Bartz lights fire under Yahoo engineers
"We have good engineers but have to hire more and get them focused on the right stuff. It's probably the most important thing Yahoo's going to do to really become a big strong growing international company," Bartz said during a conference call to discuss the company's lackluster first-quarter results.Specifically, she said the company will hire engineers to bring Yahoo's major properties onto a unified global platform rather than its current variety of different systems for different countries. Today's scattered technology infrastructure has prevented Yahoo from adapting quickly and adding new features, especially outside the United States, she said.The choice shows Bartz isn't taking a quick-fix approach to Yahoo's problems. First comes engineering, then comes a better experience for Yahoo users, and only then comes the financial return. "All that investment will pay off, I believe, with more innovation, faster and better user engagement, and the stuff we need to be a hot site. If we're a hot site, the advertisers will follow," she said.And Bartz cautioned that the revamp isn't going to be complete soon."To fully globalize all our platform is probably a couple-year program," Bartz said. "You can't underestimate the past focus the company had on the U.S. market...The international properties almost had to fend for themselves."As an example, Bartz pointed to a revamped Yahoo Music site that opens up to content from YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, and other sites and lets Yahoo members share their music-related activity with their friends. That revamp wasn't possible internationally, she said.Venting frustrationDuring the call, Bartz generally stuck to her script, reining her characteristically salty language. But some of her frustration with Yahoo's sluggish pace shone through at the end of the hour-long call.Yahoo's engineering focus "was sort of scattered to the winds. There were engineers in almost every country, and way too many product people. We had one product management person for every three engineers," Bartz said. "We had a lot of people running around but nobody fucking doing anything!"Projects like the Yahoo Open Strategy have been more than a year in the making and only are arriving gradually. Yahoo is a big property, and changes necessarily come slowly as the company tries to figure out what works and doesn't as it tows its massive user base toward new technology, but meanwhile, rival Google touts its experimental "launch early, launch often" philosophy.Even as Google expands into telephone services, Web browsers, mobile phone operating systems, general-purpose cloud computing infrastructure, and any number of other projects, Bartz is keeping Yahoo focused on its core assets: a number of high-traffic Web properties.Bartz specifically pointed to Yahoo's home page, sports, news, finances, mail, search, mobile, and entertainment sites as the companies focus, saying the company will deliver a "wow experience for our users."Patience, patiencePatience could be hard to come by. Yahoo's first-quarter revenue, excluding commissions paid to partners, declined 14 percent from $1.352 billion to $1.156 billion.Yahoo's revenue is under pressure.YahooThe company was hurt by a variety of factors. Revenue from graphical "display" ads on Yahoo sites dropped 13 percent worldwide to $371 million, while revenue from search advertising dropped 3 percent to $399 million. Affiliate marketing revenue, a search-related category, declined 16 percent to $511 million.Revenue per search dropped along with the economy. "It's like online window shopping. People are grazing around, they're just not clicking through to buy," Bartz said.But online search remains key to Yahoo's future, Bartz said, though she declined to say whether it's necessary for the company to be a primary player or whether it would work if it's using another company's search results. Microsoft and Yahoo held many discussions in 2008 about such a partnership, with Microsoft taking over the business one option, and such talks appear to be on again according to All Things D and the Wall Street Journal."I'm well versed enough in the search business at yahoo to say it's absolutely critical to Yahoo. It's critical to our customers and partners that they have a combined search and display experience on the Internet. I haven't changed my position on that. Relative to anything else with Microsoft, I'm not going to comment," she said.Bartz also specifically touted one hybrid project, Yahoo's plan to bring branded display ads to search results, which today feature only text ads.In the long run, though, Bartz remains a believer in traditional display ads."Pulling back on brand advertising is a short-term solution that leads to long-term brand erosion," she said, and those with premium brands won't resort to just bidding for search keywords to preserve their brand.
Pandora station suggestions amp up personalization
Pandora station suggestions amp up personalization
For Pandora, it's personal. The Internet's top radio service said Wednesday it would launch personalized station recommendations in its mobile app. The feature suggests new station ideas based on your listening preferences as well as what the company knows from its data about other listeners' habits, which includes 35 billion bits of "thumbs up, thumbs down" feedback, the company said.Listeners will be offered up to six artist station recommendations in their station list and when they create or delete a station.Related storiesIs 'Avatar' giving you the blues?Car Tech Live 151:The best of the Detroit auto show (podcast)EMI licenses songs to new ad-supported siteOn Lego Pandora, everyone gets along just fineCarmakers, suppliers ready Sync rivalsIt's "marrying all the data about you with the data we know about the masses," said Dominic Paschel, Pandora vice president, speaking at a Needham investor conference. As of December, Pandora had 76.2 million active listeners and 1.58 billion listening hours across all platforms, and it comprises 8.6 percent of total US radio listening. The point of more personalization, like station recommendations, is to increase how much time each of the 76.2 million listeners spend tuning in. At the conference, Paschel said Pandora's model -- forsaking direct deals with labels to get its music instead through a license structure carved out by regulators -- means Pandora's market is fundamentally bigger. Subscription services like Beats and Spotify have higher licensing costs per track than Pandora, and that sets them up to rely on their ability to entice listeners to become paying subscribers. Pandora, on the other hand, turns to its free, ad-supported service as its big moneymaker. The audience size in the latter case is unfettered by getting listeners to cough up $10 a year, and so has the size advantage, he noted. Pandora faces increasing competition for Internet listeners, though. Giants like Apple and Google added new services like iTunes Radio and All Access last year, longtime players like Spotify and Slacker launched new features or shook things up with updates, and more are coming: Google is said to be rolling out another subscription service through YouTube next year, and Beats' paid subscription-only service is launching latter this month. Pandora, as always, reiterated Wednesday that it's listenership has risen unabated through all past rival introductions and will continue to do so as new competitors come to the market.
For Pandora, it's personal. The Internet's top radio service said Wednesday it would launch personalized station recommendations in its mobile app. The feature suggests new station ideas based on your listening preferences as well as what the company knows from its data about other listeners' habits, which includes 35 billion bits of "thumbs up, thumbs down" feedback, the company said.Listeners will be offered up to six artist station recommendations in their station list and when they create or delete a station.Related storiesIs 'Avatar' giving you the blues?Car Tech Live 151:The best of the Detroit auto show (podcast)EMI licenses songs to new ad-supported siteOn Lego Pandora, everyone gets along just fineCarmakers, suppliers ready Sync rivalsIt's "marrying all the data about you with the data we know about the masses," said Dominic Paschel, Pandora vice president, speaking at a Needham investor conference. As of December, Pandora had 76.2 million active listeners and 1.58 billion listening hours across all platforms, and it comprises 8.6 percent of total US radio listening. The point of more personalization, like station recommendations, is to increase how much time each of the 76.2 million listeners spend tuning in. At the conference, Paschel said Pandora's model -- forsaking direct deals with labels to get its music instead through a license structure carved out by regulators -- means Pandora's market is fundamentally bigger. Subscription services like Beats and Spotify have higher licensing costs per track than Pandora, and that sets them up to rely on their ability to entice listeners to become paying subscribers. Pandora, on the other hand, turns to its free, ad-supported service as its big moneymaker. The audience size in the latter case is unfettered by getting listeners to cough up $10 a year, and so has the size advantage, he noted. Pandora faces increasing competition for Internet listeners, though. Giants like Apple and Google added new services like iTunes Radio and All Access last year, longtime players like Spotify and Slacker launched new features or shook things up with updates, and more are coming: Google is said to be rolling out another subscription service through YouTube next year, and Beats' paid subscription-only service is launching latter this month. Pandora, as always, reiterated Wednesday that it's listenership has risen unabated through all past rival introductions and will continue to do so as new competitors come to the market.
Cowon D2+ hands-on
Cowon D2+ hands-on
I just got my hands on the latest D2+ MP3 player from Cowon, which began shipping in the U.S. earlier this week. Unlike the multihued models available overseas, the U.S. version of the D2+ only comes in black (with a possibility of silver coming eventually), and is priced at $139 (8GB) and $179 (16GB). If you remember the original Cowon D2 from 2007, then the D2+ isn't going to seem like much of a shocker. The majority of the spec sheet features are the same: 2.5-inch QVGA resistive touch screen; music playback (MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, WAV,APE), video (AVI, WMV), photos, FM radio, text reader, and voice recorder. Rated battery life is still the same, excellent 52 hours of audio and 10 hours of video. Dimensions, same. Buttons, same. Kickstand, USB port, SDHC slot...same, same, same.Fortunately, we were already big fans of the original D2, so Cowon didn't need to do much to keep us interested. The big news here is that Cowon upgraded the D2's already mind-blowing audio enhancement settings with the latest BBE+ technology (also included in the recent Cowon S9). I don't have an older D2 to compare against, but I can say subjectively that the sound really is fantastic, and I actually find the EQ and effect settings on the D2+ a little easier to navigate than on the S9--which emphasized presets over individual settings. The EQ on the D2+ also offers adjustable EQ frequency filters and bandwidth settings for the super-picky users, which I remember seeing on the S9 and Cowon O2, but not on the original D2.The graphic user interface on the Cowon D2+ has also been given a thorough polish, borrowing from the Cowon O2's cleaner, more modern looking icons and menus. I'll need a little more time with the D2+ to see if there have been any functional improvements to navigation and menus, but so far it just seems like a prettier-looking version of the D2's original (and practical) menu scheme.I do have some initial criticisms, though. First and foremost, there's no AAC audio support. I made this same complaint about the Cowon S9, but it seems even more relevant now that America's largest online music retailer (iTunes) sells its music in the AAC format and has ditched the DRM that once made songs incompatible with non-iPod devices. Don't get me wrong, I think iTunes should sell songs as MP3s just like the rest of the world (add an option for FLAC, while you're at it, Apple), but Zune, Sony, Samsung, and Creative have all seen the light on AAC, and Cowon should too. Another complaint I had of the Cowon S9 that I'll lay on the D2+ is support for h.264 videos. In the two years since the original D2, the worlds of online-video downloads and podcasts have exploded, and much of the content uses the iPod-compatible h.264 video format as a standard. If you could drag and drop this content onto the D2+ without tedious conversion, life would be sweet. For what it's worth, I was able to natively play the small-format XVID files offered over at Revision3.The third thing I noticed that I'm a little bummed about is that Cowon left off the metal accents that made the original D2 feel so classy and durable. Instead, the D2+ uses an all-plastic design that, frankly, feels just a little cheaper than the original D2. To make up for it, though, Cowon is selling a kit of metallic stickers (sold separately) to give your D2+ a little added *bling.* The decals are a fun idea (kinda), but it sure ain't metal.I'll have more thoughts to share next week. Until then, take a look at our Cowon D2+ photo gallery.
I just got my hands on the latest D2+ MP3 player from Cowon, which began shipping in the U.S. earlier this week. Unlike the multihued models available overseas, the U.S. version of the D2+ only comes in black (with a possibility of silver coming eventually), and is priced at $139 (8GB) and $179 (16GB). If you remember the original Cowon D2 from 2007, then the D2+ isn't going to seem like much of a shocker. The majority of the spec sheet features are the same: 2.5-inch QVGA resistive touch screen; music playback (MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, WAV,APE), video (AVI, WMV), photos, FM radio, text reader, and voice recorder. Rated battery life is still the same, excellent 52 hours of audio and 10 hours of video. Dimensions, same. Buttons, same. Kickstand, USB port, SDHC slot...same, same, same.Fortunately, we were already big fans of the original D2, so Cowon didn't need to do much to keep us interested. The big news here is that Cowon upgraded the D2's already mind-blowing audio enhancement settings with the latest BBE+ technology (also included in the recent Cowon S9). I don't have an older D2 to compare against, but I can say subjectively that the sound really is fantastic, and I actually find the EQ and effect settings on the D2+ a little easier to navigate than on the S9--which emphasized presets over individual settings. The EQ on the D2+ also offers adjustable EQ frequency filters and bandwidth settings for the super-picky users, which I remember seeing on the S9 and Cowon O2, but not on the original D2.The graphic user interface on the Cowon D2+ has also been given a thorough polish, borrowing from the Cowon O2's cleaner, more modern looking icons and menus. I'll need a little more time with the D2+ to see if there have been any functional improvements to navigation and menus, but so far it just seems like a prettier-looking version of the D2's original (and practical) menu scheme.I do have some initial criticisms, though. First and foremost, there's no AAC audio support. I made this same complaint about the Cowon S9, but it seems even more relevant now that America's largest online music retailer (iTunes) sells its music in the AAC format and has ditched the DRM that once made songs incompatible with non-iPod devices. Don't get me wrong, I think iTunes should sell songs as MP3s just like the rest of the world (add an option for FLAC, while you're at it, Apple), but Zune, Sony, Samsung, and Creative have all seen the light on AAC, and Cowon should too. Another complaint I had of the Cowon S9 that I'll lay on the D2+ is support for h.264 videos. In the two years since the original D2, the worlds of online-video downloads and podcasts have exploded, and much of the content uses the iPod-compatible h.264 video format as a standard. If you could drag and drop this content onto the D2+ without tedious conversion, life would be sweet. For what it's worth, I was able to natively play the small-format XVID files offered over at Revision3.The third thing I noticed that I'm a little bummed about is that Cowon left off the metal accents that made the original D2 feel so classy and durable. Instead, the D2+ uses an all-plastic design that, frankly, feels just a little cheaper than the original D2. To make up for it, though, Cowon is selling a kit of metallic stickers (sold separately) to give your D2+ a little added *bling.* The decals are a fun idea (kinda), but it sure ain't metal.I'll have more thoughts to share next week. Until then, take a look at our Cowon D2+ photo gallery.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)