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Yahoo seems to be intent on continuing its open strategy by promoting third party content and applications on the massively visited homepage of its website. Recently it announced the addition of an eBay widget on the new homepage. The addition is still under testing with a subset of Yahoo users.

The widget will eventually get added to the ‘My Applications’ section. The application would allow eBay users to keep a watch on their buying and selling; they can also get information about recent bids and receive reminders about auctions that are on the verge of closing. There is also a provision that would allow users to search the listing without leaving Yahoo.

Like AOL, Yahoo recently made a very subtle yet important modification in its homepage strategy. In the old days the home page would link out to the other Yahoo pages or even advertisers. Now users would be provided with the desired content on the homepage irrespective of the source.

The fact that users can access this eBay widget, ostensibly without eBay paying a sponsorship charge of any kind, proves that Yahoo is keen to put users above revenue.
This may prove to be a good strategy because in the long run, more users would result in more revenue generation.

Real friendship is hard to find and wrestlers seem to be finding it the hardest of all. Wrestlers find it hard to approach people and make friends outside the ring. In the ring they are banging in each other’s heads. Outside the ring they are banging their heads trying to make friends. Indeed, making friends is not the easiest thing in the world, they have realised as they do not seem to meet the right people, not even on websites such as MySpace.

For this reason perhaps, World Wrestling Entertainment, the company responsible for putting on the wrestlers that we watch on TV, came up with WWW Universe.

WWW Universe is a social network that has been created specifically for wrestlers and their enthusiastic followers. It’s not so much a social network as it is a way of giving the wrestlers some well deserved attention out of the ring.

It is created as a sort of channel to promote wrestlers in an effort to get them some attention along friendlier lines. Just because they are wrestlers does not mean they don’t feel lonely. After all, wrestlers too are human beings. So check out WWW Universe and give those wrestlers a little bit of your time!

Sony has recently declared that it would be relaunching its video entertainment network website Crackle.

Crackle, Inc., a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company formerly known as Grouper, is a multi-platform video entertainment network and studio distributing the hottest emerging talent on the web and beyond. Crackle’s addictive shows reach spectators across the world. Crackle has been in on-going collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment and other leading partners through which it can discover and promote the stars of tomorrow.

The website will be re-launched with a number of web show sketches by L.A. comedy company ‘The Groundlings’, a video game show called ‘The Jace Hall Show’ and a five-minute talk show.

Sony’s Media Business, Sony Pictures Entertainment, will be employing the services of the same production methods used in movies and TV that helps them to look like other online programming which is usually short; often they are not even more than five minutes long. The season is scheduled to start on December 1.

In August last year, Sony pictures joined hands with Rocketboom and acquired worldwide distribution rights to Rocketboom in all the forms of media. Sony also put a show on Crackle.com.

As per a source in Microsoft, the company is believed to be launching Windows Live Search again with a new name at some point at the start of 2009. Nobody knows the identity of this new brand under which Windows Live Search will be relaunched. However, there is a fair amount of speculation with regards to the various possibilities.

As per information received by the nameless source within the company, a last and final decision regarding this has already been taken. However, hardly anyone who is part of Microsoft has been informed regarding it and there is a possibility of this decision being reconsidered.

According to LiveSide, there is proof that the new name will be Kumo. Kumo is a Japanese word, which stands for ‘cloud’ or “spider’. There is also the possibility of an entirely different brand being used.

The question to be asked is, why Microsoft is thinking to re-launch under a new brand name? It has not issued any statement or made any announcement with regards to the new brand name so far, nor has it even declared that there will be a new brand name.

Be-A-Magpie is a German-UK start up that is following in the footsteps of PayPerPost. Just like PayPerPost when it comes to blogs, which incidentally has received a lot of flak, Be-A-Magpie is willing to hand out money to those willing to place advertisements into their Twitter stream.

Payments are made by advertisers as per a cost-per-thousand-impression concept. In this case the advertisements are guaranteed to be sent to the right parties dependent on certain particular words which act as triggers. The way this works is that Be-A-Magpie will sift through the data and information that makes up your messages on Twitter in order to check whether there is a possible connection with a specific advertiser.

With a phenomenal 31,000 fan followers, the TechCrunch Twitter account believes it has the capability to make a smashing €14,410.51 on a monthly basis. The way this system works is it automatically calculates how many advertisements to place for every actual, real message on Twitter. It is usually assumed to be at the rate of a single advertisement per five Tweets. Advertisements are placed by themselves by saving a person’s Twitter credentials.