see Yahoo! have to take. Should be interesting to see what goes down in that boardroom August 1st.

Read [TimesOnline]

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Sections: Tech News, Web, Websites

While we have all come to expect that majority of these ultra-portable notebooks are very similar not only feature wise, but also in the way they look on the outside. However some new promo images from Asus and MSI are now offering (almost) the same image. Well, the image is actually the same, except for the fact they at least took the time to switch out the notebooks to show off their own product. The fact that two currently popular ultra-portable notebook makers are offering such a similar promo shot is just the tip of what seems like a slight controversy because this images has already been used in the past, showing off what appears to be a MacBook. Keep reading to check out the original image below…

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Google has finally gotten what it has long wanted as the European Commission has cleared Google’s $3.1 billion buyout proposal to online advertising company DoubleClick. The EU has been deliberating on Google’s proposal since November 2007 after it has passed through the U.S. Anti-Trust Authorities.

In its in-depth investigation of the two companies involved, the EU has concluded that the pending transaction poses no threat to consumers in both ad serving and online advertising markets. Neither of the two companies exert significant competitive constraints on each other’s activities, the EU also note. Hence, the proposed Google acquisition will not affect competition within the European Economic Area (EEA).

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Sections: Tech News, Web, Google

Radio and TV network CBS will be running an experiment about cellphone advertising based on a person’s location or what it commonly known as location-based advertising. However, CBS did not specify the exact date and duration of this trial. The network giant hopes this will help arrest the aversion of many consumers to traditional ads seen on newspapers, TV and Websites.

Thanks to its tie-up with major mobile operators and social networking site Loopt, it can take advantage of the GPS-based technology to accurately serve geographically relevant ads the minute a customer steps in a particular establishment like restaurants or stores. These ads will appear on the company’s mobile sites, CBS Mobile and CBS Mobile Sports.

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Sections: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Mobile, Web

The new Microsoft shopping cart promises turn your next mundane shopping trip into an adventure! Four years in the making, collaborating with Texas-based MediaCart Holdings Inc, Bill Gates has launched a grocery cart-mounted console that does everything but remove money from wallets to pay for items! It helps shoppers find products, then scan and pay for them without having to wait in line at the checkout counter (a blessing in itself).

But Bill Gates is not completely altruistic. (Indeed, no mogul ever really is.) Microsoft’s acquisition of Quantive, an online advertising company, last year for $6 billion increased the company’s capacity to serve video ads onto these grocery cart screens. MediaCart will begin testing in the second half of 2008, focusing on Wakefern Food Corporation’s ShopRite supermarkets on the East Coast. The way it will work is customers with a ShopRite loyalty card will be able to log into a Web site at home and type in their grocery lists. The list will appear, like magic, when they get to the store and swipe their card on the MediaCart console. As items are scanned and placed in the cart, the console gives a running price tally and checks items off the list.

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