Here's A9 Maps' offering: San Francisco, CA. A different approach combining graphical and photo imagery (Block View).
Now if Google Earth and A9 started dating that would really be something.

The Internet Stock Blog exposes (via the NY Post) the rumor and speculates as to why. Will another traditional media company or newspaper publish gobble up this online brand (like MarketWatch, About and Shopzilla)?
Or will it be, as mentioned in the post, AOL or Yahoo!, which is now developing a CNet competitor site (and poached …

Google Maps has proven extremely popular and now the company is encouraging developers to run with it (a la Housingmaps). The company has formally launched an API.
One day later Yahoo! launched its own Maps API. Here are a couple of example sites using it: Sideways Tour (movie) and Bay Area Traffic Cameras.
The principle …

Specifically, digital radio can offer listeners very high-quality sound and allow stations to split their signals to increase channels. The problem is the conversion is expensive, perhaps $100,000 per radio station, and only listeners who have digital receivers will notice the difference.
The chief executve officer of the second largest radio giant, Viacom's Infinity, was …

Sorry, but I simply don't believe Google will reach a trillion-dollar market cap. Don't get me wrong, Google is an incredible company. One of the things that I like about them is their relative modesty, something that is not often seen by management of companies that have grown quickly. Two very good companies regretted their …

After playing around with GE this morning I'd have to say it's really, really cool (to use the vernacular). I especially like the way the map can be manipulated and the perspective (from overhead to "3D") changed.
Once the satellite and ground images are connected (on Google or MSN or elsewhere) and you can get …

The MyWeb upgrade from the original Yahoo! MySearch was a great improvement, allowing users to save and annotate Web pages. I have been using this for months and love it.
Today Yahoo! further upgraded the offering (MyWeb 2.0) and made it possible to share that saved information and see what others have searched for and …

Google has launched its much anticipated Google Earth (GE) makeover of Keyhole. Dubbed "a 3D interface to the planet," it's basically an upgraded version of of the Keyhole software, integrated with Google Local and personalization.
Yes it's cool, it's loaded with features . . . but will people download and use it? (Clearly everyone reading …

The Kelsey Group met last week with Publicar, Colombia’s leading directory publisher, and was given a look at the results of recent user focus groups conducted in that country. The results were fascinating to us, because they were so similar to the results of similar focus groups conducted here in the United States.
What we discovered …

Here's a marriage of content and commerce that leverages the NY Times' theater expertise and following to deliver e-commerce revenues. In one sense it's a no-brainer, but in another it's a good model — where newspapers have content strength they can naturally extend into commerce.
I'm in Seattle today, and after postponement of a meeting …

One of the announcements coming out of eBay Live, which I'm merely reading about rather than attending, is that eBay is launching a Web site initiative for SMEs — ProStores.
It will allow SMEs to build sites (with e-commerce capability) that are separate from the eBay universe. Of course they easily integrate with eBay (and …

Search Engine Journal covers the winner announcement — StairCycle. In my quest to lower my cholesterol, I'll have to get one.
More at ClickZ.

AOL beta-launched its new portal, with certain pieces to follow later (e.g., video, personalization). Internal and external expectations are high for the new site and strategy, which seeks to leverage the AOL user-base and network to drive more advertising revenue.
We were briefed by AOL last week and spent two hours talking about all the …

Today is the summer solstice, an auspicious day for the beta launch of MSN Local Search. Though late to the party, MSN is the last but not least major search entrant in the effort to deliver local.
With the transformation of its “near me” functionality into a more fully formed local-search application, Microsoft now …

Lots of media outlets (here the NY Times) picked up on a story that first appeared in the WSJ online Friday about the allegedly impeding launch of a PayPal rival (Google Wallet is the rumored name).
One of the key things this move does, if the story is accurate, is signal the launch of a potentially …

That's according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The tantalizing quote from Schmidt was:
"The payment services we are working on are a natural evolution of Google's existing online products and advertising programs, which today connect millions of consumers and advertisers."
The San Jose Mercury/Silicon Beat's Michael Bazeley has eBay CEO Meg Whitman's reaction to Google Wallet. And …

As I said before, this is really starting to become a big, big PR problem — although some advertisers and SEMs argue it's a real problem. Coverage from Wired on the issue follows on the heels of recent WSJ coverage from Kevin Delaney.
There are two big problems: existing and potential PPC advertisers losing confidence …

Everyone's jumped on the Google going up, up, up bandwagon. But now, inevitably, the contrarians are emerging. An interesting financial analyst blog, the Internet Stock Blog, presents an argument from fund manager John Hussman about why Google is really worth US$40 rather than US$300 or more.
Hussman offers some sober reflections, but I believe some …

Metro One – the wireless provider that touts flat fees and unlimited calling without the hassle of contracts or service plans – announced it would now be offering unlimited DA calls.
For $2.00 per month, Metro One subscribers can have unlimited DA calls in their local area. Instead of the direct-connect option, however, subscribers will …

John Battelle points to an interesting piece at Kuro5hin, "a tech/culture site," which reviews Google's past acquisitions and about who/what the company might acquire next.
From where I sit, I think Google needs a couple of things.
The company has been working with Yellow Pages publishers and others to acquire data and information about local …