Yahoo Comes Up Shy With Q2 Earnings Report

However else Yahoo's shareholders may feel about the company's financial situation, they can perhaps take comfort in the idea that Carol Bartz won't be wasting lots of money on champagne and confetti today.  Yahoo's second quarter earnings report didn't contain much news the CEO could celebrate.

The company failed to hit three out of four major targets.  First, in terms of gross revenue, it reported $1.60 billion instead of the $1.64 billion analysts expected.  Second, with respect to net revenue, Yahoo reported $1.13 billion rather than $1.16 billion.  Then, Yahoo reported $175 million, not $178 million, in operating income.

The bright spot - and it's not a big one - just came with Yahoo reporting GAAP earnings per share of $0.15 instead of $0.14.

Also, for whatever it's worth, Bartz said in a statement, "We're pleased that we continued to deliver strong operating income and margin expansion.  Our search fundamentals are improving . . ."

But investors literally aren't buying it, sending Yahoo's stock down 7.24 percent so far in after-hours trading.  Which makes for a worse fall than the one Google suffered after delivering its second quarter earnings report; it was down only 4.02 percent around this time of day.

Yahoo fans who want to put these results behind them should know that the company announced, anyway, "Revenue for the third quarter of 2010 is expected to be in the range of $1,570 million to $1,650 million.  Income from operations for the third quarter of 2010 is expected to be in the range of $160 million to $200 million." source: www.webpronews.com

BBC.com Launches New U.S. Website

The BBC said today it is launching new U.S. edition website along with a redesign with advertising partner HP.

"Building on the incredible journalism already available on BBC.com you're going to see more analysis, more insight and more perspective that connects the dots on events and issues that affect us all in the U.S.," said Miranda Cresswell, SVP, BBC.com.

"Our new redesign will make it even easier to find, use and share this great content."



The new U.S. edition will be staffed by a new team of online journalists now based in the BBC's Washington, DC bureau, led by BBC.com Editor, U.S. Matthew Davis.

Later this summer, BBC.com will launch a travel section, in partnership with its sister company Lonely Planet. It will be led by former NYTimes.com Travel & Style Editor, David G. Allan who was recently appointed Editorial Director, BBC Travel. Improved sports, technology, business and entertainment sites will launch soon.

BBC.com also offers apps, including BBC News and the BBC Sports app. The BBC News app is the sixth most popular app in the U.S. BBC.com attracts over 16 million users a month in the U.S.

New Google Release Could Change Everything. Will it?

It's a simple concept, with enormous implications (even for non-Android users). The introduction of App Inventor has provoked a great deal of discussion around the web and with good reason. The product basically puts app creation into the hands of everyone (though you will still have to learn how to use App Inventor itself, as Jason Kincaid points out. Think Dreameaver for apps.) Businesses will be able to create apps on the fly. Consumers could be able to create apps that cater to their personal preferences, and therefore make their devices more useful.



Simplification often leads to wider adoption. Look at what blogging platforms did for online content creation. Look at what Twitter is doing for news consumption (essentially what RSS has been doing for years). If people have a simple way to create apps quickly that can be used by users of any Android device, they are probably going to take advantage, and those apps will get users, and inspire more app creation.

Too Many Bad Apps?

Users ultimately decide what apps to put on their phones. It's not like using the web. Your Android device is not going to be spammed with so-called bad apps. Android is an operating system, not the web. You don't use Android like you use the web, you use the apps themselves that you decide to use like you use the web. source: www.webpronews.com/topnews/

MySpace Upgrades Global Music Offerings

MySpace users all over the world should have a much easier time discovering music thanks to some new changes. This afternoon, MySpace overhauled its approach to playlists, eliminating (or at least cutting back) limitations that might have affected the way people shared songs.

A key point before we get much further: this development involves all MySpace territories other than the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, meaning the rollout's pretty huge.

As for some specifics, Rebekah Horne, Managing Director & GM of MySpace International, explained in a statement, "MySpace users worldwide can create an unlimited amount of multi-song playlists (up to 100 songs) which they can broadcast and share on their public profiles."

Furthermore, "Each playlist a user creates will have its own page to share with friends," and users can "manage playlists using a new product called My Music and check out Public Playlists to hear playlists created by artists and other MySpace users."

These changes could do a lot to keep bands and music lovers coming back to MySpace. If not, well, MySpace did ask for feedback and hint that more upgrades are in the works, demonstrating that it's committed to finding other solutions. source: webpronews.com/topnews/

Massive YouTube Film Experiment Announced

A project that should entirely live up to the billing "historic cinematic experiment" has begun. Ridley Scott, Kevin Macdonald, YouTube, and LG have asked people all over the world to record (part of) their lives on July 24th, and then much of the footage will be used to create a single film that'll premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

This undertaking has been labeled "Life in a Day." It's meant to act as a sort of time capsule, showing what the earth was like at a specific point. The only restrictions involve not including trademarks or copyrighted content (music, TV clips, etc.), and would-be participants must also upload their footage before July 31st.



As for the men behind the project, Kevin Macdonald, who directed The Last King of Scotland, will be responsible for actually editing the footage together, and Ridley Scott, who's perhaps best known for his work on Gladiator, Blade Runner, and Thelma & Louise, is acting as executive producer.

The final product could be quite remarkable. Scott, Macdonald, YouTube, and LG have created a strong incentive for people to participate - 20 contributors will get taken to the premiere, and everyone whose footage is used will be credited as a co-director - so there should be no shortage of material.

More information is available here if any of this sounds interesting to you. Good luck to all involved.

Google UK Chief Speaks Of Focus On Mobile, Social

In nine days' time, Google will report its second quarter financial results, and no matter how well the search giant's done, at least a few critics are sure to argue that it needs to succeed in new fields. Matt Brittin, Managing Director of Google UK, seems to feel mobile and social are the two main candidates.

Google isn't exactly trailing its competitors in terms of offering mobile products and services, of course. Android has become a fairly mainstream mobile operating system, and more and more info is starting to circulate about Chrome OS, which might function in a similar space. Plus, it's already possible to access just about all of Google's existing products using any sort of smartphone.

Brittin hinted that Google's mobile efforts may soon overshadow its more traditional endeavors, however.

Brittin told Jonathan Sibun this weekend, "As growth in broadband starts to flatten off, we're seeing the next wave. The big shift is to mobile internet. Between 25pc and 30pc of consumers use their mobiles to access the internet. But in three years' time analysts believe more people will be accessing it from their mobiles than from a desktop. That's a massive change."

As for what he said with regards to social networking, Brittin wouldn't go so far as to confirm the existence of Google Me. Still, he didn't deny that a new product's in the works.

Furthermore, Brittin implied that Facebook can be beat, and the UK exec even issued a reminder that one of Google's properties has already achieved some success in the field.

"Facebook is an absolute phenomenon but there are other social networks which are successful too," Brittin said. "We've got Orkut, which is fantastically successful in India and Brazil. And Bebo is successful in other countries. It's a phenomenon that is with us to stay. I think what we'll see is the internet becoming more of a social place, as well as people being social within the context of social networks." source: www.webpronews.com/topnews/