It's smart for newspapers such as the Tribune Co.'s LA Times, the Denver Post and the UK's Guardian to set up branded RSS readers that allow their content to be read/received along with other news sources.
However, the strategy is essentially defensive, given that newspaper sites are in danger of being marginalized over time …

Earlier today Google publicly released Local for mobile devices. I'm on vacation, so I won't do anything lengthy. Chris Sherman has a good overview.
It basically reproduces Google Local rendered for a mobile device. You can also get maps and driving directions. If the phone permits it, telephone numbers appear as links that dial when clicked. …

As has been widely reported, Lane's Gifts and Collectibles is the lead plantiff in a class action lawsuit filed in February, but recently exposed publicly. The case was filed in Arkansas state court, but defendants are seeking to "remove" the case to federal court, which is generally considered to be less favorable to plaintiffs. …

Google launched a new feature called "Google Q&A" offering answers to factual questions such as:

What is the world's population?
What is the capital of Ukraine?
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
Google is using a range of sources to answer such questions — and not all questions deliver …

Everybody's doing it. Call it iTV or TV2Web, not to be confused with IPTV.
MTV will lauch a new Web channel called "Overdrive." The new channel will offer a variety of programming and video-on-demand content. This is just the latest example of TV programming moving online and an effort by MTV to follow its youthful …

Canadian publisher Advertising Directory Solutions (ADS) announced it has discontinued its Go Pages directories. The mobile directories for Calgary, Edmonton and the “Lower Mainland” of British Columbia have all been discontinued effective immediately. The publisher’s Vancouver Island Go Pages book will publish as scheduled in June 2005.
The Go Pages were mobile directories, meaning a smaller-size …

Borell Associates predicts aggressive growth in local advertising for online newspaper sites. The potential is there, but the assumptions and preconditions behind the prediction may not come to pass.
According to an article in Editor & Publisher, there are two factors driving the prediction:

Local advertisers spent only a fraction of their budgets online
Local newspaper sites …

Yahoo!'s FareChase travel site launched hotels today. Competing with AOL's recently launched Pinpoint Travel, this represents another meta-search play to provide consumers with a one-stop travel destination.
FareChase is also integrated into Yahoo! Travel, Search and Shopping — a variation on the principle of the one-stop shop (convenience, simplicity, ubiquity).
Another pretty helpful hotel search …

Google will be featured in segments on the new Al Gore-backed cable network, now being called "Current." The press release positions it as "the first national network created by, for and with an 18-34 year-old audience."
This is very very interesting on many fronts, not the least of which is the potential branding value that …

Stu's wife Carol, along with their son Doug, accepted this award, which was presented on the same night that Elmer Smith received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the industry. There is little question that Elmer was a strong and thoughtful industry leader who made a difference in every area of the Yellow …

I'm a bit late on this one, but here's a new local app from Google Labs: RideFinder. Using GPS, it promises users the ability to "find a taxi, limousine or shuttle using real time position of vehicles."
This is novel and perhaps ultimately useful in a mobile application. But it's interesting in that, like Yahoo! Maps' …

Google finally declared in its SEC 10-K filing that it was indeed a media company:
"We began as a technology company and have evolved into a software, technology, Internet, advertising and media company all rolled into one."
Google reported that it made just over US$3 billion in revenues last year and warned that it wouldn't have …

According to data released by Nielsen//NetRatings, as reported in AdWeek, MSN's new broad consumer marketing campaign has seemed to drive some usage growth. According to Nielsen, MSN's search market share grew 1.4 percent from 12.8 percent to 14.2 percent in the previous month.
The apparent cost of that growth has been MSN's US$150 million, spent on …

Search Engine Watch Editor Danny Sullivan has rounded up the range of April Fools search-related pranks for your amusement.
There are some very clever and elaborate ones on the list, including:
UnderGoos
Google Gulp
Yahoo Slacker
After careful thought and review of these efforts, I believe there are a number of possible responses:
1) How delightful!
2) These guys have …

Yahoo! 360 formally launched earlier this week — and everyone I try and invite has already been invited! That may be both good and bad for Yahoo!
Google’s Gmail — the storage of which was just bumped to 2GB — used a very shrewd invitation-only strategy (and rationed those invitations) to create enormous buzz …

I wanted to call attention to an interesting piece from Gord Hotchkiss in MediaPost. He writes:
"[N]o one with enough market traction has taken up the task of aggregating [consumer ratings/opinion] information into an easy-to-digest rating system. There is no 'seal of approval' that comes from customers. But for the first time, the potential is there …