The new Yahoo homepage is truly Web 2.0… or Web 3.0, I can’t keep track of which version we are now on.  My initial reaction is that Yahoo has done a good job of achieving what their obvious goals were:

• Keep users on Yahoo pages by embedding content from other sites into the Yahoo homepage as ‘apps’
• Monetize page views of other sites’ content in those apps

As if things could get any worse for me.  I suggested that my wife sell her antique Schwinn Trike before we moved to California.  My reasoning was that a) she never rode it, b) it was kind of dangerous to ride (it liked to tip over in corners), and c) the thing weighed in at about 200 pounds and would have cost a mint to move across the country (exaggerated, of course, but it was sure heavy).  And, while I appreciated the idea of using it to peddle glow sticks to festival attendees, I correctly suspected that she’d never follow through with getting the necessary licensing.

So, imagine my dismay when the story broke in May that Google had loaded the Streetview camera array on to a tricycle to capture pedestrian-limited areas.

Even worse, while this practice apparently started in the UK, it is now happening in my back yard!  The Google Streetview Trike has been used to index some very, very nearby locations including the Santa Monica Pier.

It seems at this point that it is only a matter of time before she sees one of these trikes riding through our neighborhood, or down the walking path we use quite often.  When she does, I imagine I will have to rejustify my reasoning for making her sell it.

My only other chance to get out of this cleanly might be getting her the job of riding that thing for Google.  Hmmm… maybe that would be easier (and more fun for everyone concerned).

Matt Cutts, if you are reading, can you hook me up?

If you pay any attention at all, you have by now been overrun with all the hype surrounding Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing.  If you don’t believe me, go to Twitter and check the trending topics.  Even more interesting, check out all the posts referencing #badabing.  I don’t know if these are all industry insiders using this, but there sure do appear to be a lot of them posting their comments/findings about the new engine.  

Microsoft is calling Bing a “decision engine”.  That’s all well and good, but really Bing doesn’t seem like anything that new or groundbreaking.  Don’t get me wrong, the search seems good.  Better than live.com.  The association of topic-relevant information within the search results pages is new and well executed.  If nothing else, Bing deserves some action for that.  Some of the expanded data (although there isn’t a whole lot of it yet) is interesting.  

But, what makes it a decision engine and not a search engine?  Users are still searching based on keywords.  Users are still looking at the results pages to decide what to do next.  Sure, the user experience has been slightly changed and even improved.  But, this is not a major change.

If you want to see some real rethinking of the basic search premise, I suggest you instead check out Google Squared.  The latest from the Google Labs is a pretty cutting edge and interesting retooling of the entire search experience, essentially combining a series of searches to refine the information presented based on the relationship of those elements.  It also provides some pretty useful data all together on a single page, much like what Bing takes pride in achieving, but in Google Squared’s case it is a column-based layout where each column is customizeable providing the opportunity for really unique results.

I am happy for Microsoft and thrilled to see a decent search product out of them.  I think the launch of a new brand will be successful in getting user adoption and helping people forget live.com, msn.com, and the other marginal efforts of the past.  But, make no mistake in who the real innovators are.  Clearly, Google still holds that honor.

RH Donnelley announced their filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today, becoming the latest in a string of print publishers to do so.  

For me, however, this one is a little different as I worked for RHD for several years.  The tone of CEO Dave Swanson’s message was perhaps the most surprising part of this all:

I understand that filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy may cause concern on your part, but I want to

assure you that this action is being taken primarily to restructure our balance sheet, and we

do not anticipate any impact on our business operations. While this difficult economy has

caused us to rethink our capital structure, R.H. Donnelley’s operations remain vibrant and

strong, and through the motions filed with the Bankruptcy Court, we have taken steps to

ensure that there will be no change in support, service or business operations. Simply put, it

will be business as usual at R.H. Donnelley throughout this process.

I have never myself been through bankruptcy, and thankfully have never worked for a company who has while I was employed there.  But, it does strike me as off that the tone of this email seems to spit in the face of the investors/lenders who are going to lose out because of this.  It does seem to say “our company is fine, we just owe a lot of money we can’t afford to pay back” and “we aren’t going to change anything around here, business as usual”.  

RHD, forgive me for my disallegiance, but “business as usual” is one of the things that got you into this mess in the first place.  I think a massive shakeup is in order, at least some corporate restructuring to go along with the debt restructuring.

Just one man’s opinion.

On April 24th, I posted that www.tweetvalue.com had appraised my Twitter profile as being worth a whopping $3. OK, that was sarcastic, I will admit it. Since then, however, I have actually found myself getting more interested in Twitter (maybe because it suddenly seems absolutely everyone in the world is getting more interested in it not just web geeks).

So, I spent about 20 minutes picking some people to follow. If you read this blog (and you actually exist) you probably already follow them to: Matt Cutts, Danny Sullivan, The Onion, and the like. Turns out these guys tweet quite a bit. And, as they are interesting figures in my industry, I actually enjoy reading some of what they write.

But, an interesting thing happened. When I started following them, it meant more people found me and decided to follow me, too. Some of them are clearly total BS and probably purely setup for some kind of spyware or phishing scam. But, some are obviously real people. What pressure? I suddenly have a bigger audience on Twitter than I have here (not that either are big).

And, as if to justify the massive effort, tweetvalue has now upped their estimate of my worth to $17. I figure if I keep my ramp rate at this level, my profile will be worth $100 in 30 days. That’s remarkable (some sarcasm, still, sorry). Nevertheless, it is something fun to shoot for— I haven’t had a fun project like this since I obsessed with ranking for ‘Bacon Polenta’ (which I did).

So, here we go– I am even putting the counter on my sidebar so you can see where I stand. If you don’t follow me on Twitter already, now is the time to start. You will get next to nothing in return (aside from the occasional witty comment), but will be helping me on my path to great wealth (last bit of sarcasm, I promise).