Google confirms Internet users in Iran are blocked (updated)

Updated with charts from Google.

Google confirmed today that its users in Iran are being blocked by a new regulation against access to secure browsing, or HTTPS websites. The block has been in action since February 10.

In celebration of the overthrow of its monarchy in 1979, Iran decided to block Internet access to all encrypted websites using the “HTTPS” format. That means anyone using the Internet in Iran won’t be able to connect to … Continue Reading

Alibaba suspends public trading to buy back its stock from Yahoo

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has suspended public trading of its shares in Hong Kong as it prepares to buy back its 40 percent stake held by Yahoo.

The transaction is said to be worth between $10 billion and $11.5 billion.

In a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, Alibaba representatives said the company would be releasing a statement today that would be “potentially price sensitive.”

Late last year, Alibaba began rounding up the financing … Continue Reading

Yahoo to lose four board members in wake of Jerry Yang’s departure

Yahoo bids adieu to four more board members today, including the board’s current chair, Roy Bostock.

Other departing members include Vyomesh Joshi, an executive vice president at HP; investor and professional board member Gary Wilson; and Arthur Kern, an investor who had held his seat at the Yahoo boardroom table since 1996.

In an open letter to Yahoo shareholders, Bostock writes,

“The board has concluded that in order to accelerate the Company’s transformation, the combination … Continue Reading

Emerging social network Pinterest driving big traffic to retailers (infographic)

Emerging social network Pinterest, an addictive site that lets people spotlight products and items they like, is helping drive increasing amounts of traffic to retailers, according to a new infographic by Monetate.

Pinterest, which attracted nearly 11 million unique visitors in mid-December, is now one of the top 10 social networking sites. It’s one of the rare cases of a social network generating strong word-of-mouth interest without much help from the tech community. The site … Continue Reading

The FBI wants to spider social media to prepare for the worst

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is creating a tool that will crawl Facebook, Twitter and more to catch emergencies before they happen.

According to a posting on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the FBI’s Strategic Information and Operations Center (SOIC) is feeling out the IT industry to see if anyone can create a “social media application.” The application should be able to spider through public content posted on social media sites such as Facebook and … Continue Reading

Dylan’s Desk: It’s the season for Monday-morning quarterbacking

If you subscribe to my newsletter you can read these columns a whole day before they appear on our website. And check out my other essays in the Dylan’s Desk series.

As the San Francisco 49ers fumbled their shot at a Superbowl appearance on Sunday, you could almost hear the Monday-morning quarterbacks warming up their complaints.

It’s no different in Silicon Valley, where the competitive sport is tech business instead of slamming heads together. Just … Continue Reading

Node at scale: What Google, Mozilla, & Yahoo are doing with Node.js

When the scale of your application is “everyone on the Internet,” you have to think a bit differently about adopting new technologies.

At the Node Summit today, a bevy of “big boy” company executives gathered to chat about Node.js, the server-side JavaScript technology that’s been taking the developer world by storm.

Representatives from Google, Yahoo, Mozilla, and startup i.TV were on hand to talk about using Node when instability is not an option.

One overarching … Continue Reading

Yahoo revenue down 13 percent in Q4, CEO says better execution needed

Yahoo‘s revenue dropped 13 percent compared to the same period last year, the company reported today. In its quarterly earnings’ announcement Tuesday, Yahoo reported $1,324 million in GAAP revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011, while costs increased by 10 percent. Excluding traffic acquisition costs from Yahoo’s partnership with Microsoft and others, the company brought in $1,169 million — down just three percent compared to last year.

The numbers aren’t very surprising as Yahoo continues … Continue Reading

Yahoo’s fallback position: Hey, at least we’re not AOL (numbers)

Yahoo’s new chief executive, Scott Thompson, has his work cut out for him.

Thompson, who started his new job earlier this month, will be doing his first earnings call this afternoon. It can’t be a pleasant way to kick off a new gig. Yahoo founder Jerry Yang left the company last week, analysts are estimating the company’s earnings at a mere 24 cents per share (a 6.5 percent drop from a year ago), and, according … Continue Reading

The lights fade at Flickr in site-wide SOPA protest

Flickr is letting the people of the web suck the life and beauty out of its site today.

The Yahoo-owned photo-sharing service is encouraging members to darken photos for a 24-hour period with a “Darken this photo” call-to-action on each and every photo hosted across the popular service.

The drastic measure is meant to be symbolic of the dark implications of the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, two controversial pieces of … Continue Reading

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang resigns from board of directors and all other roles

Yahoo co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang has resigned from the Yahoo board of directors and all other positions, the company announced late today. Yang also resigned from the boards of Yahoo Japan and Alibaba Group.

In a letter to board chairman Roy Bostock, Yang wrote:

“My time at Yahoo, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for … Continue Reading

Obama’s anti-SOPA stance seeks compromise to Silicon Valley-Hollywood standoff

Updated with response from the pro-SOPA lobby

The Obama administration issued a statement earlier today saying that it supports a serious legislative response to piracy problems but will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk or undermines “the dynamic innovative global Internet.”

While the statement did not mention the much debated Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) by name, it was clearly intended to respond to the furious debate around it – … Continue Reading

Flickr to dump Picnik photo-editing features

Plan to skip the picnic, Flickr users, because rain is in the forecast.

The popular photo service will discontinue its Picnik photo-editing features in a few months, the team revealed today.

“We know that you love editing your photos on Flickr and this transition doesn’t, in any way, mean that there will no longer be editing capabilities,” Flickr head of product Markus Spiering said in a blog post on 2012 changes to the Flickr experience. … Continue Reading

Bing beats Yahoo in search market, Microsofties heard chanting “We’re number two!”

We jest, we jest. Microsofties don’t chant.

But we’re sure the company is mighty proud of today’s numbers released by comScore that show Bing’s market share has, for the first time ever, surpassed Yahoo’s search market share.

For the month of November 2011, Yahoo grabbed 15.1 percent of the U.S. search market for home and work locations, while Bing took home 15 percent of that pie.

However, for the month of December 2011, comScore says … Continue Reading

Yahoo nabs rights to Tom Hanks’ animated series “Electric City”

In a first for the technology/media company, Yahoo has obtained exclusive rights to an original web series produced by legendary actor Tom Hanks.

The web series, which Hanks is producing with Playtone and Reliance Entertainment, is about a “seemingly peaceful city situated in a post-apocalyptic world”, according to an AP report. Each episode will run between three to four minutes and feature a socially conscious message about energy conservation. Hanks will also star in the … Continue Reading

5 things that should be on new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s “To Do” list

After several years of floundering and a four-month search for a permanent leader, Yahoo has appointed former PayPal president Scott Thompson as its new CEO. While Thompson doesn’t officially start until next week, we’ve compiled a handful of tasks worthy of appearing on a hypothetical “To Do” list of things to bring Yahoo back to the level of titanic power it enjoyed a decade earlier.

Yahoo has been in turmoil since it fired former CEO … Continue Reading

Thompson: Yahoo isn’t for sale; will focus on data to improve services

Newly appointed Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson made it clear in a conference call with analysts this morning that the company plans to use its data to regain dominance for its media and digital service businesses.

Previously, critics questioned Yahoo’s ability to challenge its rivals and regain market share that was lost over the last few years — leading to lots of speculation about the company’s future. Some reports indicated that Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang was … Continue Reading

Revenge of the nerd: Yahoo swings to Bartz’s opposite with new CEO

After the tumultuous reign of Carol Bartz, a firebrand whose foul mouth was the delight of onlookers and the bane of her own company, Yahoo has settled on an entirely different type of leader.

Scott Thompson, 53, is a nerd, pure and simple. His managerial track record shows a certain personal risk-aversion; he’s an accountant and IT guy at heart. And over the past four months, as a watching world speculated on who might head … Continue Reading

Yahoo names PayPal ex-president Scott Thompson as CEO

Iconic internet company Yahoo has named a new CEO, former PayPal President Scott Thompson, the company announced today.

Yahoo fired its long-time CEO Carol Bartz in September after board members decided she wasn’t pushing the company forward. Yahoo CFO Tim Morse has been acting as interim CEO since then while the company boosted its efforts to find a replacement.

Along with becoming the company’s new CEO, Thompson will join Yahoo’s board of directors.

Yahoo has … Continue Reading

Alibaba preps for possible Yahoo takeover by hiring U.S. legal eagles

Asian web powerhouse Alibaba has taken yet another step toward snatching up Yahoo.

The Chinese company has hired a Washington, DC-based lobby firm and a law firm specializing in cross-border mergers and acquisitions — likely a necessary step in the foreign, censorship-heavy entity’s plan to take over a major U.S. corporation.

Alibaba has hired the Duberstein Group, an independent strategic political planning and consulting company headed by Kenneth Duberstein (pictured), Reuters reports. Duberstein is a … Continue Reading