Google Adsense in My Yahoo! Ajax pop-up windows – whoah!

Much to my surprise, I just noticed Adsense modules in the My Yahoo! preview boxes.I am pretty shocked actually…I guess this is an indication that Yahoo! are officially laying down their arms when it comes to Content Match/Yahoo! Publisher Network.
If they are willing to give away prime content match inventory to Google, that’s a pretty strong signal that things are not going well for Yahoo! Search Marketing in the content match/publisher network game.

(oh, and please don’t make fun of me that you can see I read sarahlacy.com…) – Click on Image Below to get a larger version

Spa trends from Susan Harmsworth of ESPA in the NY Times

I had the pleasure of meeting Susan Harmsworth at the Conde Nast Traveller Spa Awards just a few weeks back here in London.
These awards (click here to see the winners) are actually sponsored by ESPA, and Susan spoke quite a bit about the state of the industry, much of which is covered in the NY Times article which can be found here. Below is a small excerpt of her interview.

Susan Harmsworth of ESPA - The Queen of the Spa Industry

Q. What are the trends now in the spa business?

A. More people are going to spas in groups. There’s an increase in male treatments, a lot of our city spas are 45 percent men. We’re seeing the medi-spa. In the States, it does noninvasive procedures including fillers, microdermabrasion, Botox. We’re seeing a big increase in spa cuisine.

Pho Restaurant still life, London

U2 on the roof of the BBC playing live!

Crowd waiting for U2 at BBC London

Waiting for U2 to play live on roof of BBC

Goverment of Dubai going Bankrupt? Who knew building islands shaped like palm trees not a great investment?

In a very under-reported story (at least here in London), apparently the Dubai government was under severe banruptcy risk and needed to raise $20billion to pay down debt.  The government apparently placed bets on the rising property market, which has experienced a significant reversion in the past 8 months.  It appears that the United Arab Emirates (UAE), of which Dubai is one of the total of seven states, has stepped in to prop up the government.

"But analysts said $20 billion was not enough to meet the economic challenges facing Dubai, which threw itself onto the global stage by building the world’s tallest tower, as well as islands shaped like palm fronds and the world map.

"The market was pricing in a Dubai bankruptcy, which was never the case," said Rami Sidani, head of investment for the Middle East and North Africa at Schroders Middle East. "Dubai is getting proper support from the federation, as it has a vital economic presence in the U.A.E. The U.A.E. has the reserves and oil surplus to be used in a rainy day, which is what we are going through today."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/23/business/uaebonds.4-435829.php

 

 

 

 

 

The Republicans compare themself to the Taliban & Stephen Colbert

Republican Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas said the GOP should model themselves after the Taliban, forming an insurgency against the Dems.
 
Stephen Colbert points out the the Republican party actually has quite a bit in common with The Taliban:
- neither one of them are big on women’s rights
- both want god in goverment
- both supported US invading iraq
- both follow shadowy leaders who communicate through poor quality videos (bin ladin and rush limbaugh)
 
Nice – I’ll post the colbert link to “the word” from feb. 11 2009

Video advertising on the London tube / underground

These massive video projectors have appeared on the tube in London and I just wonder if the decision to install them was taken way before the current economic slump. Surely ad rates & sell through has been severely impacted, perhaps to the point where these are no longer “economical”, but perhaps not.

Technology, Conan O’Brien and how its easy to forget how far we have come…

This is a great clip of Louis CK from the Conan O’Brien show on how we forget how amazing technology is – you know a guest is good when the host is cracking up!

Topics covered

• rotary phones vs mobile phones
• answering machines
• text messaging
• satellite communications
• ATM machines
• air travel