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Over one hundred British internet startup firms applied to be part of Web Mission 08, only 20 were finally accepted.

“Web Mission 08 is a project to bring 20 UK tech startups out to network with companies and people in Silicon Valley. Organised by UK entrepreneur Oli Barrett and consultants Polecat, the project was contributed to by TechCrunch UK and tech entrepreneur and investor Doug Richard. Over 100 companies applied to join. The aim is for the companies “to explore new opportunities for growth with key people in Silicon Valley.” - techcrunch.com

Keep your eyes open for the online presence of these sites:

• Groupspaces - Web-based tools for groups
• Tioti - A social network around TV
• Exabre (TheFilter) - Advanced music recommendation
• Coull - Interactive video platform
• Zogix - Employee services platform
• Byteplay (dotHomes) - Real estate search engine
• Trampoline Systems - Enterprise software harnessing social behaviour
• Hubdub - News prediction social network
• WAYN - Travel and lifestyle social network
• TrustedPlaces - Venue recommendation network
• Slicethepie - Enabling bands to raise money directly from their fans
• Mydeo - Mainstream application for storing and sharing video
• Skimbit - Research and share decision-making application
• Huddle - Enterprise 2.0 collaboration
• Rummble - Mobile social networking and recommendation
• Zebtab - Desktop TV application
• Silobreaker - Contextual and graphic search results
• Kwiqq - Social website builder
• edocr - Making business documents interactive
• ShortFuze - 3D online movie creation tools

With the tricks, tips, possible financing, and new personal contacts that these companies will pick up while rubbing elbows with the top guns in Silicon Valley, we are sure to see more of them very soon.

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I just heard that it’s official, AOL is on the table for a deal.

“Time Warner Chief Executive Jeffrey Bewkes has said that Time Warner is open for a deal on AOL. Bewkes acknowledged weakness in the AOL business and told the Bear Stearns media conference Tuesday that Time Warner was open to combining AOL with another company “whatever configuration makes it the strongest and the most valuable.” - Techcrunch.com

What could that mean? AOL has a crap load of customers, mostly average families.

AOL uses the Google search results which serves Google’s advertising.

I think Microsoft should jump on this deal.

Your thoughts?

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Microsoft has a BIG headache.

Yahoo has announced that it will become part of OpenSocial, which is Google’s way of spitting in the face of Facebook.

“Following previous reports that Yahoo is talking to Google about joining OpenSocial, we are now hearing that the decision has been made and that it will be announced in April. OpenSocial is Google’s social-networking platform that is a response to Facebook. Yahoo has been sitting on the sidelines of the fight between Google and Facebook for the hearts and minds of developers, and with this move it will place itself firmly in the anti-Facebook camp.” - techcrunch.com

How will this affect Microsoft’s takeover bid?

I dunno.

I just love all this corporate butt play.

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“San Francisco based WeGame, a “YouTube for gamers” (although it is much more than that) seems to be off to a solid start. Since launching last month, founder Jared Kim says 7,000 videos have been uploaded to the site, and 13% of users are uploading videos. The other 87% are there to watch game videos like this one from Guitar Hero:…” - techcrunch.com

“Most high school seniors are asked the question that can haunt/annoy them through their 20s: what do you want to do in life? For Jared Kim, 19, the question is the exact opposite: what new startup do you want to tackle? At such a young age, this serial entrepreneur has made huge strides in the technology sphere that many other startups can only wish for, and he’s doing it all by himself.” - theculturalconnect.com

Jared, I mean Mr. Kim, has a blog here: http://blog.jaredkim.com/about/

My last startup was banned in 15 days.

Hey kid! Spare a $20 for a vet?

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Today is a busy day for the internet security industry. I just received this news in a Google alert:

“Online fraudsters have continued to expand their efforts this week to inject iframe attacks into the optimized search results of major Web sites.”

“The attack abuses a common practice among Web sites — caching search queries — an activity designed to boost their rankings among major search engines, such as Google, according to security researcher Dancho Danchev. The attackers inject common search terms and an iframe script designed to send victims to other sites hosting malicious code. The search term and iframe redirect get cached in search engines such as Google.” - securityfocus.com

I’m not really sure how that stuff works, but it amazes me that big, professional sites can be taken advantage of, then again, the “poisoned” sites are not actually being hurt. Maybe they’re enjoying the publicity?

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You are chatting, the wife is chatting, and the kids are chatting with their friends for hours and hours. It seems like paradise.

Except for…..

“Yahoo and Microsoft’s instant messenger applications are under attack from malware that is able to infect a PC without any interaction from the user. The malware can automatically infect a user’s contacts or “friends” lists across both company’s instant messenger platforms. - zdnetasia.com

“The malware can automatically infect a user’s contacts or “friends” lists across both company’s instant messenger platforms” - zdnetasia.com

Next thing you know, your computer’s hard disk has been compromised. Passwords have been stolen.

Paradise turns into a nightmare.

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Greg Laptevsky has written a good post on the need for securing your pay per clicks campaigns on practicalecommerce.com.

“If you thought click fraud was bad, consider this: your Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing ads and Microsoft adCenter accounts are new targets for spyware applications, hackers and scam artists. - practicalecommerce.com

Imagine if you are using Google’s Adwords and someone can place ads that charge to your account!?

Scary.

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I just heard of a new site that launched today. I guess lots of sites launch everyday, but this one is being launched by a former Google employee, Steffen Mueller.

I don’t understand it, but I can’t wait to create a Topicle Search Engine JUST for SEO News sites!

“Former Google Product Manger, Steffen Mueller, has launched Topicle, a new search engine community. The service, which went live today, uses a model similar to that of Wikipedia, allowing anyone to contribute to the creation and enhancement of their own vertical search engines. - readwriteweb.com

(gees, say that fast three times)

“What is Topicle?
Topicle is a search engine community.

“Every Topicle search engine only searches handpicked URLs, instead of the whole Web.

“You - the community - can create new Topicle search engines and maintain all existing ones.
Select a search engine
to get started. - Topicle.com

Kickass!

http://seonews.topicle.com/

We now have a search engine that specializes in “seo news” sites.

I’m such a geeky trend setter.

Bompa

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I suppose we knew it would happen and I suppose Google must have know it would happen.

But, Google could not prevent it?

“Spammers have cracked the captcha mechanism Gmail uses to make sure you are a human before you can open an e-mail account, leading to a huge increase in the amount of spam sent from Gmail last month, security firm MessageLabs says.” - news.com

“The Gmail captcha problem was reported in late February by another security firm, Websense. Gmail is an attractive target for spammers because a Google account is free and offers access to a wide range of services. Also, Google domains are unlikely to be blacklisted, Websense says. - news.com

“Websense believes that from the spammers’ perspective, there are four main advantages to this approach. First, signing up for an account with Google allows access to its wide portfolio of services. Second, Google’s domains are unlikely to be blacklisted. Third, they are free to sign up. And fourth, it may be hard to keep track of them as millions of users worldwide are using various Google services on a regular basis. - Websense

Websense.com has a bunch of data and commentary on the Google captcha cracking traffic on their site.

Is breaking a captcha a punishable crime?

Someone said it’s the electronic equivilent of picking a lock.

Your thoughts?

Bompa

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photos from SearchMarketingExpo.com’s website.

I friend of mine mentioned that he just bought his ticket for SMX Sydney, and that served as a reminder, now I pass that reminder on to Port80 readers.

“SMX Sydney - April 10-11, 2008
If you live in Australia and can only go to one show in 2008, Search Marketing Expo Sydney is the event for you. SMX Sydney will be Australia’s premiere search marketing event of 2008. Regardless of whether you’re an industry veteran or just getting into search marketing we will have a range of topics that will suits your educational needs.

“SMX is programmed by the sharpest minds in search marketing. Together, Search Engine Land editor-in-chief Danny Sullivan and executive editor Chris Sherman have covered the topics, interviewed the luminaries and educated generations of search marketers.

Search Marketing Expo.com

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