Tag Archives: Online Marketing Company

Yahoo Planning To Bring Back Search Tech

Yahoo reportedly wants out of a deal that tie its search services to Microsoft.  According to Re/code post, Yahoo CEO Mayer is pushing two new initiatives called “Fast Break” and “Curveball” that could position Yahoo once again as a player in Web search and the lucrative search-advertising market that accompanies it.

Yahoo-Search

It has been thus since former CEO Carol Bartz got Yahoo out of the search technology business in 2009, in favor of the Microsoft deal that was called the Yahoo & Microsoft Search Alliance. Under the 10-year agreement, Microsoft’s Bing search engine provides the search technology on Yahoo, as well as the search-advertising technology.

If Yahoo decides to create their own search engine, it’s very likely they would first start with English before expanding it to any other languages, making a Microsoft deal for those search results crucial. Yet it’s not clear how merely taking back control of its own search product will help Yahoo turn around its shrinking market share.

 

Google Wallet Card Now Available to Order

While the NFC-based Google Wallet payment system may have not taken off, Google is taking another swing at things with a physical Google wallet card, basically fills the same role as the Google wallet app tried to do previously acting as a prepaid debit card that pulls funds out of any connected account.

If you’re in the U.S and have the option to get a Google wallet card, you’ll be prompted in the Google wallet app or on the Google wallet website, where you’ll then have to verify your identity and request the card. Verifying your identity is as simple as giving your name, address, birth date and social security number, but Google already had the necessary information from previous purchases for us to order with two clicks.

Google-Wallet-Card

The card will arrive in 10-12 days according to Google, and you’ll be ready to activate it and set it up for payments thereafter.

The Wallet card will let you pay for items at any retailer, even those that don’t have the little NFC kiosks Wallet has thus far relied upon. The charge should be relayed to your Wallet account just like you had used an NFC phone. It’s unclear if that’s just the Wallet balance, or if cards are included too. This fits nicely with Google’s strategy of uncoupling the NFC payments in KitKat from the hardware secure element. Google is really making Wallet easier to use on multiple fronts.