advertising revenues

Just days after a Microsoft and Yahoo search-engine and advertising partnership was approved by U.S. and European regulators, Google has rolled out an upgraded ad-serving platform for publishers. Dubbed DoubleClick for Publishers, or DFP for short, the single platform replaces DoubleClick's DART for Publishers and Google Ad Manager by combining Google's technology and infrastructure with DoubleClick's display-advertising and ad-serving experience.

Google is moving to befriend the news industry by making it easier for consumers to read articles. Google launched a new innovation Monday called Fast Flip, a news hub that aims to overcome issues associated with turning electronic pages with a Web browser.

As Google sees it, reading news online is a bit painful because browsing can be slow. Even with a broadband connection, pages that host pictures and video can take as long as 10 seconds to load.

Google is moving to befriend the news industry by making it easier for consumers to read articles. Google launched a new innovation Monday called Fast Flip, a news hub that aims to overcome issues associated with turning electronic pages with a Web browser.

As Google sees it, reading news online is a bit painful because browsing can be slow. Even with a broadband connection, pages that host pictures and video can take as long as 10 seconds to load.

In today's struggling economy, every dollar counts, particularly in the volatile field of online advertising. Like most of the major search engines, Yahoo has seen its advertising revenues decline, putting additional pressure on a company already rocked by leadership changes and a falling market share.

In an effort to help companies get more value for their online advertising dollars, Yahoo announced Tuesday that it is offering three new targeting tools: Search Retargeting, Enhanced Retargeting, and Enhanced Targeting.

For all the doom and gloom around Intel and Microsoft this week, Google offered some bright news on the heels of Apple's record earnings report. Late Thursday, Google announced financial results for the fourth quarter.

For the last two years, a California-based communication startup called M2Z has been advocating free national Wi-Fi broadband using the relatively narrow 2155-2175-MHz portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The cost of providing free Wi-Fi, M2Z says, could be covered by advertising revenues. A premium, ad-free service would also be available for a subscription fee.

Google posted revenues of $5.19 billion for the year's first quarter -- an increase of 42 percent compared to one year earlier and a seven percent rise from the prior quarter. By contrast, the company's traffic-acquisition costs amounted to only $1.49 billion, or 29 percent of advertising revenues, company executives said.

The search giant's ongoing innovation in search, ads and apps helped drive healthy growth globally across its product lines, noted Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt.

The Associated Press announced Monday it will further cut fees paid by struggling newspaper members and will develop an advertising-supported service that will deliver stories and photos to advanced cell phones, including the iPhone.

The service, which will carry local news from participating newspapers as well as national and international news from the AP, is being tested with several newspaper companies and is expected to launch in the summer under the name Mobile News Network, the AP said.