If you want to locate somebody (or be located) – forget GPS. All you need is WiFi. There is a startup company called Skyhook Wireless which provides a software-only positioning system that leverages a nationwide database of known Wi-Fi access points to calculate the precise location of any Wi-Fi enabled device. It uses the nearest WiFi routers to triangulate the location of you. And if you are (for exemple) a AOL customer and use instant messenging, it also shows you everyone on your buddy list, and then shows where they are on a map.
Cool! Wish that would exist in Europ, too! Does anybody know? P.S. The video demonstation comes with greetings from Jack Bauer….

SEOmoz has a great post about a recent seminar in N.Y.called “The New Age of Web 2.0 Marketing”. One of the speakers, Judith Liebe, defined Web 2.0 as blogs, wikis, social networking, consumer generated content, podcasts, RSS, rich internet applications (RIAs), social tagging and bookmarking, publishing, social networks, product reviews, creating mash-up content.

Another speaker, Steve O’Brien defined it as:

A marketing buzzword used by vendors trying to justify incremental investments in Internet software and services.
A collection of technologies for creating interactive Web applications; e.g., AJAX, SOAP, RIAs.
A term coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004 to promote a conference about the post-bubble Internet.
A catch-all phrase for Internet services that encourage user-generated participation, like Flickr and MySpace.

The seminar participant writes that “I used to think that there were two main parts to a successful website: web design/development/usability and SEO/M. Now I know that there is a third part: analytics. Unlike web design and SEO/M, which are creative and multi-faceted, analytics is about trends and numbers. Analytics is a dedicated function. Successful websites use analytics to drive their web design and SEO/M tactics.” And: “The goal of a Web 2.0 website engagement. Engagement can be measured by sessions/visits, repeat visits, session length, RIA usage (ex. rotate, zoom), downloads, uploads, reviews, comments, votes, subscriptions, leads. The return can be measured by recommendations, registrations, and purchases.”

E.W. Scripps Co. on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter profit but warned of first-quarter earnings lower than Wall Street estimates and of lower profits in the interactive media division the company is counting on to help drive earnings amid its slumping newspaper business. (…) Scripps said its interactive media division, which includes the Shopzilla and uSwitch online comparison shopping sites, had operating profit in the fourth quarter of $28.3 million on revenue of $86.6 million. But Scripps expects it to generate segment profit of only about $9 million in the first quarter.

And from Search Engine Watch:

Shopzilla announced Tuesday that its founding chairman and its president of two years will depart from the shopping search engine in the spring. William Glass, currently chief operating officer of Shopzilla, has been named president, replacing John Phelps, who has served as president of Shopzilla since shortly after it was acquired by E.W. Scripps in June 2005 for $525 million, and was its COO prior to that. Farhad Mohit, 37, Shopzilla’s co-founder and chief product officer, will also depart.

As they say – departures are also always great chances for fresh starts… for all parties…

Great interview with the ‘German Blogging Queen’ Nicole Simon about podcasting.  She talks about how and when she records her podcasts and what devices she uses. Great info – check it out! P.S. Her blog is called Cruel To Be Kind.

Watch this report by MSNBC – and you’ll understand a little bit better why Google has been voted the beste employer in the USA in a survey by Forbes magazine.

According to the Magazine Publishers of America, magazine advertising pages climbed to nearly 250,000 pages last year. While they’re down from their 2000 high of 286,000 pages, the trend line has been going up. While advertising for newspapers is plummeting, at least there is one good sign in the dead tree industry…