Category Archives: google

How is the ODP being used today?

Posted on March 3, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

One of my tasks lately has been looking at the Open Directory Project, also known as DMOZ.org. The ODP was started back in the late 90s as an alternative to the Yahoo! directory by Rich Skrenta. It sits between a … Continue reading →

Posted in aol, google, search, yahoo | 5 Comments

How much will my commute suck today? Ask Google

Posted on March 1, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I was checking out Google Maps yesterday and noticed the addition of traffic to the map. It showed that traffic for the ride home was much worse than I’ve ever seen on a Wednesday night. Figuring it was a first-day … Continue reading →

Posted in aol, google, local search, maps, yahoo | 4 Comments

Gmail and the geek set

Posted on January 21, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve noticed lately how many of my friends and colleagues have adopted Gmail addresses. Although Gmail is still a very distant 4th place (after Yahoo!, MSN and AOL) when it comes to the broad Internet audience, it seems to have … Continue reading →

Posted in email, google | 1 Comment

Yahoo! Search knows what you mean

Posted on January 16, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I was looking through the referrer data for this blog and noticed an entry from Yahoo search for “redisgn my screen on yahoo”. I tried the search to see why the blog would come up – it looks like Yahoo! … Continue reading →

Posted in aol, google, search, yahoo | Comments Off

A phone that could only come from Apple

Posted on January 9, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

The iPhone could only come from Apple. And I’m not talking about the elegant design or the technology. Handset manufacturers routinely cripple phone features for the U.S. market to make sure that customers use their phones in exactly the way … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, consumer electronics, google, iphone, ipod, mobile, wireless, wireless data, yahoo | 9 Comments

Making online calendars useful

Posted on January 8, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Google Calendar surpassed MSN Calendar last week and is inching toward Yahoo! Calendar. The biggest competition for all three: lack of use. For the most part, online calendars today solve problems people don’t have. Of the three, only Google Calendar … Continue reading →

Posted in aol, google, yahoo | 2 Comments

Making the most of search engine traffic

Posted on December 17, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

News organizations are actively playing the SEO/SEM game. If you do a search for “Iraq War“, “taco bell“, “litvinenko“, you will get both organic results and sponsored links from major news sites. The sites take different approaches to where they … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, google, search, seo | 3 Comments

Rooftops and Google Maps

Posted on November 29, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

I was flying into Atlanta yesterday and as the plane descended to the runway, I noticed that one of the buildings on the ground with a giant bullseye on it – Target. Next to it, there was a building with … Continue reading →

Posted in aol, google, local search, maps, yellow pages | 1 Comment

Focus groups – the view from the other side of the glass

Posted on November 29, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’m spending most of this week watching focus groups. It’s one of my favorite parts of my job. It’s a chance to see how real people react to the products that we create. I get to hear from people who … Continue reading →

Posted in aol, google, research | Comments Off

Abuse risks with Google click-to-call

Posted on November 20, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

R. Franklin pointed me to a blog entry by Lauren Weinstein about the potential risks of a service like Google’s click-to-call Because Google doesn’t verify that the number you enter belongs to you, it is easy to use the service … Continue reading →

Posted in google, local search, maps, yellow pages | Comments Off