Gabriels portal search technology is based on the Endeca Information Access Platform designed to offer search simplicity with the analytical power of business intelligence. Through Endeca Search, Guided Navigation®, and Content Spotlighting capabilities, Gabriels delivers superior experience to site visitors, while offering site owners the tools needed to create contextual advertising and premium placement opportunities.

Gabriels’ Endeca-powered technology provides vertical portals for over 300 media properties including such organizations as Scripps Networks, Network Communications Inc., The New York Times Company, Hearst Newspapers, Freedom Communications Cox Newspapers, Scripps Newspapers and Lee Newspapers.

“Online advertising revenue is critical to the survival of today’s newspapers as they work to replace rapidly declining print dollars with more targeted and transparent online sources of income to meet the needs of their changing audience,” said John Andrews, vice president, Industry Solutions for Endeca. “Gabriel’s Endeca-powered offerings have the potential to expand revenue opportunities through a proven classifieds serving platform, providing the engaging experience that visitors’ desire without the need for internal development resources. It’s a win-win for newspapers and other resource constrained publishers struggling to find new opportunities to grow revenue.”

Michael Gabriel, CEO founder of Gabriels Technology said that “the combination of Gabriels customized search products and leveraging the investment of Endeca technology provides the best in class online search and access capabilities for the consumer to find the home, car, job or product they are looking for efficiently and effectively. That experience increases overall site activity, as measured by important metrics like site visitors, click-through rates, and duration per visit.”

About Gabriels

Gabriels Technology based in Manhattan is the leading private-label ecommerce technology provider for architecting and developing custom web applications. Gabriels supports over 300 media properties across North America and Europe utilizing scalable technology to support content rich, high traffic sites, including hosting services within a mission critical environment. Gabriels expertise includes creating advanced search technology, Endeca, database programming, data management, and .NET development. For more information: gabriels.net or paul@gabriels.net

About Endeca

Endeca is a leading provider of enterprise search and information access software and solutions. Solutions built on Endeca’s technology deliver the clearest visibility into information, driving hundreds of millions of dollars in measurable cost savings and increased revenue for our customers. Powering these solutions is Endeca’s Information Access Platform™, a major Enterprise Search innovation based on a fundamentally new architecture for building high-ROI applications that let users easily find and act on any structured and unstructured data across the enterprise. More than 250 million end users around the world access information via Endeca solutions, which are in use at more than 600 leading organizations including: ABN AMRO, Boeing, Cox Newspapers, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Dell, Ford Motor Company, Hyatt, IBM, John Deere, the Library of Congress, Texas Instruments, and Wal-Mart.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Endeca has operations in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information: endeca.com or info@endeca.com.

PLEASANTON, Calif.  – LeapFish.com, the only online search portal to deliver the best of the web in a click-free search, announced that traffic on its fast-growing search aggregator has tripled since the site’s November 2008 launch. The company reports that the LeapFish.com engine has received a tremendously positive response from users and they are forecasting a substantial traffic trajectory into the future.

“We are pleased with the early progress of LeapFish and its adoption by many early users,” said Behnam Behrouzi, president and CEO of LeapFish. “LeapFish’s strong and consistent early traffic growth is a clear indicator of the engine’s potential.”

Behrouzi says growth has not only come in the form of new users, but also in the number of advertisers. The company has seen a marked influx of sponsors who have quickly purchased thousands of keywords to secure high ranking results positioning. Some are already seeing a return on their investment.

“After purchasing keywords, in the first couple of weeks I received several phone calls, shook hands with 11 people, and had many serious buyers turn into tons of conversions,” said Michael Murray, of ManForArt Co. in Maui, Hawaii.

LeapFish’s unique advertising model has been well received by advertisers, given the intense competition currently found in traditional online marketing models. LeapFish allows advertisers to purchase permanent ad positioning for any available keyword, with no pay-per-click fees—ever. Advertisers are free to keep the keyword forever, or sell for a profit as it goes up in value based on its popularity.

“LeapFish offers advertisers an unprecedented opportunity to capture keyword positions in a revolutionary new search offering, as well as benefit from both the traffic and equity side as LeapFish grows over time,” said Behrouzi.

LeapFish offers one of the world’s fastest search services through its Just Type It auto-populated search box that delivers instantaneous results as users type each character into the search box. The site, which launched in November 2008 by parent company DotNext Inc., employs proprietary hyper-threading technology to aggregate results from all major online portals and quickly deliver more relevant content to users in a single search query.

Make the leap to LeapFish at www.leapfish.com.

About LeapFish

LeapFish is a multi-dimensional search engine that captures the variety of the web in a single click-free search interface. The search engine delivers instantaneous results from major Internet destinations while you type. LeapFish, Inc. is a privately held corporation headquartered out of CARR America Corporate Center in Pleasanton, California. For more information, visit www.leapfish.com.

“Jonathan combines great expertise about the Canadian online market and experience in search, marketing, sales and partnerships that will be integral to our continued growth in Canada,” says Penry Price, Vice President, Advertising Sales, Google North America. “On behalf of all my colleagues at Google, we welcome Jonathan to the team.”

Jonathan also previously served as General Manager of AOL Canada Inc. and as Vice President, Audience for AOL Canada Inc. Before working for AOL, Jonathan managed the sales team at Internet startup Bird On A Wire, a business focused on creating and monetizing hosted Internet infrastructure. Jonathan is a graduate, with Honours, from the University of Toronto, and has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management.

Google Canada’s advertising sales office opened in 2002, and moved into their new office space on Dundas Street in Toronto in October 2008. Google also has Canadian engineering offices in Waterloo and Montreal.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company product names may be trademarks of the respective companies of which they are associated.

ATLANTA – Nexidia, a leading provider of rich media search and speech analytics solutions, announced that MSNBC.com, the number one news site*, selected Nexidia’s rich media applications to enhance video across MSNBC.com and other affiliated sites.

As the leader in online news, MSNBC.com provides innovative technology that enables its viewers to have a rich and rewarding news experience. In collaboration with Nexidia, MSNBC.com will give end users a larger and more relevant selection of news video to view online. Nexidia’s software integrates with MSNBC.com’s to expand the quantity and enhance the discoverability of video content at MSNBC.com.

Nexidia delivers the fastest, most accurate way to index and search video content in the industry. Content providers, such as MSNBC.com, can use Nexidia’s products to make on-air or archived video content more accessible and searchable by users and editors of their websites. Using Nexidia’s technology, video content is easier to search and navigate. An example of this is the new MSNBC.com inaugural player, featuring inauguration speeches dating back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933.

Nexidia also offers solutions to enable the automation of editing and tagging video content for improved consistency, discovery and syndication. For video content creators, Nexidia’s competitively priced products can extend basic metadata search and enhance video navigation with unique features that can create opportunities for increased revenue and customer satisfaction. Unlike other solutions, Nexidia’s owned and patented search technologies can be integrated into customers’ existing search infrastructure and work flow.

“We are excited about our collaboration with Nexidia and look forward to providing a unique user experience through the integration of their products and technologies into our platform, which will provide additional depth and breadth to our dynamic video experience,” said JoAnne Kennedy, Vice President of Technology for MSNBC.com.

“Nexidia is pleased to be providing the tools that enable MSNBC.com to realize their vision of delivering all on air content through multiple online channels, in a way that is easily discoverable and richly described. We believe this will further extend their leadership position,” says Drew Lanham, Senior Vice President/General Manager of Media for Nexidia.

About Nexidia

Nexidia is the audio and video search company with patented technologies and breakthrough applications that enable customers to quickly gain new insight, build competitive advantage and realize the amazing possibilities now discoverable in audio and video content from call centers, media outlets, government intelligence and legal discovery. For more information, please visit www.nexidia.com.

About MSNBC.com

MSNBC.com delivers a fuller spectrum of news. Drawing on its award-winning original journalism, NBC News heritage, trusted sources and Microsoft’s advanced technologies; the site presents compelling, diverse and visually engaging stories on the consumer’s platform of choice. Based in Redmond, WA, MSNBC.com is a joint venture of Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) and NBC Universal (NYSE:GE).

*The MSNBC Digital Network (MSNBC.com) was the number one Current Events and Global News site with more than 37 million unique visitors in June, 2008. Source: Nielsen Online.

LOS ANGELES – Infuse Creative CEO Gregory Markel spoke at the annual MLRC/Southwestern Law School Media and Entertainment Law Conference on Thursday, January 15.

The panel, titled “What Happens When Protected Speech Meets Embedded Promotions? Product Integration, Sponsorship and Ad Linking,” dealt with the current and potential legal issues surrounding television, film, videos games, online gaming, and online video product placement, search engine marketing or PPC, copyright and trademark issues.

Other panel members included: Pratheepan Gulasekaram, an Assistant Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law; Daniel O’Connell Offner from Nixon Peabody, LLP; and Jennifer Dominitz, Vice President of Legal Affairs at NBC Universal Television.

Markel’s experience in the field of search engine marketing, social media, and digital communication strategies and advisement was a powerful and dynamic addition to the legal experts, providing a digital and social media marketing vanguard view on the effects of advertising law, FTC concerns, and trademark and copyright law on SEM/paid search, SEO, social media marketing, and online video.

Recalling the evolution of Pay Per Click advertising lawsuits and FTC rulings that resulted in Google and Yahoo having to display their PPC ads along side the word SPONSORED, Markel asked, “How will it affect the industry if you have to place a disclaimer such as, ‘this blog comment is paid advertising’ as a preface to every blog or bookmark/tagging post? How will these copyright laws affect the sort of community, influence and stealth marketing approach that is currently so popular? These are all important questions to ask,” said Markel.

Gregory Markel has been involved in search engine and online marketing for over 13 years and is an expert on SEM, SEO, video, 2.0 social media marketing and more.

About Infuse Creative: www.infusecreative.com

Infuse Creative, founded by Gregory Markel, has provided search engine optimization and marketing services and technology to a diverse range of clients, including; Mazda, Gibson Musical Instruments, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., Pacificare, The BBC, Ed Hardy, Led Zeppelin, CBS, FOX, The National Geographic Channel, Reality Executives International, Sony, Universal Vivendi and many more.

MIAMI – Google and CTT Corporation, a leader in talent development services for information and communication technology professionals, announced that the recently launched Google Business Education Center (GOOBEC), will now offer an even wider range of educational services, including expert assistance and tools that allow professionals to deliver more efficient online advertising solutions to companies in Latin America. Specialized know-how for Google marketing and advertising solutions will be available in the region starting March 2009 with the introduction of GAP Test Preparation and Google AdWords™ Advanced courses.

“Online advertising has demonstrated consistent growth in Latin America as companies address the online needs of their clients in order to compete effectively in today’s global marketplace,” said Hermann Gomez, President of CTT. “GOOBEC provides advertising professionals access to unique know-how that will enable them to perform online advertising in more simplistic and effective ways than ever before.”

Since its launch in April 2008 more than 450 professionals in Latin America have been trained and certified with online marketing technology and advertising solutions from GOOBEC. GOOBEC offers professionals advanced tools based on AdWords™, Google’s path to executing ads with multiple formats: text, images and video. These tools are available through CTT’s course portfolio and educational centers located throughout Latin America, focusing on developing talent specialized in online advertising.

“GOOBEC’s fast acceptance rate confirms that more and more users and companies are looking for specialization in online marketing and advertising through practical and effective tools,” said Alfonso Luna, Marketing Director for Google Latin America. “We are confident that our partnership with CTT is key to reaching more users in the region and offering the world-class services needed to compete strategically while increasing the ROI for companies that develop their marketing campaigns via the Internet.”

The initial courses offered included Google AdWords™ Fundamentals, designed for current users of Google AdWords™ and Corporate Assistance Services, which covers consulting, design, optimization, support and strategy for companies doing business online. The two new courses, GAP Test Preparation and Google AdWords™ Advanced, provide more in depth knowledge in Google marketing and advertising solutions.

GOOBEC’s education portfolio includes curriculum in Portuguese and Spanish for local professionals, marketing and advertising experts, and individuals certified by Google in AdWords™. GOOBEC courses are available in a number of countries in the region, including: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Central America, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Additional information regarding GOOBEC’s educational portfolio can be found at: www.goobec.com.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program, which is the largest and fastest growing in the industry, provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

About CTT

Founded in 1990, CTT, an eLandia company (OTCBB:ELAN), is a pioneer in supporting professional training required by individuals and companies that rely on information and communications technologies. The company maintains offices in 11 countries in Latin America and has 175 full-time employees. CTT designs curriculums focused on talent development and technical certifications from key technology companies from around the world. The company collaborates with local business partners and academic entities to develop transformational knowledge programs, best practices and innovative learning solutions. For more information, visit www.ctteducation.com.

Google and AdWords are registered brands of Google Inc. All other names of companies and products may be registered brands of companies with which they are associated.

The live webcast of Google’s earnings conference call can be accessed at http://investor.google.com/webcast.html. The webcast version of the conference call will be available through the same link following the conference call.

Following the earnings conference call, Google will host an additional question-and-answer session to provide an opportunity for financial analysts to ask more detailed product and financial questions. This follow-up call will also be webcast and available at http://investor.google.com/webcast.html.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

Google is a registered trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – January 6, 2008 – blinkx, the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine, today announced that CEO and Founder Suranga Chandratillake has been selected as one of Digital Media Wire’s “25 Executives to Watch in Digital Entertainment.” The annual list recognizes 25 of the most innovative, creative and forward-thinking executives in the digital media and entertainment industry.

Honorees are selected by the editorial and executive team at Digital Media Wire and represent companies that are shaping the industry. A highly regarded expert on the future of television, interactive TV and online advertising, Mr. Chandratillake is well-qualified to receive the honor.

Recipients will be honored at a reception at the 2nd Annual Digital Media Insider at CES 2009. In addition, all honorees will be featured in the January 9th issue of Daily Variety and the January 12th issue of Variety’s Video Business magazine. This year’s list of recipients also includes executives from MySpace, MTV Networks, Facebook, Paypal, and Pandora.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized as one of Digital Media Wire’s ‘25 Executives to Watch’,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO, blinkx. “blinkx has released a number of innovative products this year, including blinkx Beat and blinkx BBTV, our Broadband television offering. We are delighted to be recognized for our thought-leadership in the industry, and to be included among the other visionaries in this group.”

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to search new forms of online content such as video. With more than 420 partners and 32 million hours of indexed video and audio content, including favorite TV moments, news clips, short documentaries, music videos, video blogs and more, blinkx uses advanced speech-recognition technology to deliver results that are more accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword searches.
About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 32 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – blinkx, the world’s largest video search engine, introduced the Un-roll Unit, an entirely new and immersive branding experience that gives advertisers the unique opportunity to tell a compelling story through their brand and online television, and enables users to engage with a brand continuously throughout a video. In addition, MediaCom and Shell Oil are among the first agencies and brands, respectively, to deploy the new ad format.

A media first, the Un-roll was developed in-house by blinkx in response to the industry’s need for an alternative format to traditional pre- and post-roll advertisements. Available through blinkx AdHoc, the only contextual advertising platform for online video, the Un-roll integrates a brand with relevant, professionally-produced programming on the Web and serves up multiple touch-points, including contextual overlay ads and logos, throughout the viewing experience. This ability to weave a brand into online television is extremely powerful, not only in terms of enhancing viewer experience, but also in generating higher rates of engagement.

The Un-Roll in Action

- The unit begins with a branded curtain that draws back to reveal the video and a branded blinkx video player when the video has fully buffered.
- As the video plays, touch-points such as overlay ads and logos appear at contextually relevant moments within the video, generated by blinkx’s patented, award-winning technology.
- The video ends with a clear call-to-action and the viewer has the option to continue the experience on the brand’s Web site.

“We’re proud to offer our advertisers a unique and effective alternative to traditional pre- and post-roll video advertising,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO, blinkx. “Although click-through rates for pre-roll advertisements tend to be positive, some viewers are reluctant to watch 30 seconds of advertising for videos that sometimes last only one minute. Now, using the Un-roll, brands and agencies, like Shell and MediaCom, can tell their story through highly targeted advertisements within online television because blinkx technology understands video better than any other service available today.”
Shell Oil – in search of stronger online engagement around alternative energy

Shell’s goal was to establish an effective mechanism for communicating their alternative energy initiatives to international audiences.

“The exponential growth of online video – both long- and short-form – presents tremendous opportunities for advertisers and publishers alike. The blinkx Un-roll unit is a new format to the market that provides high impact branding in and around online video content, complete with a return path to garner response,” said Stefan Bardega, director of Digital, MediaCom, Shell’s digital media agency. “These types of formats are the future of online video advertising and will become more ubiquitous than the traditional online ‘pre-roll’ ad, which affords no interactivity. Both MediaCom and Shell have a rich history of innovation and we are pleased to be driving this digital innovation online with blinkx.”

blinkx engineers tested approximately 40 different formats before settling on the Un-roll format, which had the lowest “annoyance factor” and strongest brand identity stickiness. In tests, the Un-roll format maintained between two and 12 percent click-through rates, and less than 20 percent of users clicked away from the video before it was finished. Only 15 percent clicked away because of an ad. blinkx estimates that the format will maintain a three to five percent click-through rate over time.

Additional blinkx partners will be deploying similar campaigns in the coming weeks and months. The new ad unit is timely as the blinkx network continues to expand significantly. As reported during its most recent half-year results, unique visitors were up 106 percent year-on-year to 64 million, and pageviews were up 267 percent year-on-year to 668 million in September 2008 (comScore). blinkx returned more than 7 million searches a day in September 2008.

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to search new forms of online content such as video. With more than 420 partners and 32 million hours of indexed video and audio content, including favorite TV moments, news clips, short documentaries, music videos, video blogs and more, blinkx uses advanced speech-recognition technology to deliver results that are more accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword searches.

To see the Un-roll in action, visit http://www.blinkx.com/category/shell_unroll_demo.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 32 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

NEW YORK & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Hallmark Channel and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced a strategic agreement to offer advertisers access to high-quality family-friendly programming through the Google TV Ads program. Advertisers will now be able to reach even more viewers by using Google TV Ads platform to place ads on both Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel.

In November, Hallmark Channel was seen in 86 million homes across the U.S. and over the past year has consistently ranked in the top ten prime time ratings. The network will air in 2009 more than 30 original movies – its largest-ever slate. Hallmark Movie Channel broadcasts a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library, Hallmark Channel original movies and special events. Using the Google TV Ads platform, advertisers, starting in early 2009, will be able to access both networks’ national audiences and receive viewership data at an unprecedented scale. Google TV Ads advertisers – many of them new to the television medium – can then better understand what consumers are responding to and make real-time adjustments to their campaigns to maximize return-on-investment.

“Partnering with Google is a milestone for Hallmark Channel’s continued advertising success,” said Bill Abbott, Executive Vice President, Ad Sales, Hallmark Channel. “The Google TV Ads platform will allow more advertisers to access the network’s acclaimed roster of family-friendly programming – entertainment that audiences cherish during the holidays.”

Google TV Ads offers greater accountability and relevancy in advertising. With Google’s innovative targeting tools and auction-based pricing system, advertisers can find the right context and audience for their advertising message, only pay for impressions delivered to their ads, and receive digital reporting within 24 hours. Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel join Google TV Ads’ growing list of inventory partners, which also includes six networks from the NBC Universal family — Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth, and Chiller — along with Bloomberg Television and 96 networks through DISH Network.

“Hallmark Channel’s strong family-friendly brand and programming attracts an important viewer demographic that Google TV Ads’ advertisers can now access,” said John Saroff, Manager of Strategic Partner Development for Google TV Ads. “Combined with our platform’s measurement technology, this collaboration signifies an important step towards making television advertising more accountable for advertisers and more relevant for viewers.”

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

About Hallmark Channel

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 86 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported cable networks in Prime Time and Total Day household ratings and is the nation’s leading network in providing quality family programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel which plays the greatest family movies of all time, Hallmark Movie Channel, and launched Hallmark Movie Channel HD in April, 2008. For more information, visit http://www.hallmarkchannelpress.com.

Google and Google TV Ads are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.

Source: Nielsen Media Research estimates that from October 27 through November 30, 2008, Hallmark Channel was available in over 85 million homes across the U.S. and during the period from December 31, 2007 to November 23, 2008, ranked in the top ten prime time household coverage area ratings.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a search for a new Chief Executive Officer. Jerry Yang, co-Founder of Yahoo!, has decided to return to his former role as Chief Yahoo! upon the appointment of his successor as CEO, and he will also continue to serve on the Board. Yang, 40, assumed the CEO role at the Board’s request in June 2007, and he has led Yahoo! through a strategic repositioning and transformation of its platform.

Chairman Roy Bostock, working with the independent directors and in consultation with Jerry Yang, is leading the process of assessing potential candidates and determining finalists for consideration. The search will encompass both internal and external candidates, and the Board has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a leading international executive search firm, to assist in the process.

“Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Jerry Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues,” said Roy Bostock. “Jerry and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level. We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo! as a key executive and member of the Board.”

“From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensible to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise,” said Jerry Yang. “When the Board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the Company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era to drive more effective growth. Having set Yahoo! on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader. I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo! realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation.”

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by creating indispensable experiences built on trust. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal.

NEW YORK – The 2nd edition of Search Engine Marketing, Inc., by experts Mike Moran and Bill Hunt, reflects the changes currently taking place in this fast-paced industry while reinforcing the solid business fundamentals of how search fits into an enterprise’s overall goals.

Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company’s Web Site, first published in 2005, has since earned widespread praise, from both marketers and technical professionals alike, for its clear instruction and logical step-by-step approach to search marketing success. Knowledge, hard work, and execution– rather than quick fixes– represent the critical mix for sustained success, and Mike and Bill lead readers from start to finish.

The much anticipated new edition has been thoroughly updated, and includes a section to help marketers understand the increasing popularity of social media and how it relates to search. Search Engine Marketing, Inc. is bundled with a DVD including more than two hours of video presentations.

Part I of the new edition, “The Basics of Search Marketing,” covers how search engines work, how search marketing works – both organic search and paid placement – and closes with a look at the behavior of searchers themselves. Market share changes, name changes, and other transformations in the search business are reflected throughout.

In Part II, “Develop Your Search Marketing Program,” the authors help readers identify their own web site’s goals, track its progress, and define a formal search marketing strategy. Readers also learn how to create winning proposals that can be embraced throughout an organization, and how changes in free keyword tools can help streamline the planning process.

Part III, “Execute Your Search Marketing Program,” helps readers determine if their sites are properly indexed (and what to do if they’re not), choose keywords, optimize content for search landing pages, understand the strategic placement of inbound and outbound links, and understand the growth and importance of paid search programs.

Search Engine Marketing, Inc. concludes with a new “Beyond” section, to help readers understand the impact on search marketing from multimedia content, including content created directly by customers via blogs, and Web 2.0 capabilities such as Facebook and Twitter. The authors also help readers use their new skills to improve search engines within their own sites.

“The impact of social media has exploded since 2005 when we wrote the first edition, and bringing search strategy into Web 2.0 marketing activities can reap significant benefits,” Moran said.

Coinciding with the book’s publication, the authors were interviewed by fellow search expert Heather Lloyd-Martin (author of Successful Search Engine Copywriting) for a 4-part podcast series. The first podcast is on search marketing basics, the second on changes since the first edition, the third on social media marketing, and the last on Web site search.

In Part 3, Mike and Bill team with noted author David Meerman Scott (author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR). Visit www.ibmpressbooks.com/marketing for the entire series.

Author Bios

Mike Moran, former Distinguished Engineer for IBM, has 20+ years’ experience in search technology and holds four search patents. He led the original search engine marketing strategy for ibm.com, managed the site’s site search technologies, and spearheaded IBM projects in content management, personalization, and metrics. In 2008, Mike retired from IBM to pursue speaking, writing, and consulting, including serving as Chief Strategist for the digital communications agency Converseon. He is a charter member of the Direct Marketing Association’s Internet Marketing Advisory Board and a member of its Search Engine Marketing Council. He has spoken at events ranging from Search Engine Strategies to the Enterprise Search Summit. He is also author of the book, Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules (IBM Press, September, 2007) Visit www.mikemoran.com for more information including a daily blog.

Bill Hunt has been a pioneer in search marketing and is considered the leading thought leader on enterprise and global search engine marketing. Bill is CEO of Global Strategies International (GSI), a company that specializes in helping Fortune 500 companies develop, implement, and manage global enterprise search engine marketing programs. He is an internationally recognized global marketing expert who has spoken at conferences in over 30 countries. He is currently on the board of directors of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) and has also been named by BtoB Magazine as one of the Top 100 Marketers. Visit http://enterprisesem.com/ for more information.

Early Praise:

“With Search Engine Marketing, Inc., Bill Hunt and Mike Moran have successfully updated what is already known in the industry as “The Search Marketing Bible.” With new content, examples, and insight including social media and Web site search, this is a must read book for marketers at companies of all sizes from start-ups to the Fortune 100.”- Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing and Author of Online Marketing Blog

“Search is the opportunity of our time because of its ability to match up your online presence with relevant customers. It is big, it is small, it is simple, it is complex, but most of all it is deeply monetizable- if done right. That last part is where Search Engine Marketing, Inc. comes in. Mike and Bill have done a fantastic job of updating their bestseller. Any organization that wants to get search needs to get this book.”- Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics: An Hour A Day

Search Engine Marketing, Inc. is the newest addition to IBM Press™, a publishing partnership between IBM Corp. and Pearson Education, and the official publisher of IBM books for professionals and students.

The book is also available to Safari Books Online subscribers: http://safari.informit.com/9780137005123

Search Engine Marketing, Inc., 2nd Edition
October, 2008
IBM Press
627 pages
U.S. $49.99
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-6068686

About Pearson Education

The global leader in educational and professional publishing, Pearson Education is home to such respected brands as Addison-Wesley Professional, Cisco Press, Exam Cram, IBM Press, Prentice Hall Professional, Que, and Sams Publishing, which have as their online publishing arm InformIT (www.informit.com) -The Trusted Technology Learning Source. In addition, Berkeley-based Peachpit (www.peachpit.com), the publishing partner for Adobe Press, Apple Certified, and others, publishes best-selling books for creative design professionals. Pearson is also co-founder, with O’Reilly Media Inc., of Safari Books Online (http://safari.informit.com), the premier on-demand technology content library providing thousands of expert reference materials through a single point of contact, including expert technology, creative and design, industry and management resources in video, audio and written formats. Pearson Education is part of Pearson (NYSE: PSO), the international media company. Pearson’s other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.

NEW YORK & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Continuing efforts to make television advertising more relevant, accountable and measurable, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced today that the BLOOMBERG TELEVISION® network will make national cable advertising time in the U.S. available through the Google TV Ads™ platform. By offering self-service buying opportunities through Google TV Ads, the BLOOMBERG TELEVISION network will expand its reach to a wider range of advertisers, including those that are new to the medium.

With the addition of BLOOMBERG TELEVISION inventory, advertisers using the Google TV Ads platform can not only reach the high-net-worth BLOOMBERG TELEVISION U.S. audience but can also gain access to viewership data at an unprecedented scale. Google’s TV Ads platform can report second-by-second data from millions of anonymized set-top-boxes, allowing advertisers to measure viewership of their ads more precisely than ever before. With this data, advertisers can better understand what consumers are responding to and make real-time adjustments to their campaigns to maximize the return on their TV ad investments. Google’s digital platform also makes it easier for advertisers to find relevant programming through its keyword search functionality.

“We’re pleased to be partnering with BLOOMBERG TELEVISION to continue to make TV advertising more relevant and measurable,” said Mike Steib, director of Google TV Ads. “We will now be able to give advertisers, many of whom have never tried TV advertising before, access to the desirable BLOOMBERG TELEVISION demographic.”

“The BLOOMBERG TELEVISION audience is the wealthiest and most powerful in cable television,” said Trevor Fellows, head of advertising sales at Bloomberg. “As high net worth viewers are extremely difficult to quantify using traditional methods, we believe that involvement with Google TV Ads from an early stage will help us and our advertisers learn more about our audience.”

Google TV Ads offers greater accountability in advertising. With Google’s auction-based pricing system, advertisers only pay for impressions delivered to their ads, and they can receive integrated digital reporting within 24 hours. The BLOOMBERG TELEVISION network joins Google TV Ads’ growing list of inventory, which also includes NBC Universal and DISH Network.

“We’re very happy with the progress of Google TV Ads,” said Michael Kelly, executive vice president for DISH Network, Google TV Ads’ current inventory partner. “Google TV Ads has brought more accurate, accessible, and up-to-date viewer measurement to the industry, enhancing value to our advertisers.”

The BLOOMBERG TELEVISION service is the only 24/7 business and financial news television network. BLOOMBERG TELEVISION content is created exclusively by the global BLOOMBERG NEWS® service, with 143 bureaus in 69 countries. BLOOMBERG TELEVISION programming offers viewers a snapshot of the markets with fast, accurate reporting of world indexes, currencies, U.S. Treasuries, commodities futures, agricultural futures, and exchange traded funds, as well as special features, insight and analysis, and proprietary coverage of leading stocks and industry sectors. The worldwide service broadcasts in seven languages.

About Google, Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – blinkx, the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine, announced that it is the fastest growing video site in the U.S., and also one of the fastest growing online sites in the U.K., as users continue to turn to blinkx to find video content ranging from premium high definition movies and sports, to breaking news and top quality niche content.

According to findings just issued by Compete.com, blinkx is the fastest growing video site among the top 20 video competitors in the U.S. Its traffic grew by 1,036% between July 2007 and July 2008, boosting blinkx to 16th place among the top 20 video sites.

In another recent report, Neilsen Online listed blinkx.com as the ninth fastest growing site in the U.K. as its traffic soared 681% between June 2007 and July 2008. The report noted: “Video is one of the fastest-growing sectors and blinkx is allowing viewers to search across millions of hours of professional and consumer-generated video. The site also taps further into the social media phenomenon by enabling viewers to build customized video walls for their blogs or MySpace pages.”

“As more and more television, movies and other video content is available online – tens of millions of hours and counting – we have noticed a sharp increase in visitors who are looking for their favorite show or a recent news clip – whether it’s an well-loved sitcom, an Olympic moment or the latest U.S. convention speech,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO of blinkx. “It’s clear that there will continue to be great demand for our technology among users, advertisers and content owners who want to take full advantage of the exploding video Web.”

As a pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the most effective way to search new forms of online content such as video. With more than 350 partners and 26 million hours of indexed video and audio content, including favorite TV moments, news clips, short documentaries, music videos, video blogs and more, blinkx uses advanced speech recognition technology to deliver results that are more accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword searches.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 26 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Range Online Media is one of the leading paid search marketing and search engine optimisation firms in the US.  Founded in 2001, it initially specialised in services to the retail and travel sectors. More recently it has expanded into the technology, luxury brands, financial services, utilities, and entertainment industries. Range Online Media’s clients include Toshiba, Burberry, Aveda, Accor Hotels, Neiman Marcus and Macys.com. Following the acquisition, Range Online Media will re-brand as iProspect and form the fourth US office in the iProspect global search network.

The sixth acquisition Isobar has made in search marketing this year alone, Range Online Media increases iProspect’s reach to 21 offices in 17 markets worldwide. The acquisition of Range Online Media adds considerably to iProspect’s client roster in the retail sector, a key market for search marketing services. Range Online Media’s clients and staff will benefit from joining iProspect’s global network.

Alongside its core SEM expertise, Range Online Media has developed proprietary technology to address, measure and monetise the rapidly growing online media, social and emerging media spaces.  These capabilities include unique site optimisation, online public relations optimisation, reputation management, advanced linking strategy and development as well as blog, podcast and video optimisation.

Commenting on the acquisition, Robert Lerwill, ceo of Aegis, said:
“Demand for specialist search expertise is growing at around 25% a year. As a result, no business can ignore the importance of search to a marketing campaign: optimising both paid and organic techniques is key. Range Online Media gives us a significant boost in the retail sector in the US and a fourth office in the region. It also brings enviable tools and technology designed to measure the growing social media space, which we can leverage across the entire iProspect global network.”

More on iProspect

iProspect was founded in the US in 1996 as a search business with a unique bidding technology for search engine marketing keywords. Acquired by Aegis Media’s Isobar in 2004, iProspect is now probably the most sophisticated search specialist in the world – ranked number one by Forrester among others.

In 2007 Isobar began to create a global iProspect network, rolling out into the Nordics, Holland, Hungary, France, Spain and Belgium in Europe and Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore in Asia.  The iProspect network has 21 dedicated offices in 17 countries around the world.

More on Isobar

Launched as a digital division of Aegis Media in May 2003, Isobar is the world’s largest digital marketing network and is uniquely structured for an interconnected digital world. Isobar provides the vision, infrastructure, tools and processes that link a network of some of the very best digital agencies in the world – all fully owned and driven by a clear vision of the future business world. Isobar celebrates diversity, creating competitive advantage through creativity, collaborative innovation and agility. Through its global network of 104 offices in 38 markets, Isobar services include strategy and consulting, online advertising and media, web site build, paid and organic search, social and viral marketing, mobile and CRM. Isobar has 3,500 people, online billings of nearly $2 billion and has won more creative awards in the last 2 years than any other digital network. Nigel Morris is the CEO of Isobar.

For more information, please visit http://www.isobar.net.

The partnership also includes collaboration on custom research projects to help drive new insights into TV advertising, raising a few question marks:

- will there be any user targeting?
- if so, what would it be based on?
- what metrics are used and how is the data collected?

Get the whole press release after the bump.

NEW YORK & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – As part of its continuing effort to offer innovative advertising solutions to its clients, NBC Universal (NBCU) will join forces with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) to form a strategic multi-year advertising, research and technology partnership. The two companies will work together to develop more effective advertising metrics, attract non-traditional advertising partners to NBCU and incorporate self-service buying opportunities through the Google TV Ads™ advertising platform.

The announcement was made today by Mike Pilot, President, NBC Universal Sales and Marketing and Tim Armstrong, Google’s President of Advertising and Commerce, North America.

On the national level, NBCU will offer advertising time from several of its cable networks to Google’s TV Ads platform. Inventory from Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth, and Chiller will be made available to Google in the coming months, with potential to expand onto other NBCU properties in the future. With the addition of NBC Universal inventory, advertisers using the Google TV Ads platform can reach NBCU Cable’s national audience and gain access to viewership data at an unprecedented scale. With this data, advertisers can better understand what consumers are responding to and make real-time adjustments to their campaign to maximize their ROI.

“We’re extremely pleased to join forces with Google on this effort, which will help us develop better accountability and ROI metrics for our advertisers and attract an entirely new group of clients to television advertising,” said Pilot. “This is another step in our commitment to trying innovative advertising approaches and testing new technologies that can help benefit our clients.”

“The Google TV Ads platform is making television advertising more accountable and measurable and we’re pleased with our progress to date,” said Armstrong. “Our partnership with NBCU will help us bring the power of television to a broader set of advertisers as well as give our current advertisers increased reach through our system.”

On the local level, NBCU and Google have also agreed to work jointly on adapting the Google TV Ads platform for local market use.

“This is a great way to reach clients who are interested in buying television advertising but may not have previously had the resources or ability to do so,” said Frank Comerford, President, Platform Development and Commercial Operations, NBC Local Media. “A self-service ad platform will be a great complement to our existing sales efforts and help us further connect our clients to their customers.”

As part of the agreement, NBC Universal will maintain its direct relationships with agencies and advertisers and can set parameters around the purchase of the available ad time. NBCU will also gain access to the large base of advertisers using Google’s AdWords™ online advertising program, many of whom are not currently television advertisers. The two companies will share in all ad revenue and explore innovative ways to expand the partnership in the future, including adapting the platform to add local inventory.

As part of their effort to help drive value for advertisers, NBCU and Google will also collaborate on a series of custom marketing and research projects using the Google TV Ads platform. Through its partnership with DISH Network, the Google TV Ads platform can report second-by-second set top box data allowing advertisers to measure viewership of their ads more precisely than ever before. The two companies will also take advantage of joint research that will help advertisers and agencies better understand their media mix and optimize their ad campaigns.

“We’re pleased that NBCU will make some of its inventory available on Google’s TV Ads platform,” said Laura Desmond, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group. “The partnership will generate real value for our clients by providing us with a more measurable–and actionable–understanding of how consumers engage with content.”

About Google

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

About NBC Universal

NBC Universal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric and 20% owned by Vivendi.

Still, Google Chrome in itself is not what I wanted to bring your attention to: it’s the window (pun intended!) of opportunity it opens for Google in regard to gathering even more data on users and their behavior. In today’s ever tightening world of online advertising, with rapidly dropping CPM levels and advertisers pressuring for accurate targeting, the ones able to fine-tune ad targeting will be the winners. Google has already enough information coming from all those using Google accounts and applications such as the toolbar – with Chrome, they have just taken a bigger bite from the pie and one step forward in user targeting.

The Google Chrome privacy policy states that it will log the IP addresses of whoever downloads the browser and all URLs or other queries typed into Chrome’s address bar will be sent to Google, which will use that information to make suggestions to users.

The browser will also retrieve and process information received from its users but doesn’t specify if it will retain the data or for how long: “Information that Google receives when you use Google Chrome is processed in order to operate and improve Google Chrome and other Google services,” the policy states. Since Google AdWords, AdSense, Ad Manager and DoubleClick are all providing “Google services” now, it’s really not difficult to see how this browser may greatly leverage Google’s advertising capabilities. Fair or not? Let’s sit back and see reactions from the market – I’m sure it won’t take long before we hear back!

For your reading pleasure, see below the full press release for Chrome’s launch.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (September 2, 2008) – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today launched Google ChromeTM, a new open source browser intended to create a better web experience for users around the world. Available in beta in more than 40 languages, Google Chrome is a new approach to the browser that’s based on the simplicity and power that users have come to expect from Google products.

In the early days of the Internet, web pages were frequently little more than text. But today the web has evolved into a powerful platform that enables users to collaborate with friends and coAd Operations Online › Create New Post — WordPresslleagues through email and other web applications, edit documents, watch videos, listen to music, manage finances and much more. Google Chrome was built for today’s web and for the applications of tomorrow.

“We think of the browser as the window to the web – it’s a tool for users to interact with the web sites and applications they care about, and it’s important that we don’t get in the way of that experience,” said Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Product Management, Google Inc. “Just like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome has a simple user interface with a sophisticated core to enable the modern web.”

Making the web experience better for users
Google Chrome was designed to make it easy for users to search and navigate the web for the content they’re looking for.

* A combined search and address bar quickly takes users where they want to go, often in just a few keystrokes.
* When users open a new tab in Google Chrome, they’ll see a page that includes snapshots of their most-visited sites, recent searches and bookmarks, making it even easier to navigate the web.

Google Chrome was engineered to deliver a seamless web experience for users. At its core is a multi-process platform that helps provide users with enhanced stability and security.

* Each browser tab operates as a separate process; by isolating tabs, should one tab crash or misbehave, others remain stable and responsive, and users can continue working without having to restart Google Chrome.
* Google also built a new JavaScript engine, V8, which not only speeds up today’s web applications, but enables a whole new class of web applications that couldn’t exist on today’s browsers.

Contributing to the innovation of browsers through openness
“While we see this as a fundamental shift in the way people think about browsers, we realize that we couldn’t have created Google Chrome on our own,” said Linus Upson, Director of Engineering, Google Inc. “Google Chrome was built upon other open source projects that are making significant contributions to browser technology and have helped to spur competition and innovation.”

To further advance the openness of the web, Google Chrome is being released as an open source project under the name Chromium. The intent is that Google will help make future browsers better by contributing the underlying technology in Google Chrome to the market, while continuing to develop additional features.

How to get Google Chrome
Google Chrome can be downloaded at www.google.com/chrome. It is being released in beta for Windows in over 100 countries in the following languages: Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), Turkish, English (US), English (UK), Arabic, Czech, Danish, Hebrew, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Indonesian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Filipino, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Estonian.

Google Chrome for Mac and Linux users will be available in the coming months. For more information on the open source project, Chromium, visit www.chromium.org.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For screen shots or b-roll, visit www.google.com/chrome/press.

About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

Under the terms of the agreement, blinkx will leverage its AdHoc platform to place contextually relevant advertising against Getty Images’ multimedia, and will share resulting advertising revenue with Getty Images.

“We’re delighted to partner with Getty Images, a company that is considered the gold standard in its industry,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO, blinkx. “Our viewers will enjoy Getty’s diverse range of high quality content. In addition, with Election Day approaching in the States, our American audiences will particularly appreciate Getty’s up-to-the-minute Democratic and Republican National Convention feeds on blinkx.com.”

“We believe our assets deserve wide exposure, and we’re always looking for innovative ways to make our digital content easily accessible,” said Josh Rucci, senior director of multimedia sales, Getty Images. “We’re pleased to partner with blinkx, whose technology enables us to expand our reach further than ever before.”

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to search new forms of online content such as video. With more than 350 partners and 26 million hours of indexed video and audio content, including favorite TV moments, news clips, short documentaries, music videos, video blogs and more, blinkx uses advanced speech-recognition technology to deliver results that are more accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword searches.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s most comprehensive video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 26 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

MIVA is a Nasdaq-listed digital media company. It describes itself as having two focuses to its business: owning and operating a growing portfolio of consumer destination sites and interest-specific toolbars, through its MIVA Direct division; and running a third-party contextual Pay-Per-Click ad network focused on key vertical sectors, through its MIVA Media division. MIVA, Inc. operates across North America and Europe.

blinkx believes the proposal is highly attractive for MIVA shareholders. blinkx’s proposal represents a 54% premium above the closing price of MIVA common stock of $0.78 on August 7, 2008, and a 36% premium over the average closing price for the one month prior to August 7, 2008.

Commenting on the proposal, blinkx CEO and Founder Suranga Chandratillake said: “Our recent strong momentum in the business, and our positioning in the area of performance-based advertising which has shown itself to be robust in the current climate, has encouraged us to consider opportunities to accelerate our growth. We’re excited about the opportunities presented by a combination with MIVA. blinkx has been developing advanced monetization technologies, which we are now ready to introduce aggressively into the market. This transaction would enable us to accelerate the penetration of these more advanced technologies into the marketplace over the current planned organic approach. We hope that the Board of MIVA will appreciate the uniqueness of this opportunity.”

blinkx believes that a combination of the two companies would be mutually beneficial to both companies’ shareholders, employees, and customers. blinkx and MIVA have complementary businesses that could benefit greatly from blinkx’s technology and MIVA’s distribution network.

blinkx has worked with MIVA as a customer and partner for a number of years and has a great deal of respect for MIVA’s success in building a global keyword advertising network and growing the MIVA Direct consumer offering. blinkx believes, however, that with the Internet’s continued progression towards rich media and newer forms of advertising, more advanced technology will play a fundamental role in achieving success.

blinkx already has in place a proven and growing video-driven revenue engine, and enjoys an unrivaled technology portfolio which is applicable across many aspects of the online market. A combination of the two companies – fusing MIVA’s advertising network with blinkx’s ability to leverage its technology portfolio into the online market – presents an exciting and compelling opportunity.

Specifically, blinkx’s advanced and scalable matching technology will enable immediate platform improvements for MIVA. As a result, large portions of relevant search traffic from MIVA’s search ad network will be monetizeable at higher rates through blinkx’s technology. Furthermore, blinkx’s technology holds the potential to build on MIVA’s existing toolbar network, adding the latest functionality and an entirely new revenue stream. Finally, MIVA’s consumer sites and portals, that already attract large audiences, will immediately benefit from blinkx’s advanced video technology and AdHoc advertising platform.

Any acquisition of MIVA would be subject to the making of a formal offer following the opportunity to conduct a limited confirmatory due diligence investigation, the negotiation of a definitive merger agreement containing customary terms and conditions, including customary conditions to closing; no material adverse change to MIVA’s business; appropriate shareholder approvals; and any regulatory requirements. Given blinkx’s participation in the industry and MIVA’s public status, blinkx envisages an efficient due diligence process appropriate to a public company. blinkx is prepared to deliver a draft merger agreement to MIVA and begin discussions immediately. Should an offer proceed it could be classified as a reverse takeover by Aim Regulation necessitating the publication of an admission document.

The transaction would be funded from existing cash resources of the two companies.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 26 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

Chicago-based Performics, one of the leading search marketing service providers, helps to improve the performance of advertisers’ investments and maximize client campaign effectiveness. Its profit-driving suite of marketing solutions includes Performics’ reporting platform, local platform, advanced market expertise and active account management.

The acquisition of Performics will enrich Publicis Groupe’s strong search capabilities and strengthen the offering of the VivaKi Nerve Center, a new strategic entity launched by the Groupe in June. VivaKi leverages the collective scale of Digitas, Starcom-MediaVest, Zenith-Optimedia and Denuo to develop new services, tools and partnerships, including new and emerging performance marketing platforms. The VivaKi Nerve Center includes a number of performance marketing assets, including Phonevalley, Webformance, Click2Sales and iBase. The addition of Performics will deliver a full and enhanced suite of performance marketing tools and capabilities to Publicis Groupe agencies and their clients.

Launched in 1998, Performics now employs nearly 200 search marketing specialists with employees in Chicago, San Francisco, New York, London, Hamburg, Sydney, Singapore and Beijing. The business will report into Curt Hecht, President of the VivaKi Nerve Center.

Performics will position Publicis Groupe and its clients to capitalize on the increasingly profitable search spending market. According to Jupiter Media, the search market represented an estimated $9.9BN in 2008 and is projected to grow at a 12% compound annual growth rate through 2012. Performics has over 130 search engine marketing (SEM) clients, representing over 200 top global brands.

“Publicis Groupe has been a leader in the advertising industry for decades, and we believe Performics’ growing business will benefit from being a part of it,” said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google. “We look forward to working with Performics as a partner.”

Maurice Lévy, Chairman & CEO of Publicis Groupe, commented, “The acquisition of Performics will position the Groupe for significant growth by delivering a broad portfolio of clients into our operations. Performics will also bring widely-recognized talent and capabilities that can be embedded into the client teams inside Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia. Not only will this acquisition bring critical mass to Publicis Groupe’s formidable Search capabilities, but it will also enhance our affiliate marketing and overall performance marketing offering.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2008.

About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day.
Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Web Site : www.google.com

About Publicis Groupe
Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris: FR0000130577] is the world’s fourth largest communications group. In addition, it is ranked as the world’s second largest media counsel and buying group, and is a global leader in digital and healthcare communications. With activities spanning 104 countries on five continents, the Groupe employs approximately 44,000 professionals. The Groupe offers local and international clients a complete range of communication services, from advertising through three autonomous global advertising networks, Leo Burnett, Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi and two multi-hub networks, Fallon and 49%-owned Bartle Bogle Hegarty; to media consultancy and buying, through two worldwide networks, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia; interactive and digital marketing led by Digitas; Specialized Agencies and Marketing Services offering healthcare communications, corporate and financial communications, sustainability communications, shopper marketing, public relations, CRM and direct marketing, event and sports marketing, and multicultural communications.
Web Site: www.publicisgroupe.com

Created in 1999, Aposition is one of France’s leading independent search engine (SEO) optimisation specialists. It advises clients how to organise their website in order to maximise their presence in non-paid for, or organic, search engine listings. Aposition’s clients include Mappy, Le Guide, Unedic and Rue du Commerce.

Aposition’s experience, tools and knowledge will complement iProspect’s best practices and expertise. In return, Aposition will benefit from iProspect’s global network, especially through iProspect University training. Following the acquisition, Aposition will become the core offering of iProspect France and part of the Isobar-owned network of iProspect agencies. iProspect France will operate as a second network to Takezo, Isobar’s existing search business in France.

The acquisition of Aposition follows those of search businesses in Belgium, Holland, Germany and Thailand so far this year, as Isobar continues the global roll-out of iProspect offices.

Commenting on the acquisition, Robert Lerwill, ceo of Aegis, said:
“Search is absolutely core to all forms of marketing activity and is estimated to grow at a rate of 25% a year, globally. As a result, it is one of Isobar’s key goals to grow our expertise in this sector. Our number one search brand, iProspect, is already in 16 countries around the world, up from 12 at the start of this year. Aposition has a sound technical background and is growing strongly. Along with our existing search expertise in France, it will now enable us to offer the integrated iProspect approach to both local and global clients in the region.”

With the ubiquity of broadband, consumers today want and expect video to be part of their online experience; blinkx Red Label enables customers to incorporate rich media into their Web sites, enhancing the user experience and appeal of the site, while increasing its potential for monetization. The solution leverages blinkx’s patented, award-winning video search technology, and draws on the 26 million hours of premium video content in the blinkx index.

blinkx Red Label is an end-to-end solution that will be offered in two tiers based on the size of the portal or Web site: one for larger customers that will involve blinkx services, and the other a self-service portal for smaller sites.

“Whether you’re launching a new Web site, or want to integrate rich media into an existing site, blinkx Red Label delivers a complete solution for your video needs,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO, blinkx. “We offer immediate, up-to-date access to the Web’s largest index of top quality video in addition to the world’s most powerful video search technology, with fast, easy integration.”

Unlike other search engines that attempt to repurpose technology built for the Text Web, blinkx uses a unique combination of patented conceptual search, speech recognition and visual analysis software to find and qualify online video more effectively than any other service today.

Benefits of blinkx Red Label

Fast, Easy Integration: There are no setup or professional services fees to deploy blinkx Red Label, and the average implementation takes just three hours. There are two available models for implementation:

• Fully Hosted: search results are hosted at blinkx.com, with the look-and-feel of the customer’s site
• XML: provides customers with complete control over display and on-page integration

Broad Flexible Functionality: A broad range of functionality enables customers to integrate blinkx Red Label in a variety of ways to best serve their site’s design and purpose. From advanced sorting and filtering features, including language and family filters, to innovative display and integration options, such as the unique blinkx Video Wall, blinkx Red Label can be customized to meet customers’ needs.

Instant Monetization: Online Video Advertising is the fastest growing segment of online advertising. Forrester Research predicts the market will reach $7.2 billion by 2012. blinkx Red Label enables customers to maximize revenue by using their own ads or ones delivered by blinkx. Highly targeted advertising can be delivered in a variety of innovative, user-friendly formats which yield a high CPM.

Complete: With access to 26 million hours of content from a wide range of sites across the Internet, blinkx Red Label delivers the most comprehensive, most current and most accurate Web video index in the world. blinkx’s 350 content partners include top tier media companies and premium niche content producers.

For more information on blinkx Red Label, please visit www.blinkx.com/products/RedLabel.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 26 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

With the ubiquity of broadband, consumers today want and expect video to be part of their online experience; blinkx Red Label enables customers to incorporate rich media into their Web sites, enhancing the user experience and appeal of the site, while increasing its potential for monetization. The solution leverages blinkx’s patented, award-winning video search technology, and draws on the 26 million hours of premium video content in the blinkx index.

blinkx Red Label is an end-to-end solution that will be offered in two tiers based on the size of the portal or Web site: one for larger customers that will involve blinkx services, and the other a self-service portal for smaller sites.

“Whether you’re launching a new Web site, or want to integrate rich media into an existing site, blinkx Red Label delivers a complete solution for your video needs,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO, blinkx. “We offer immediate, up-to-date access to the Web’s largest index of top quality video in addition to the world’s most powerful video search technology, with fast, easy integration.”

Unlike other search engines that attempt to repurpose technology built for the Text Web, blinkx uses a unique combination of patented conceptual search, speech recognition and visual analysis software to find and qualify online video more effectively than any other service today.

Benefits of blinkx Red Label

Fast, Easy Integration: There are no setup or professional services fees to deploy blinkx Red Label, and the average implementation takes just three hours. There are two available models for implementation:

• Fully Hosted: search results are hosted at blinkx.com, with the look-and-feel of the customer’s site
• XML: provides customers with complete control over display and on-page integration

Broad Flexible Functionality: A broad range of functionality enables customers to integrate blinkx Red Label in a variety of ways to best serve their site’s design and purpose. From advanced sorting and filtering features, including language and family filters, to innovative display and integration options, such as the unique blinkx Video Wall, blinkx Red Label can be customized to meet customers’ needs.

Instant Monetization: Online Video Advertising is the fastest growing segment of online advertising. Forrester Research predicts the market will reach $7.2 billion by 2012. blinkx Red Label enables customers to maximize revenue by using their own ads or ones delivered by blinkx. Highly targeted advertising can be delivered in a variety of innovative, user-friendly formats which yield a high CPM.

Complete: With access to 26 million hours of content from a wide range of sites across the Internet, blinkx Red Label delivers the most comprehensive, most current and most accurate Web video index in the world. blinkx’s 350 content partners include top tier media companies and premium niche content producers.

For more information on blinkx Red Label, please visit www.blinkx.com/products/RedLabel.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 26 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

Through AdHoc, ITN has already been effectively monetizing its premium news content on the blinkx.com network for over six months. During this time, ITN achieved a significantly better return, greater search volume, and higher monetization through blinkx than through other syndication partners.

AdHoc uses blinkx’s patented speech-to-text transcription and visual analysis technology to understand video content more thoroughly and effectively than any other service today, and can therefore dynamically place the most pertinent advertising against it. The AdHoc platform offers media companies and advertisers a unique value proposition — video advertising which combines the emotive power of TV promotion, with the relevance and utility of contextual search advertising.

The confluence of ITN’s premium TV content, blinkx’s extensive syndication network, and AdHoc’s uniquely powerful targeting capabilities was a formula for success. By extending its partnership with blinkx, ITN aims to achieve similar returns by leveraging the AdHoc platform to deliver contextually relevant video advertising on its own website and across its distribution partner sites.

“We’re thrilled to be broadening our relationship with ITN,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO of blinkx. “News content is one of the most popular categories of online video and there’s clearly a tremendous opportunity for monetization. The success of our partnership with ITN is evidence that the blinkx AdHoc platform is a uniquely powerful solution for online video advertising today.”

“We’ve been delighted with the results of our partnership with blinkx and are looking forward to implementing the AdHoc technology on our site,” said Nicholas Wheeler, managing director, ITN On. “blinkx AdHoc has proven that it can achieve significant monetization of our content, effective marketing for advertisers and, most importantly, a useful, non-disruptive experience for our audience.”

As a pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the most effective way to search new forms of online content such as video. With more than 350 partners and 26 million hours of indexed video and audio content, including favorite TV moments, news clips, short documentaries, music videos, video blogs and more, blinkx uses advanced speech recognition technology to deliver results that are more accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword searches.

About blinkx

blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 26 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

About ITN On

ITN On is part of ITN, one of the world’s leading news and multimedia content companies. ITN On is the UK’s leading supplier of news and other video entertainment content to broadband, mobile phone and radio platforms. ITN On pioneered video news on mobile in Europe, launching with 3 in 2003 and was the first UK company to create made-for-mobile news and weather channels. ITN On’s key business partners include, Vodafone, 3, Orange and T-Mobile as well as established online operators including Yahoo!, MSN, Telegraph Group, Bebo, YouTube and Virgin Media. ITN On’s radio division IRN supplies news to over 250 commercial radio stations throughout the UK with a combined daily audience of 24 million. www.itn.co.uk

Press Contacts:

Pamela Ames
Sparkpr
+1 (415) 321 1893
pames@sparkpr.com

Clare Gayner
Bite Communications
+44 (0)20 8834 3454
Clare.Gayner@bitepr.com

John Nolan
ITN
+44 (0)20 7430 4216
John.Nolan@itn.co.uk

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (June 12, 2008) – Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) today announced that it has reached an agreement that gives Yahoo! the ability to use Google’s search and contextual advertising technology through its AdSense™ for Search and AdSense for Content advertising programs. Under the agreement, Yahoo! has the option to display Google ads alongside its own natural search results in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, Yahoo! can serve contextually targeted ads on its U.S. and Canadian web properties as well as on its current publisher partner sites. Yahoo will continue to operate its own search engine, web properties and advertising services.

In addition, Yahoo! and Google agreed to enable interoperability between their respective instant messaging services bringing easier and broader communication to users.



“This commercial agreement provides Yahoo! with the opportunity to deliver more relevant ads to users and provide advertisers and publishers with better advertising technology to help them succeed in their own businesses,” said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google. “This agreement will preserve the competitive and dynamic online advertising space.”

As a result of the agreement, Yahoo! will be able to complement its own advertising program with Google’s advertising technology. As a result, advertisers will be able to better reach consumers, and Yahoo! and its current publisher partners can generate more revenue. Yahoo can use Google’s advertising technology on as many or as few of its search results and content pages as it chooses.

This non-exclusive agreement allows Yahoo! to enter into similar agreements with other advertising providers. In addition, Yahoo! will maintain relationships with its own advertising customers and will continue to rely exclusively on its own advertising program outside of the U.S. and Canada. The agreement has a term of up to ten years: a 4-year initial term and two 3-year renewals at Yahoo!’s option. Financial terms between the two companies were not disclosed.

Although Google and Yahoo are not required to receive regulatory approval of the arrangement before implementing it, the companies have voluntarily agreed to delay implementation for up to three and a half months to give the U.S. Department of Justice time to review the arrangement.

About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – May 08, 2008 – blinkx, the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine, today announced the availability of the blinkx Content Correlation Engine, an extension of blinkx’s Advanced Media Platform. blinkx Content Correlation Engine utilizes blinkx’s patented technology and will allow media companies that today attract some of the largest and most profitable online audiences to automatically match textual and video assets on every single page of their websites, seamlessly morphing readers into viewers, in order to drive massively increased revenues.

The proliferation of broadband has driven a strong and growing market for publishers that own and product video assets. Average online video advertisement Cost Per Mille (CPM) rates are often an order of magnitude greater than equivalent textual banner advertisements and this effect is most pronounced when the publisher of the content is a popular, trusted brand. As a result many publishers who have strong brands built on offline and online text content are increasingly producing online video as a method to drive new and faster-growing advertising revenues. In the past four years, brands that have begun this approach include The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Forbes Magazine, BusinessWeek Magazine and many others.

The production of online video is, however, just the first step. Existing audiences who currently predominantly read text articles must then be converted to start to watch video content; changing readers into viewers. As that audience today spends the majority of its time on text articles, placing highly relevant video content, inline within text articles is a critically effective strategy in initiating the reader to viewer conversion process. Existing blinkx AMP customers are already adopting the Content Correlation Engine.

blinkx’s technology uses advanced speech-recognition and visual analysis to automatically analyze and process video content on the web, delivering results that are more accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword search technology. blinkx’s Concept Recognition Engine (CoRE) then applies a unique, patented pattern-matching process to the extracted information in order to recognize ideas, concepts and themes within video. It is the automated understanding that CoRE provides that allows the Concept Correlation Engine to automatically match relevant textual and video assets.

“The blinkx technology has allowed us to make dynamic recommendations to users, optimize our search ranking and increase our visibility,” said Ari Brandt, general manager, Portfolio.com.

“With the blinkx Advanced Media Platform, we have found a solution that solves many of the problems we’ve encountered in featuring video content on our Web site,” said Albert Aimers, CEO, WallSt.net.

“We’ve enhanced the value we can derive from our video assets and we expect to significantly enhance both our brand and our users’ experience online.”

“Many media companies sit on a goldmine of video assets but struggle to generate large-scale audiences for that content. This occurs because so much of the internet is still stuck in a text-oriented form, with users who have the potential to become avid video viewers still unaware of the video riches that their favorite text sites have to offer,” said Suranga Chandratillake, CEO and founder, blinkx.

“The blinkx Content Correlation Engine uses our ability to conceptually understand the true meaning of a piece of TV or video content to match those assets to relevant text articles. The process is entirely automatic and so can be deployed across massive websites with thousands of articles and millions of page-views, immediately scaling video audiences on those sites and driving order of magnitude growth in video views and, as a result, increased video advertising revenue.”

For more information on the blinkx Content Correlation Engine and the Advanced Media Platform, please visit www.blinkx.com/corporate/advancedMediaPlatform.

As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to search new forms of online content such as video. With more than 220 partners and 18 million hours of indexed video and audio content, including favorite TV moments, news clips, short documentaries, music videos, video blogs and more, blinkx uses advanced speech and visual recognition technologies to deliver results that are more accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword searches.

About Conde Nast Portfolio.com
Portfolio.com is the online counterpart to Condé Nast Portfolio, the new business magazine launched in April 2007. The site provides insight into the day’s top business stories, with analysis from bloggers and columnists on a diverse range of business topics, from hedge funds to politics to Hollywood, as well as editorial content and photography from the magazine.

About WallSt.net
WallSt.net (www.wallst.net) is owned and operated by WallStreet Direct, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Financial Media Group, Inc. (OTCBB: FNGP; www.financialmediagroupinc.com). The Web site is a leading provider of timely business news, executive interviews, multimedia content, and research tools. Financial Media Group, Inc. also owns my.wallst.net, a financial social network for investors, and Financial Filings Corp. (www.financialfilings.com), a provider of compliance solutions to publicly traded companies. In addition to WallSt.net, WallStreet Direct, Inc. owns and operates WallStRadio (www.wallstradio.com), a business and finance podcast Web site; and WallSt TV (tv.wallst.net), a hub for business and finance video programming.

About blinkx
blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 18 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.

Press Contacts:

Tim Turpin
Sparkpr
+1 (415) 321 1894
tim.turpin@sparkpr.com

Clare Gayner
Bite Communications
+44 (0)20 8834 3454
Clare.Gayner@bitepr.com

Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are thrilled that our acquisition of DoubleClick has closed. With DoubleClick, Google now has the leading display ad platform, which will enable us to rapidly bring to market advances in technology and infrastructure that will dramatically improve the effectiveness, measurability and performance of digital media for publishers, advertisers and agencies, while improving the relevance of advertising for users.”

About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

About DoubleClick, Inc.
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. Learn more at www.doubleclick.com.