DoubleClick

WSJ: Google tricked Apple's Safari in order to track users

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Google and other ad companies have been using special code to sidestep privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser and track Web users on desktop computers and the iPhone.

The Journal also said that on one of Google's sites--in language that has since been removed--the Internet giant had said Safari users could rely on the browser's privacy settings to avoid tracking by Google. (Editors' note: See Google's response below.)

The privacy-skirting code, which the Journal said Google disabled after being contacted by the paper, appears to have been used to … Read more

A new auction house, this one for mobile ads

MoPub, a mobile advertising startup founded by former Google and AdMob employees, today is launching a Nasdaq-type exchange where buyers and sellers can bid in real-time for ad space on smartphones and tablets.

The San Francisco-based company, which in July scored $6.5 million in funding, is one of several firms trying to capture the swelling mobile advertising market, which is on track to double this year to $3.3. billion worldwide, according the Gartner research.

CEO and co-founder Jim Payne says that among several players, including Google, MoPub is the first to offer a self-service system--he calls it a &… Read more

How to change click-renaming speed in the Finder

If you want to rename a file in OS X, you can select it and then do one of several things. The first is to press the Return key and the name will be highlighted for editing, or you can get information on the file and rename it using the Info window. A commonly used alternative to these is to click the name of the highlighted file with the mouse and after a small delay the file's name will be highlighted for editing.

While I have found using the Return key is the fastest way to switch between selected … Read more

MySpace renews ad deal with Google

The News Corp.-owned MySpace, which this year underwent a complete overhaul to swap identities from flagging social network to pop-culture media sharing hub, announced today that it's renewed its advertising deal with Google. The existing $900 million ad contract expired this fall.

This summer, a report surfaced that MySpace had been talking to Microsoft and Yahoo as well as Google regarding the formation of a new contract. Google had been vocally dissatisfied with the existing contract, saying that its ads on social networks simply didn't pay. Meanwhile, MySpace's traffic was plummeting as social-networking users flocked to … Read more

With AdMob, Google seeks mobile-ad advantage

When the long-expected development of smartphones and handheld devices into primary computers reaches maturity, Google wants to make sure it occupies just as strong a position on the small screen as it does on the big one.

Google set the stage for that future Monday when it announced a $750 million all-stock deal to acquire AdMob, which is considered one of the strongest ad network providers for the mobile-computing world. It's a familiar strategy; just as Google bought DoubleClick in 2007 to blend search ad expertise with display ad expertise, so it plans to add AdMob's network of … Read more

Google hoping history repeats itself with display ads

With a new display ad exchange developed by its DoubleClick subsidiary, Google is hoping to give its one-trick pony another act.

Google has turned into one of the Internet's largest and most influential companies on the popularity of its search engine and the profitable text ads it sells alongside those search results. This business generates the vast majority of its revenue and profits and gives Google the resources to tackle a variety of other projects from Google Apps to Chrome OS to Google Books.

But like just about anything, that business can only grow so fast. Google will need … Read more

Google rolls out revamped DoubleClick Ad Exchange

Updated September 18 at 10:40 a.m. PDT with Yahoo comment.

Having conquered the Web's text-based ad market, Google is setting its sights on graphical display ads--a market dominated by rival Yahoo.

The search giant on Thursday took the wraps off a revamped DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a public exchange that allows publishers to offer excess ad inventory they can't sell to advertisers looking for a bargain. Google said the exchange will meld DoubleClick's ad exchange with Google's own technology.

"Better technology can help make display advertising work better for all involved," Neal Mohan, … Read more

Report: Google display ad exchange set to arrive

Google is set to launch a public version of the ad exchange developed by its DoubleClick unit, according to a report.

The exchange, which has been open on an invitation-only basis to certain partners, will make its formal debut in two weeks as part of the Advertising Week festivities in New York, according to Clickz. The idea is somewhat like a swap meet for display ads, allowing publishers to offer excess ad inventory they can't sell to advertisers looking for a bargain.

Google's dominance of the search engine advertising market has been fueled by text ads. In 2008, … Read more

Google dominates ad server market, study shows

It will surprise no one that Google accounts for a lion's share of the ad server market. However, it may come as a shock that Microsoft holds only the equivalent of a lion's paw.

Attributor, a content-tracking company, analyzed ad server calls across 75 million domains in October. According to the data Attributor released this week, Google--through DoubleClick and AdSense--accounts for 56.5 percent market share.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's equivalent figure hovers at 3.8 percent. Yahoo came in behind Google with 9.7 percent. If Microsoft and Yahoo ever end up combining forces, they still wouldn't … Read more

Former DoubleClick exec to head Glam Media's Japan division

Glam Media has continued its international expansion, appointing former DoubleClick and Excite executive Yukihiro Yamamura as CEO of its Glam Japan division. Glam Japan hasn't actually launched yet, but is slated to go live later this year.

Yamamura had been head of DoubleClick Japan previously, and before that he had been CEO of Excite Japan since 1999.

"The appointment of Yukihiro Yamamura is a strategic addition to the Glam team as we continue to leverage the fragmentation of the Web globally," Glam CEO Samir Arora said in a release Monday. "With an accomplished background in online … Read more