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Even if you truly believe you’ve won $900,000 in the nonexistent 2008 Yahoo/Google Award promotion, please do NOT respond to the following inquiry.

Sure it might be a good idea for Yahoo to incentivize searchers with Yahoo share of searches dropping year-over-year. But this is not it.

Thanks to Incisive Media Marketing VP Matt McGowan for sending us the laugh of the day.

Dear Lucky Winner,

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Nine Hundred Thou sand Dollars (US$900,000.00 ) in the YEAR 2008 YAHOO/GOOGLE AWARD promotion which is organized by YAHOO/GOOGLE INC. for the introduction and Launching of the new YAHOO ! BETA MAIL which all YAHOO! as well as all other subscribers are required to switch to.

This is to encourage both Yahoo and non Yahoo users to start using Yahoo !

The online Cyber draws was conducted from an exclusive list of five hundred thousand email addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer selection from the web.

Your email address is attached to Ref No:

ESE/WIN/008/02/10/MA & Batch No:EULO/1007/444/606/08; Serial No:
6594.

Bear in mind that prizes will strictly be remitted to winners that officially file in for their claims within the given time frame. To begin your claim, you are to forward this message to our accredited claim’s agent including your : 1. Name: 2. Address 3. Marital Status: 4. Occupation: 5. Age: 6. Sex: 7. Nationality: 8. Country of Residence:9. Telephone Number: 10:Fax number:

Contact Person: Mr. GEORGE GRANTS

EMAIL : grantsgeorge@XXXXX.com

Your prize award has been insured with your email address and will be transferred to you upon meeting the requirements of the Gaming Board Authority which includes
your statutory obligations.

Best Regards,

Mr. Gabriel Christopher

(Lottery Coordinator).
London,
England

Note: All Won Prizes must Be claimed/Cleared not later than Two Weeks of receipt of this email notification. After this time, all other winnings will be considered as
UNCLAIMED and returned to National Treasury.

Microsoft (MSFT) released a statement on Sunday that it has made an alternative offer to Yahoo (YHOO) that wouldn’t entail a full acquisition. In the unexpected move, Microsoft would be acting as something of a white knight, saving Yahoo from fighting a proxy battle with billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Microsoft Corp. today issued the following statement:

“In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties.

“There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions.”

Although Microsoft isn’t making a new bid to buy Yahoo, the Redmond giant “reserves the right to reconsider that alternative” depending on discussions with Yahoo, shareholders of Yahoo or Microsoft, or other third parties.

Icahn on Thursday named an alternative board to replace Yahoo’s board with directors to reopen talks with Microsoft. In inimitable Icahn style, he claimed Yahoo had “acted irrationally” in refusing Microsoft’s $47.5 billion (24.3 billion pound) bid.

Reuters reported that Microsoft had not held discussions with Icahn about Yahoo.

The exact nature of the deal has not been revealed by either party.

Internet advertising revenues reached an all-time high in 2007, totaling $21.7 billion, which is 26% higher than 2006. The data comes from internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007 Internet Advertising Revenue Report. Keyword search leads the field when it comes to types of internet advertising. Here’s the breakdown of ad types:

David Silverman, partner, Assurance, PricewaterhouseCoopers pointed out that the data defied economic woes: “Despite the current state of economic uncertainty, 2007 was another record year and the 13th consecutive record quarter. Interactive advertising is not just the future, it is the here and now, as it represents a meaningful and growing component of U.S. advertising and marketing spend.”

What are your thoughts on 2007 internet ad revenues? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Related Reading:
IAB/PwC Reports New Heights, Slower Growth in Online Ad Revenues

Recently, Yahoo announced SearchMonkey, which will allow developers access to open source to create applications for search results. Well, today is the day that developers finally get their hands on the tools to make that happen.

There are two types of applications developers can build using SearchMonkey – Enhanced Results and Infobars.

• Enhanced Results take the current standard results and give them a makeover with a richer display. Links to results must remain intact (don’t mess with those search results!).
• Infobars will appear below search results and can display information such as metadata about the result, related links or content, or links for user actions (i.e. adding a movie to a Netflix queue).

The process for building SearchMonkey applications is very straightforward:

1. Application Type – Decide what type of app you want to build (Enhanced Result or Infobar) and enter basic info such as application name, description, and icon.

2. Trigger URLs – Decide the URL patterns that will trigger your app. For example, for the Enhanced Result above, the pattern would be “acmemovies.com/*”

3. Data Services – Data Services are the structured data on which SearchMonkey apps are based. They can be created using data available in the Yahoo! Search index (via data feeds or page mark-up such as microformats or RDF) or by using APIs or page extraction.

4. Appearance - Use PHP to configure how structured data should appear in the application.

Need incentive? How does a contest with $10,000 in prizes? Submit your application by June 14th to enter. The contest has four categories: Best Enhanced Result, Best Infobar, Most Innovative Use of Structured Data, Best Data Service, and Grand Prize (best over all categories).

And if you’re in the Bay Area, catch the SearchMonkey Launch Party tonight at Yahoo’s Headquarters in Sunnyvale.

Yahoo may need to fight off Carl Icahn Syndrome by Proxy today.

Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSP) is a type of factitious disorder which appears strikingly similar to the Icahn strategy. MSP is a mental illness where a person acts as if an individual he’s caring for has a physical or mental illness when the person is not really sick.

Is Yahoo sick? No. That won’t stop dissident investors, though, from acting as if the company is.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who’s invested more than a billion dollars in Yahoo, will initiate a proxy contest to oust Yahoo Inc.’s board of directors, according to the WSJ, a move designed to jumpstart the stalled MicroHoo merger.

Icahn (pictured here in a conservative blue suit) hasn’t won every proxy war he’s waged: Marvel Comics, for example, stands out as a success story after the superhero company defeated Icahn and his minions.

People with MSP assume the role of a sick person indirectly by lying about illness in another person under their care. We’re not calling Icahn a liar but we don’t think the Yahoo board is crazy for declining the Microsoft takeover bid.

In a proxy battle, Icahn would nominate 10 directors to replace Yahoo’s board before today’s deadline. The new slate of directors is said to include former Viacom Inc. CEO Frank Biondi, an Icahn proxy war ally.

Of course, the reason for the proxy battle differs from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, which is not done to achieve a concrete benefit, such as financial gain. For Icahn, it’s all about the Benjamins. In Sunnyvale, he’ll be known as the Yahooligan.

Like Baron von Munchausen, who rode a cannonball behind enemy lines then rode one back when he decided it wasn’t such a good idea, Icahn can enter enemy territory without suffering a scratch from Microsoft or Yahoo. His proxy board will wage the war for him.

Icahn has some big wins under his belt: he spurred Motorola’s decision to spin off its mobile phone business in March. He has also led a campaign by video-store chain Blockbuster to purchase electronics retailer Circuit City Stores.

If that deal doesn’t go through, Icahn has stated he’ll buy Circuit City.

No word on whether he’d buy Yahoo.

eMarketer is lowering projections for social network advertising from $1.6 billion to $1.4 billion for 2008. Two reasons are attributed to the adjustment: a slowing economy and the uncertainty over what advertising actually works on social sites.

Adjustments have been made for site-specific projections as well. MySpace’s projection has been lowered from $850 million to $755 million, while Facebook has been lowered from $305 million to $265 million.

Related Reading:
Consumers Ok with Social Ads, But Rarely Find Them Targeted

UPDATE May 20th, 2008:  this has been resolved completely.  A new post has been made.  See:
MediaTemple GS update.
We currently have sites hosted on 4 different companies Mosso Shared Cluster, Hostgator Shared Server, GoDaddy Shared Server and MediaTemple Grid Server. We have been looking to put everything together in one place, but just have not [...]

Grand Theft Auto 4 sales topped half a billion dollars during its first week of release, earning about 5 times as much as the blockbuster movie, Iron Man. GTA 4 takes place in Liberty City, a parallel universe of New York, NY. More realistic than ever, many buildings and landmarks in the game are spot-on. The soundtrack rocks.

So how are GTA 4 fans navigating the game? Google Maps is powering the Grand Theft Auto Big Map, a wiki-style map where gamers can update places they’ve found in Liberty City.

The Google map has proven so popular with the GTA 4 community, moderators have posted the following message:

Note: Due to the sheer amount of submissions from all you pimps, the review process is taking longer than expected. Please do not submit the same marker twice out of fear your submission didn’t go through.

Here’s an example showing “Missions” and “Services” identified on the Google Map:

There’s a helpful outline of the basic controls of the Liberty City Interactive Map system at GTA ‘Hood. Yo’u'll also find a detailed guide to help you add new marker location points within the Liberty City Interactive Map.

If you want to explore Liberty City online, you have lots of categories to choose from in addition to “Missions” and “Services.” Here’s what’s currently listed: Clubs, Bars, Cabaret Clubs, Strip Club, Comedy Club, Emergency Services, Police Station, Hospital, Fire Department, Missions, Start, End, Primary Objective, Secondary Objective, NPC, Steps 1-10, Most Wanted, Items, Body Armor, Health Pack, Weapons, Vehicles, Secrets, Hidden Package, Easter Egg, Funny Signs, Multiplayer: Extraction Point, NPCs, Contact Person, Pervert, Pigeon.

How detailed is the Liberty CIty Interactive Map? Here’s a screenshot showing all markers:

Of course there are always GTA 4 cheats available, like this one from Playstation Insider, if you want to find the flying rats, weapon locations and half-naked zombies faster.

After the jump, a quick lesson on how to use Google Maps to add your own markers.

Click to read the rest of this post…

There have been some major missed opportunities in our industry; decisions that must haunt those involved. Arguably the biggest faux pas of our industry came in 1999, when Excite had the opportunity to buy Google for $1 million and refused. In today’s SEM Crossfire column, “Yahoo Rejects Microsoft: Worst Decision Ever?,” Frank Watson wonders if Yahoo’s turn-down of Microsoft’s offer could trump it?

Though Bill Gates was out there telling people Microsoft is not interested in making non-Yahoo acquisitions right now (at least in the search/social world), word comes that Microsoft bankers have sent “feelers” to Facebook about a full acquisition.

Here’s why this is a solid move:

1. Microsoft already owns 1.6% stake in Facebook, worth $240 million
2. Microsoft formed a data portability partnership with Facebook and 4 other networks
3. At least two Google execs have jumped ship to Facebook in recent months

While Facebook has yet to “overtake” MySpace in the social media market, it is a viable competitor. And I’m sure Ballmer would love for Microsoft to own a social network that even Apple has used as a marketing ploy as of late. Recent commercials for the iPhone entice potential customers through the ability to access Facebook on the popular mobile device.

Additionally, internet users are turning to their social networks during their search process. Consumers want answers and reviews and social networks help them get opinions from trusted sources.

The Facebook move would likely be seen by many as a better fit than Yahoo. But expect just as many to see it as a negotiating ploy in their bid for Yahoo. Though Microsoft has officially withdrawn its bid for Yahoo, many analysts expect Ballmer and the team to return to the table for another stab at a grab for the search engine.