The founder and CEO of blogsearch Technorati has announced that he's stepping down from his executive position and installing a team of the company's Vice Presidents to serve as President. In his post explaining the move, Mr. Sifrey notes that their search for a replacement CEO has taken longer than anticipated, while others have noted that Technorati has benefited from several influxes of cash and may be headed toward oblivion because latecomer Google has been eating their shorts with a less functional tool.

I've long held that from the outside, Technorati looks like a good acquisition target for Yahoo! because it matches a lot of the criteria they've used in the past and a simple implementation of contextual advertising could be what the doctor ordered. Though I can speak only for myself, but I'd say that one of the big reasons that Technorati's widgets don't litter the web is because there's no back end from the results. Sure, Google hasn't offered an embeddable blogsearch and you're just left with their plain vanilla service, but if you use it or their "search within this site" functionality, the possibility does exist for you to monetize the results with AdSense.

Of course, Yahoo! is also in the business of contextual ads, plus their blogsearch tool was only available for a while and then it disappeared, or at least I can no longer find it. Nonetheless, it wouldn't take much for them to marry advertising to the Technorati widgets, but they have their own problems at this time and though I still think they should consider the purchase, if somebody were to ask me the solution to Yahoo!'s woes, the acquisition of Technorati would be the somewhere around third on my list.

It's still a good idea and the price is obviously ticking down, but since Mr. Sifrey made his announcement another scenario has popped into my head and because they aren't plagued by an infernal internal memo, it may actually be a more realistic option.

( My Suggestion )

• Th AP is reporting that a company in Colorado is recalling 15,000 pounds of sausage. So, though it isn't directly related, maybe that guy in the Sonic® commercials who looks like he could be Charles Grodin's son will shut the hell up about "streams of Colorado ham flowing down from the mountains", or whatever it is he says. Better yet, maybe those two goofs will take on the PE teacher and her van-driving dweeb in a cage match. Now, that's something I'd watch on pay-per-view.



• Also, I guess the administration should batten down the hatches because Sly Stallone opposes the border fence.



• And finally, though it may be a sign of getting older, but Lara Spencer is always going to be the babe from Antiques Roadshow in my mind. She's probably been off of that show for a year or two and I really can only stop on her flashy gossip show when she's on the screen, but whenever my wife would watch Roadshow and I was too lazy to do something else, it was the sight of Lara in jeans and a sweater that'd keep me in my seat.

ETA: Because even the most trafficked sites in the world aren't perfect;

The blogosphere is starting to get up in arms about a non-issue. It seems that Rep. Micheal G. Fitzpatrick (R-PA) has drafted a bill attempting to amend the "Communications Act" with a requirement that schools and libraries limit access to "Commercial Social Networking Websites" to only adults and for purely educational sessions.

After seeing the headlines and reading the proposed language, my first instinct was to suggest that everyone reacquaint themselves with an old song from Schoolhouse Rock. In an election year stunt, some Congressman introduced a bill. Thus far, it has not been assigned to a committee and no discussion has been scheduled. It's not really yet before Congress. It's just something that a Congressman's staff pushed out of their word processor and as he may have hoped, the resulting uproar is getting play. I'm sure he thinks that this will help with his re-election effort because the likelihood of this getting through committee, passing the House and working it's way through the Senate before the end of the year is slim.

The downfall or what will most likely cause the most hangup is the definition of "Commercial Social Networking Website";

The term 'commercial social networking website' means a commercially operated Internet website that-

(i) allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users; and

(ii) offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger.

The CNET article which first alerted everyone to the threat listed MySpace, LiveJournal, Facebook, Friendster, Orkut and Blogger.com as sites that could be restricted. In my first comment on the matter, I pointed out that Yahoo, MSN and possibly Google would be subject to these rules. To illustrate my point: I'm under the impression when you register with Yahoo!, you automatically get a profile page. It's up to you whether to complete it, but I believe one is automatically created. Yahoo! also offers IM, webmail and in addition to Yahoo! Groups, every news article is linked to an individual forum that is usually littered with racist and homophobic posts.

As written, this definition would also limit access to many other resource communities. It's been a while since I've visited an iVillage site, so I can't really speak to their system, but I can clearly see it'd cover some home improvement websites, such as DoItYourself. The site's big draw are their forums, where people ask questions and experts or those more experienced answer. The range of subjects go from sewer lines to television repair. And, because they operate this service using a Vbulletin system, when you register for posting or reply access, you are given a profile page. You can also enable emails through their mask, plus they offer an internal mail or instant messenger service. As written, it is obvious that this valuable resource would also be restricted.

This is all much ado about nothing. Some minor Congressman released a draft and issued a press release. It is election year posturing and though I'm not overly familiar with the politics of Bucks County and suburban Philadelphia, I'm sure he thinks it'll help him in his race. He may actually believe in his effort, but the language is far too vague and it'd not only have to be hammered out in committee, it'd have to overcome the opposition of some pretty powerful forces, namely Microsoft and Rupert Murdoch's empire.

If anything were to happen, it would be a long time coming and the end will probably look nothing like the beginning. After all, the song has only just begun and the highly vocal, unfounded protestations could lead to more cynicism. A lot of headlines and bloggers are trying to paint Congress with a broad brush, but it's only this one guy and I don't think he'll be swayed.

Both ads on tv.yahoo which accompany tonight's television grid are for a limited run of Monty Python's Personal Best scheduled for PBS. I realize that every PBS station is programmed locally, so what may be true here may not be true, there. But, I suspect when the parent company spent gobs of money to advertise on Yahoo!, they weren't expecting the Albuquerque station to air it at two in the morning, nor did they think that for some reason, it looks like Eric Idle's bit might only be available via digital.
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Edited to Add

Off subject, but if you're into free speech, you should look at clytemenstra's collection of quotes from Edward R Murrow.

When the "Search Engine Experiment" first came to my attention the other day, it was reported that 60% of the 12,000 participants had found Yahoo! and MSN's search results more relevant. Based on the graph, it was a skewed way to report and rounding was involved, but no matter how many times I've tried, my choice always ends up being the same.

If you have a few seconds and would like to help me see, if I'm somehow prejudiced or if my interpretation of relevancy is somehow different; Please go to this site, search on any term and select the column that appears more relevant. If you'd like to do two out of three, please be my guest, but the site will only count your first choice. Then, after you're satisfied, if you'd flash back here and select one of the following options; I may be able to get a better idea, if it was just me or if I'm missing something.

Poll #623528 Search Engine Experiment
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

Which search produced the better result?

Thanks!

If you've been reading this journal for any period of time, you'd know that websearch and the battle among giants is one of my areas of special interest. I actually have a boatload of relevant links that someday I may put in a post, but over the past couple of weeks and with increasing regularity, I've contemplated a more focused train of thought; Define evil?

It has become apparent or at least to this observer, Google is of a mind to control information. They seem hellbent on possessing all knowledge and though I still question their revenue model, it looks like they want to manage the flow. A perfect example of the directional difference between the Google and Yahoo! approach can be seen through a few recent offerings and developmental leaks.

From the surface, Google Base looks like a threat to eBay and Craiglist. The tech media seems focused on the classified advertising potential, as can be gleaned from this brief analysis and the linked screenshots. Craigslist and mainstream classifieds would be an obvious target for this product and the ease of extending it into eBay's domain seems fairly natural, not to mention that eBay already owns a large chunk of Craigslist, so they could be considered threatened from two fronts. But, if we were to add the reporting of John Battelle and mix it with Google Print, a pattern may be starting to emerge.

On the other hand, via my recent link to Yahoo! Podcasts and the experimental phase of Yahoo! Mindset, it appears that the original giant may be more content with mapping free knowledge and relying upon obvious ads. The newest service still has tremendous flaws and that's why it's being unveiled under the research subdomain, but coupled with the other offerings and the easily-accessed Yahoo! MyWeb beta, they appear to be more focused on giving the user greater control.

These thoughts are too new, so I haven't analyzed every investment or conduit under development and measured it against my theorem, but I'm honestly starting to see a pattern and though I'm not afraid; I'm also not sure of how comfortable, I may become.