For a variety of reasons, I am unable to attend this year’s YPA Annual Convention in Las Vegas. The Kelsey Group is very well represented at this conference, just as we were at the Association of Directory Publishers event a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, I really like to attend to network with old friends, …

There is a lot happening in the local search and media worlds today. Here are some notables.
Yahoo! has coughed up $680 million for the remaining stake in online media exchange Right Media. It previously owned 20 percent of the company. This could partially be a counter shot to Google’s purchase of DoubleClick, as DoubleClick has …

Check out this YouTube clip of Marge Simpson using Google Maps and a variety of other local online activities. It’s a good parody of online media for a Friday afternoon, which takes jabs at Google, online shopping and online gaming, among other things.
Now if Google Maps can only settle the debate over what state Springfield …

The next wave of online mobile has taken a step forward with the introduction of voice recognition technology. In a recent Boston Globe article, several new voice applications for mobile Web search are discussed including Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Tellme. So what’s all the excitement about? In the U.S., mobile Web usage remains relatively low. …

I only have time for a quick post, but it strikes me how so many local search plays are launching SMS-based search services.
As noted earlier, NearbyNow has this; vFlyer launched a mobile search product today; Vehix.com plans to do this; and earlier in the week I spoke with BooRah about its new SMS-based local search …

As we’ve expressed in past writing, the targeting abilities and architecture of IPTV could open up some interesting local advertising opportunities (also see TKG White Paper From Reach to Targeting: The Transformation of TV in the Internet Age).
But it’s been a while since we’ve written about IPTV here. So here is a quick and long …

Coming off NearbyNow’s $5 million B round, I had the chance to talk to CEO Scott Dunlap today.
Part of this announcement is an expressed goal to be in 103 U.S. cities by November (Dunlap stated this goal to me in a less official way in a previous post). It’s currently in 20 cities and roughly …

PagesJaunes has launched its anticipated 3-D mapping engine in Paris. The Praized Blog has the scoop. Our past coverage of 3-D mapping is here, here and here.

The L.A. Times today provided a sneak preview of the Frank Gehry-designed, $150 million headquarters for Barry Diller's IAC along the West Side highway in NYC. I'll look forward to visiting. Here are pictures of the building from IAC’s site, since the L.A. Times article, which has two great pics in the print edition, doesn’t …

Tired of using “San Francisco” as the metaphor for “all things Internet?” How about focusing on “bloggy neighborhoods”?
Beth Lawton at NAA New Media Fed alerted the readership to a list of Top 10 bloggy neighborhoods compiled by Outside.in, the tracker of 3,000 U.S. neighborhoods. The list may be a little skewed. It not only includes …

MapQuest today announced a partnership with GM’s OnStar division that will allow online users to send maps and turn-by-turn spoken directions to their OnStar devices.
This falls in line with the cross-platform personalization that we’re seeing a lot of in the local search world (a related TKG report is forthcoming). Send to Mobile functionality is one …

HP is serious about working with small businesses and announced today that it is buying Logoworks, the disrupting producer of logos for small businesses. It will be a great acquisition for HP.
When it launched in 2001, the premise behind Logoworks was that most small businesses don’t have logos, and that they’re scared off by the …

A new ad serving technology for Internet broadcasters launched this week with funding from Union Square Ventures, CBS Radio and Oddcast. Known as TargetSpot, the technology will allow advertisers to create buy and place their own advertising in online streaming audio outlets.
This will include a customizable menu of audio, video, banner and text ads. In …

Local.com announced today that it will launch a basic version of its Local Promote service for small businesses. The full version of Local Promote ($39.95 per month) is a tool offered to businesses to establish a Web presence with a landing page on Local.com, in addition to various distribution, pay-per-click and featured placement options.
The free …

The U.K.-based publisher Yell Group announced today that its U.S. operation, Yellow Book, is seeing a sharp decline in its organic growth rate, the accumulated result of too much competition in the U.S. market. The company is projecting a 3 percent organic growth rate for the 2007/08 financial year.
The news sent Yell Group’s shares tumbling. …

Why watch “American Idol” tonight? As an alternative, I recommend that you download the lawsuit filed by MediaNews Group against Par Ridder, the former publisher of St. Paul’s Pioneer Press, and son of Tony Ridder, who bolted across the river to become publisher of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.
The way the lawsuit characterizes it, Ridder’s …

U.S. News & World Report features a short interview with AT&T Advertising & Publishing CEO Denny Payne in this week’s print edition (available online). Not much ground was broken in the interview, but Payne got across the usual major points in defense of Yellow Pages’ relevance in an increasingly digital world.
Payne makes the standard argument …

Inside the newspaper industry, the notion of the Web as a Hail Mary pass has never been fully embraced. But last week’s earning reports from the major newspaper chains is a bracing cup of cold water.
An article in today’s WSJ details that the newspapers’ Web efforts simply aren’t enough to save the day, given the …

It is not especially surprising, but media shift is being accelerated by new devices, expanding media channels, user-generated content and aggregation. IBM Global Business Services tries to make sense of all of it in a new report: “Navigating the Media Divide.”
In its report, IBM finds that everything is converging, as “traditional media” moves toward “walled …

We came across this on BusinessWeek Friday. The article raises the possibility that R.H. Donnelley, enjoying a nice run up of its share price, may be the target of a takeover or leveraged buyout.
These stories pop up every now and again and often they don’t go anywhere. Not too long ago, we noted one about …