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Yell’s properties do not include the U.S.-based Yellow Pages, which is operated by AT&T. Yell came to fruition with the debut of the British Yellow Pages in 1966, and expanded to the U.S. when it acquired Yellow Book USA for $665 million.

Microsoft may be interested in acquiring Yell Group, the British-based parent company of directories like the U.K.’s Yellow Pages and the United States’ Yellow Book, Reuters reported Tuesday. Yell isn’t commenting, but shares of the company stock rose up to 5.4 percent amid the speculation.

2:50 p.m.: Decker said things are doing well on user clicks on ads. “We’re very pleased where we stand on click yield,” which is ad coverage times click-through rate.

(Credit:
Dan Farber/CNET Networks)

2:59 p.m.: The advertising weakness among finance, travel, and retail advertisers has meant slower growth or “modest declines,” Decker said. The relative weakness hit both display and search ads. On the flip side, both types also stand to gain from online advantages, she said: “There are strong return-on-investment components that are very measurable in both search and display.” In other words, advertisers can measure bang for their buck.

“We are rapidly building out and differentiating our advertising network,” Yang said. The company is adding to capabilities in video, mobile, search, and display ads.

Yahoo President Susan Decker

2:11 p.m.: Nothing much new on Microsoft’s attempt to acquire Yahoo: “The board’s decision to reject a proposal was based on our business and our plans,” Yang said. “Our board and management team continue to be open to any and all alternatives,” including a deal with Microsoft. The company is “exploring a number of strategic alternatives.”

3:05 p.m.: Yang bids everybody adieu without any closing arguments or discussing the various elephants in the room–stay tuned for further thoughts on that point. So we’ll close by mixing two of his earlier metaphors: “Our results this quarter demonstrate we are on the right track. We are pursuing the right strategy and it’s beginning to bear fruit.”

The following is a record of a live report of Yahoo’s conference call with financial analysts discussing the company’s first-quarter results.

2:15 p.m.: There are uncertainties from the overall economy, but like Eric Schmidt at Google, Yahoo was bullish: “We have a diverse advertiser base and expect ad budgets will continue to move online. Targeting continues to get more attractive during (economic) softness.

2:19 p.m.: Yahoo stock is down 19 cents to $28.35 in after-hours trading.

2:18 p.m.: President Sue Decker said search has improved, including relevance scores that show how well ads match what searchers are looking for. “We’ve come from behind and closed the relevancy gap,” she said. Citing various statistics, she added, “These are the most material gains in key numerical indicators…since five years ago.”

2:49 p.m: Traffic acquisition costs (TAC)–the commission rates Yahoo pays to partners that host Yahoo ads–are up 4 percent because the company has to compete, Jorgensen said. “There is still upward pressure on TAC rates and (what we) pay partners as the competitive dynamics get more difficult,” he said.

2:09 p.m.: Yang adds, Yahoo’s results “are all the more remarkable when you consider the environment and the uncertainty resulting from Microsoft’s unsolicited proposal.”

2:32 p.m.: Decker has sweeping words for the company’s position. “We are innovating more rapidly and effectively, delivering on our roadmap, expanding our partnerships, and receiving positive customer reviews.”

2:30 p.m.: Lots of happy talk about display ads. Yang: “While we believe in search, our largest opportunity is in display. We have positioned ourselves to gain share in this huge opportunity.” Decker: Yahoo is “on the verge of fundamentally changing the game” in the display-ad business.

3:04 p.m.: Asked if advertisers were spooked by the Microsoft offer, Yang said it was a relatively minor point. “We are watching the economy a lot more than the Microsoft uncertainty. It’s hard to say (there was) any impact.”

3:02 p.m.: “We did see very strong growth in paid clicks in the U.S. vs. the market,” Decker said. Paid clicks are a very important measurement for search ads, both in terms of relevance and as a way to actually generate revenue.

2:23 p.m.: Video is getting more important. The launch of Flickr video earlier this month already “quadrupled video uploads by users across the entire Yahoo network,” Decker said.

2:02 p.m.: It’s starting.

2:42 p.m.: Jorgensen: Yahoo’s headcount dropped from 14,300 at the end of last year to 13,800. That includes 600 new hires, offset by the company’s layoff.

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang

(Credit:
Yahoo)

(Credit:
Yahoo)

2:39 p.m.: CFO Blake Jorgensen says the overall ad market in the first quarter was strong among advertisers in the automotive and consumer packaged goods areas. But there was “some softening” in finance, travel, and retail. And of online advertising in general, he said: “Advertisers’ budgets may fall, but we believe the return on investment of online ads compared to other media may cushion the impact on our industry.”

2:07 p.m.: Chief Executive Jerry Yang: “We are very proud of our first-quarter results…We are raising our cash flow guidance for the year.”

2:24 p.m.: Decker says Yahoo will be getting more personal: “Soon we’ll begin testing content optimization capabilities on the home page.”

(Credit:
Yahoo)

2:01 p.m. PDT: The call is getting started. For background, here’s a link to Yahoo’s financial results for the first quarter of 2008. To recap, Yahoo’s net income was essentially flat, excluding a gain from its stake in business-to-business site Alibaba, but revenue excluding commissions paid to partners rose 14 percent to $1.532 billion.

Yahoo CFO Blake Jorgensen

2:52 p.m.:
Variable minimum bids have launched with a limited number of search keywords in the U.S. “We’ll be rolling it out to larger markets outside the U.S. later this year and to emerging markets most likely next year,” Decker said.

commentary

As such, Google doesn’t need to win you or me over to Chrome. Its focus is on Web application developers. Once it has those folks optimizing their applications for Chrome, you and I will follow because Chrome will deliver the best experience for working on the Web, rather than simply browsing it.

Cause for alarm? Of course not. Google never intended Chrome to be a one-day-wonder, and I doubt the company is worried about Chrome’s market share today. The battle will be won over years, and it will be fought at the developer level against Silverlight and Flash, rather than at the browser level with
Firefox and Internet Explorer, and perhaps particularly within the enterprise.

Google Chrome has now settled into a holding pattern around 0.7 percent browser market share.

As new market-share data from Net Applications shows, Google’s Chrome got off to a roaring start, and has been coming down to earth lately. In its first few days after release, Google Chrome went as high as 1.16 percent market share, but it started dropping after the euphoria of the announcement died down.

Google is on the brink of buying noted video game maker Valve Software, according to a report in The Inquirer that cites “well-placed sources.”

While a lot of that is specific to games today, I see no reason why it might not apply more broadly. Google, of course, likes to be the clearinghouse for online activity, and this could add some expertise.

Update 9:40 a.m. PDT: Gaming site Kotaku threw some cold water on the report after speaking to Doug Lombardi, Valve’s director of marketing. The site said Lombardi called the Google acquisition report “purely a rumor, a bit of fiction.” Though that wasn’t a direct quote, and there’s some wiggle room in the wording, Kotaku also concluded that Google is “out of the picture.”

That rationale makes some sense to me as well, in part because getting into the video game business in and of itself doesn’t sound terribly well aligned with Google’s mission “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Steam is an online foundation for selling and distributing games, updating patches, enabling multiplayer online chat, and using digital rights management to control who has permission to use elements like game versions or game terrain.

Bellevue, Wash.-based Valve rose to prominence through games such as its Half Life series, but The Inquirer’s Charlie Demerjian speculates the reason Google would be most interested in the company is its Steam Powered technology, a multipurpose online hub with throngs of users.

Activity on Valve's Steam Powered service currently crests with about 1.2 million users. (Click to enlarge.)

“We do not comment on market rumor or speculation,” Google said in a statement. Valve didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

See update below that dashes some cold water on the report.

(Credit:
Valve Software)

Steam Powered shows 448 games available now, and in February, Valve said Steam had 15 million account holders. But this is the more telling statistic: During peak hours, online activity crests at about 1.2 million users every day. That’s clearly a lot of activity.

(Credit:
Yugster)

Crazy-cool, or just plain crazy? I haven’t been able to dig up a single review of this product, so I can’t say for sure if it works well as a mouse or phone. But if you travel a lot and rely heavily on VoIP for cheap/free calls, this could be a swell companion. Plus, you can indulge all your Star Trek IV Scotty fantasies: “Hello, computer.” (You know, the scene where he talks into the mouse… Do I have to explain everything?)

Find more deals, coupon codes, and bargains on CNET’s Shopper.com.

On the surface, the TPUNMAIPC looks like a fairly typical USB-powered travel mouse–and $17.95 is not a bad price for such a rodent. But it also doubles as a voice-over-IP handset and speakerphone, meaning you can use it to take and make calls over Skype, Google Talk, Gizmo5, or whatever is your voice-over-IP service of choice.

It’s a mouse. No, it’s a phone. It’s two, two, two products in one! The Targus Portable USB Notebook Mouse and Internet Phone Combo (whew–exhausted from typing all that) is $17.95 (plus 5 bucks shipping) today only from Yugster, a deal-of-the-day site much like Woot.

Malviya said LongJump would charge on a CPU basis, rather than by the number of users. The price ranges between $60,000 to $240,000, depending on the platform and range of options selected.

Now LongJump, which sells an on demand enterprise applications platform, is licensing technology that will let IT managers build apps on a cloud platform as a service and keep local control of their data. LongJump’s CEO, Pankaj Malviya, said the product also will reduce the time involved in a company creating a private cloud where it can build build customized applications.

LongJump is one of the signatories to the Open Cloud Manifesto unveiled on Monday.

The company is also hoping to reach software developers, who want to put out branded software-as-a-service products. Malviya said that this is a group which heretofore has been priced out of the market for “comprehensive, multi-tenant platforms.” In other words, the users and applications will share an infrastructure and code base that will be managed centrally.

As cloud computing edges forward in fits and starts, one recurring question is whether more companies will opt to put their IT services on so-called public clouds or private ones.

The former are available to any individual or business, which essentially rent out a menu of scalable resources. That’s a popular option for startups and fledgling outfits, which can’t afford to sink much money into paying for an extensive hardware infrastructure. Private clouds, on the other hand, typically offer stronger security and reliability and are thought to have special appeal to IT managers keen on keeping their use restricted to company employees.

Here is some of what Pash says an Xbox 360 owner can do following the hack: stream Watch Now movies directly to the Media Center player; download Watch Now movies to a “Watch Later” gallery; search for movies by keyword; browse DVDs; Watch Now movies by genre; and add, remove, and move movies in your queue.

At Lifehacker.com, Adam Pash writes that all anyone needs is an Xbox 360, a
Windows Vista PC, a Netflix account, and a free Windows Media Center plug-in called vmcNetflix.

Soon, a hack may be unnecessary. Rumors are that Microsoft will announce this year that it has cut a deal to deliver Netlix’s Watch Now service on the Xbox.

Of course, this is more functionality than the $100 Netflix Box offers. Roku has received favorable reviews for streaming movies from the Web to television sets without long delays and at a reasonable price.

Someone has already figured out how to hack the
Xbox 360 video game console and enable it to play Netflix streaming movies.

People aren’t waiting for Microsoft to announce a deal with Netflix.

CNET’s Josh Lowensohn contributed to this report.

The widget is updated every day after 9 p.m. with the current stock of each store.

According to a man who checked all 188 Apple stores via the company’s iPhone Availability widget, the iPhone 3G is in very short supply, says Fortune’s Apple 2.0 blog. In total, it appears the device is sold out in 21 states.

These days, Apple has enlisted a widget to deliver its bad news.

If you live in one of those states and are able to get a phone from an Apple store there Tuesday, let us know in the comments.

Though AT&T stores nationwide were also carrying the iPhone when it launched Friday, many of them are still sold out of the devices. All three AT&T stores in downtown San Francisco reported that they still don’t have any in stock as of 9:30 a.m. PDT Tuesday.

Updated at 10:04 a.m. PDT to correct the total number of Apple stores there were checked for
iPhone availability. The total is 188.

The list of states fresh out of iPhones includes: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin.

The first, called MobileFiles, will let you view e-mail attachments, including Google and Box.net documents from your iPhone, something that iPhones don’t currently allow. Quickoffice is expected to launch MobileFiles as a free, view-only app in November.

Here at the CTIA Wireless conference in San Francisco, Quickoffice, historically a mobile documents viewer for Nokia phones, is showing off demos for four new
iPhone and
iPod Touch apps aimed at Apple’s contingent of MobileMe users.

Following that, Quickoffice plans to release three more applications for reading and editing spreadsheets, Microsoft Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations, respectively. Called Quicksheet, Quickpoint, and Quickword, the three editors will likely go for $10 apiece. On the performance end, Quicksheet and Quickword clearly displayed MobileMe attachments as multipage files and allowed users two ways to edit by tapping the screen. $30 seems like a hefty surcharge for the privilege of editing and saving all three document types back to the MobileMe account from the iPhone, especially when the viewing documents alone will be free. Not all users will need all three editors, but those who do should receive a markdown for purchasing the entire suite.

Unless a competitor steps up to challenge the pricing and app layout, by the time Quickoffice’s premium applications launch in Q1, Quickoffice will have the market advantage. We haven’t heard much from DataViz, the likeliest contender, about an iPhone play, though with the company fresh off releasing new versions of its flagship viewer, Documents To Go, for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs and BlackBerry, iPhone is their next logical platform to conquer.

Neither side prevailed entirely in this round. Blizzard won summary judgment in its copyright claims; Donnelly won summary judgment on part of the DMCA claim. The rest will be resolved later, meaning the case continues until there’s a settlement–or a trial and eventual verdict.

In his opinion, Judge Campbell in Arizona wrote: “Although the Court appreciates these policy arguments and has benefitted from their excellent presentation, the Court is not a policy-making body. The Court’s obligation is to apply the law, particularly the law of the Ninth Circuit… No matter how persuasive arguments might be for positions contrary to Ninth Circuit law, this Court is not free to depart from that law.”

(Credit:
Blizzard Entertainment)

The case is relatively unusual in that it attracted an amicus brief filed by Public Knowledge, a group that advocates scaling back copyright law. It said that Blizzard’s copyright theory was overly broad and dangerous.

1. The parties’ motions for summary judgment (Dkt. ##39, 45) are granted in part and denied in part. The Court grants summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to MDY’s liability for tortious interference (Count I) and contributory and vicarious copyright infringement (Counts II-III); grants summary judgment in favor of MDY on the portion of the DMCA claim (Count IV) that is based on 17 U.S.C. ? 1201(a)(2) and applies to Blizzard’s game client software code; grants summary judgment in favor of MDY on the unfair competition claim (Count VI); and denies summary judgment on the unjust enrichment claim (Count VII).

Because World of Warcraft is so sprawling and popular–with something like 10 million active players and $1.5 billion in annual revenue–players have a strong incentive to find ways to cheat, “farm” gold, or advance in character levels more rapidly than the game’s designers intended. Blizzard responded with a utility called Warden, which tries to detect illicit third-party programs.

The lawsuit represents Blizzard’s attempts to continue by legal means what it has been trying to do for years through technical methods.

In October 2006, Blizzard representatives visited Donnelly and asked him to stop distributing his software. He replied later that day with a lawsuit asking the judge to rule that Glider was perfectly legal; Blizzard then filed a countersuit alleging copyright, trademark, and DMCA infringement.

A scene from Burning Crusade, Blizzard Entertainment's first major expansion to its venerable World of Warcraft game.

Blizzard alleges that MDY has violated the DMCA. Specifically, Blizzard claims that MDY traffics in technological products, services, devices, or components designed to circumvent technological measures Blizzard has put in place to control access to its copyrighted work and to protect its rights as the copyright owner of WoW. Blizzard moves for summary judgment on all of its DMCA claims. MDY moves for summary judgment on Blizzard’s claim under 17 U.S.C. ? 1201(a)(2). The Court will grant MDY’s motion insofar as it applies to Blizzard’s game client software code, but deny the motions in all other respects.

Read on for some excerpts from the court opinion:

A federal judge has sided with the maker of World of Warcraft in its attempt to shut down a third-party application that allows players to advance more quickly in the game than they normally could.

U.S. District Judge David Campbell ruled that because using the Glider ‘bot is prohibited by Blizzard’s World of Warcraft license, “Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard’s copyright.”

Blizzard Entertainment won a partial victory on Monday when a court granted its request for summary judgment on copyright infringement grounds. Blizzard is suing Michael Donnelly of MDY Industries, which sells the WoWGlider (or MMO Glider) utility for $25 and has sold some 100,000 copies.

He did, however, reject part of Blizzard’s attempts to invoke the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s controversial anti-circumvention sections against Donnelly. (The DMCA follows a parallel track to traditional copyright law, meaning it’s possible to infringe a copyright without violating the DMCA too.)

The Court reaches the following conclusions on the basis of undisputed facts, construction of the EULA and TOU, and controlling Ninth Circuit law: Blizzard owns a valid copyright in the game client software, Blizzard has granted a limited license for WoW players to use the software, use of the software with Glider falls outside the scope of the license established in section 4 of the TOU, use of Glider includes copying to RAM within the meaning of section 106 of the Copyright Act, users of WoW and Glider are not entitled to a section 117 defense, and Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard’s copyright. MDY does not dispute that the other requirements for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement are met, nor has MDY established a misuse defense. The Court accordingly will grant summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to liability on the contributory and vicarious copyright infringement claims in Counts II and III.