Ben Charny

Both Google and Yahoo have recently unveiled what amount to big changes to their well-known look and feel. While search engines are constantly tinkering, the timing of the Yahoo and Google changes makes it appear the two firms are engaged in a kind of mini-makeover smackdown. Yahoo’s main site is getting a whole new look, […]

A Google spokesperson confirmed May 15 that Google’s instant messaging application, Google Talk, will be standard on a new version of the Nokia 770 wireless tablet to be unveiled this week in Stockholm, Sweden. The fact that the Google Talk software is to show up inside a device from Nokia, the No. 1 cell phone […]

In a bold gambit for a bigger North American audience, eBays Net phone division Skype is letting U.S. and Canadian customers make free PC-to-phone calls for the rest of the year. It usually costs a few pennies to call a cell or landline telephone phone number from a personal computer using Skype or any other […]

Yahoo Answers wouldnt exist if it werent for a volunteer army of devotees willing to provide absolutely everything behind the free, searchable set of questions and answers. Thats a lot of work for anybody, let alone someone with absolutely no economic incentive. Yet, six months after its launch, Yahoo Answers now has about 10 million […]

A leading Internet authority has approved a new set of Web addresses to serve, in effect, as Internet telephone numbers. At a recent meeting, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the group tapped London-based Telnic to administer the addresses. The company hasnt yet set a hard date for operations to begin, according to […]

Yahoo Answers from Yahoo Inc. wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for a volunteer army of devotees willing to provide absolutely everything behind the free, sortable set of questions and answers. That’s a lot of work for anybody, let alone someone with absolutely no economic incentive. Yet, six months after its launch, Yahoo Answers now has […]

Google’s instant messaging application, Google Talk, will be coming standard with the latest Nokia 770 wireless tablet. The fact that the Google Talk software is to show up inside a device from Nokia, the No. 1 cell phone maker, is very significant to Google. The firm’s been trying much harder lately to make its features […]

The U.S. Department of Justice said it sees nothing wrong with Microsoft making its search engine the default one for its new Internet Explorer Web browser. The DOJ’s language concerning how the Microsoft IE7 browser “respects” user choice was part of a new report to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. The report details Microsoft’s overall […]

One area that Google and Microsoft will soon compete in is providing information to Internet-based businesses about traffic to their sites. Given that Microsoft is months away from introducing its own Web analytics facets, an actual head-to-head comparison between Microsoft and Google Analytics is impossible right now. But some corporate IT network managers are making […]

Google’s free Gmail e-mail now comes with Gmail Pictures to add photos to Gmail e-mail contact information. Aside from providing visual clues to more quickly find a contact, there’s a social element to the new wrinkle. You can see what photos others are using, and suggest new ones they might want to use, Google says. […]

Google presumably had a long time to get ready for its annual press day, when it invites 250 or so journalists into the Googleplex for a day of news scoops, time with Google’s top three execs, lunch and some free pens. The place glistened on April 9. An outdoor waiting area was picture perfect: lots […]

There’s anecdotal evidence suggesting that hundreds of Google advertisers will object to Google’s proposed payment of $90 million to settle a click-fraud class action lawsuit in Arkansas, according to an attorney involved in the case. The exact number won’t be known until around June 15. That’s when the 30-day period ends for Google advertisers to […]