After a long wait, Yahoo! now has satellite imagery available on its maps beta at maps.yahoo.com/beta (more details are available on their blog post). I’ve written about Yahoo’s maps beta previously, and a major feature that I just love is the multi-point directions. Now honestly, I don’t use satellite imagery very often – it’s usually to understand the geography for new locations so that I can recognize landmarks. But it is really darn helpful in those instances and now Yahoo! gives its users a choice. A few details that Yahoo! provided in a briefing prior to their launch:

-          There is high resolution imagery within the lower 48 states in the US

-          There is medium resolution for the rest of the world

-          The imagery is a seamless, blended view unavailable with other satellite maps

So I put Yahoo’s service to the test against Google Maps and Windows Live Local. Below are the images from our new Foster City office from each of these services. I also tested these services to view my childhood home in suburban Detroit and my former residence in the Boston area. The result: in all three cases, Yahoo’s satellite imagery (which is provided by Aeriels Express and icubed) was not as detailed as the others.

On the suggestion of the Yahoo! team, I also took a look at Redding, California, which they said would show their differentiation (my search was for a Starbucks in Redding). Sure enough, Yahoo! Maps had just as good detail as Windows Live (whose maps was black and white) and blew Google Maps away.

In the end, Google got a lot of the glory for having satellite maps first and continues to entertain us for hours on end with Google Earth. But satellite imagery is to some degree now a commodity within a mapping service – each of the services will continue to add greater detail over time, but it’s become another check box on the feature list.

My take: Microsoft’s heritage in mapping (it’s been the long time provider of maps for businesses via its MapPoint division) will make a difference in the long run. Its wonderful bird’s eye view provides much greater detail than satellite imagery (albeit, it's a little confusing to navigate). Microsoft is also experimenting with street-level views. I’m sure Yahoo! and Google have neat things cooking in their labs as well (and don't forget A9's cool block view), but it doesn’t appear that these players have the depth of resources or the experiences to build new mapping experiences.

I’d love to hear how you use maps – do you switch mapping/local search services because of the imaging features, or does functionality like multi-point driving, saved addresses, and personalization matter more?

Microsoft released its new Windows Live Mail Desktop (WLMD) to about 100 beta testers today. The idea behind WLMD is that some users may prefer having an offline, client-based experience in conjunction with their Web-based mail convenience.

Microsoft made available some screenshots which I thought I’d share (with their permission). I have not had the opportunity to see the product, but the screenshots give some insight into what’s different:

-         POP/IMAP access: You’ll be able to receive any email account with POP/IMAP access. Even better, you’ll be able to segment each of those accounts into different groups, with different aliases. No more mixing up email accounts that get pooled into one client. The WLMD blog has an amusing dating example that explains why this might be important.

-         Integrated RSS feeds: No need to use another client to see those feeds. I suspect that they will be synchronized with the feeds that appear on live.com.

-         Advertising: Ads appear as a skyscraper ad on the right in the Inbox screenshot – note that it is Windows Live ad and NOT the MSN Messenger graphic, which is part of the actual email. It appears that there are no ads within the individual opened emails.

Overall, this is another good advancement in the Live.com suite of products that have been rapidly deployed by Microsoft. It taps into the company’s heritage of software but is grounded on the strong Web-based Live.com platform. What will be interesting to see is if non-Live.com users – like Yahoo! Mail or even Gmail -- start using this product to consolidate all of their different accounts. In my case, I have several personal email accounts that I use, and I’m constantly messing up which address I use to reply to which message!

And if you’re trying to keep track of all of Live.com’s new services, News.com has a handy-dandy reference chart.

Inbox screenshot

Open message screenshot

New email with photos inserted

Yahoo! Answers launched today at answers.yahoo.com. The service allows users to 1) ask questions; 2) answer them; and 3) discover and browse through all of the answered questions that others have posed.

Here are a few great examples of the helpful (and the esoteric) Q&A taking place.

-         What’s the best microphone or headset for recording a podcast?

-         Where is a good place to live in or near San Jose, CA?

-         Why doesn’t Hello Kitty have a mouth?

The service is free, and even more importantly, is really easy to use. Questions are grouped into categories, there’s a search to find more answers, and best of all, there’s a reputation/feedback system built in.

Compare this to Google Answers or specialty sites like Guru.com – both of these sites are paid services, which makes it a lot more cumbersome to use and also raises the stakes for both the asker and the answerer. By keeping it free, Yahoo! keeps it light but also pretty darn useful. Also, the universe expands tremendously with Yahoo’s service – Google says it has something like 500 pre-vetted answerers while Guru.com serves as an intro to freelancers.

How will Yahoo! benefit? Well, I don’t think they were leaving much money on the table by foregoing the ability to charge. In fact, there’s probably quite a bit more opportunity in the form of advertising, especially since advertisers could potentially buy ad inventory in specific categories or target ads by specific keywords.

Two other ways Yahoo! benefits: 1) It encourages users to become active, participating Yahoo! community members; and 2) it creates new content that can be indexed and searched by Yahoo! (as well as other search engines).

One key area to watch: local advice. This has the potential of causing a huge dent in start-ups like Insider’s Guide or Judy’s Book, primarily because it’s so easy to use and doesn’t require forming a formal social network. I fully expect Yahoo! to integrate Answers into Yahoo! Local in the near future.

I just got out of a briefing with Erik Jorgensen, GM of Microsoft’s new Search & Mapping group. MSFT announced that it will launch Windows Live Local at local.live.com tomorrow (slated to go live at 9am PST). I’ve included a few screenshots  to MSFT provided, but you’ll be able to try it out soon enough.

A key and much anticipated feature will be the bird’s eye view, which is in addition to satellite (which MSFT calls Aerial) views and regular road maps. The screenshots I’ve included are for the Coit Tower in San Francisco – you can see that there’s a great deal more detail in the bird’s eye view. (Note: this feature will be available to only about 25% of the US population).

Why is that bird’s eye view important? Here’s one example – I recently had to find an apartment building in a large complex – the street address only took me to the corner of the complex. Satellite maps from Google didn’t provide enough resolution, and also showed me the tops of very similar-looking buidings.

I ended up driving around the 40+ apartment buildings looking for one specific place – with an irate kid in the back seat. The person I was visiting could have browsed to the bird’s eye view of her apartment, label it with a “pushpin” on the service, and then send it to me as a link via email.

There are a few other improvements over Virtual Earth (virtualearth.com will redirect to local.live.com). A key one is full integration of directions into the service. Right click on any location – even without typing in the address – and you’ll get direction to/from that place. Another interesting feature that’s not in the official press release is the ability to share mapping within MSN Messenger. When you invite someone into the service, you can both interact within the map and local search. Trying to find a good place for lunch? Do a search for “sushi”, agree on a place, and then use the bird’s eye view to agree on a specific meeting place.

How does this service compare to the Google and Yahoo! mapping and local services? Google has road and satellite imagery and Yahoo! has only road maps. Yahoo! has more user-generated content that aids decision making while Google has more robust Web spidering – Windows Live Local is still behind in those areas. But for certain circumstances, I can foresee myself switching over to this new service to utilize the bird’s eye view – it’s much more than nice-to-have eye candy. The question will be if people will stay and switch their mapping and local preferences over to Microsoft…I suspect that this new offering is a definite step in that direction.

Update: I pulled the press release as I didn't realize that it hadn't crossed the wire. When it does, I'll post it again.

Update: Here's the press release.

New Windows Live Local Service Delivers State-of-the-Art Advances for
Web-Based Mapping and Local Search

Service offers unique bird’s-eye exploration of U.S. cities with
one-of-a-kind tools.

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 8, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today introduced a beta
version of Windows Live™ Local, an online local search and mapping service
that combines unique bird’s-eye imagery with advanced driving directions,
Yellow Pages and other local search tools. Powered by Virtual Earth™ mapping
and location platform, these features give users useful new ways to map and
find directions to various locations and better visualize their surroundings
from multiple aerial vantage points.

“We believe Windows Live Local sets a new standard for what people can do
with maps, directions and local search,” said Christopher Payne, corporate
vice president of MSN Search at Microsoft. “The combination of immersive
aerial imagery, customizable map annotations, innovative driving directions
and the ability to share local search information with others gives users an
incredibly powerful and easy way to find what they want and get where they
want to go.”

The new service, located at http://local.live.com, contains a range of new
capabilities that will be exciting to search and mapping users. The most
visible of these features is a new 45-degree bird’s-eye view of major U.S.
cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and Las
Vegas. Covering about a quarter of the U.S., these bird’s-eye images are
captured by Pictometry International Corp. via low-flying airplanes and then
integrated with road and satellite maps to simulate 360-degree panoramas
that can be viewed from four compass directions. On-screen navigational
tools and preview tiles enable navigation between directional views or
zooming in closer to a destination. Now people will be able to experience
what it’s like to be there, whether they are evaluating a new house to buy,
choosing the exact location to meet someone, or just taking a virtual
vacation. Over the next couple of years, Microsoft plans to continuously
update bird’s-eye, aerial, and road map data and imagery as well as local
listings and information.

Taking the Guesswork Out of Getting There

The new Windows Live Local service also gives users some great new ways to
identify where they want to go and map the best route to get there. First,
users will be able to point to anyplace on the map that interests them and
immediately calculate directions to it. Now, even if the user doesn’t know
the address or name of a place — such as a park, shopping mall, parking
garage or other spot that is hard to identify by address or name — he or she
can simply point, click and get directions to that location. In addition,
the new service provides a range of new driving direction capabilities,
including step-by-step directions using bird’s-eye or satellite views,
identification of construction areas along a specific route, and several
innovative print options such as print-only directions, the addition of
notes to printed directions, and thumbnail pictures of each turn in the
route. An updated version of Location Finder is also available in Windows
Live Local to help people using a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop, Tablet PC or desktop
PC to easily position their current location as a starting point to their
search experience. The degree of accuracy is often within a few hundred feet
of a user’s actual location.

Additional Ways to Share; More Bird’s-Eye Views Planned

Today’s launch also offers users the ability to customize their maps by
adding their own user-created Pushpins, which can be annotated with useful
information about a location such as which corner of an intersection to
meet, the baseball field and time “Johnny’s” game will start, or the camping
site selected for the annual summer trip. Pushpins can be used to create
itineraries for a set of activities and in all cases can be easily shared
with others through e-mail, Web logs, MSN® Spaces or instant messages sent
with MSN Messenger.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.

I invited my colleague, Charlie Golvin, to write a review of Google Local for Mobile because: 1) Charlie's the Forrester consumer wireless analyst; and 2) I have a Blackberry which isn't supported by the new service. As you'll see below, Charlie has access to *many* different types of phones! Hope you enjoy his perspective.

Google released its Google Local for Mobile application today. It’s a Java app that brings much of the functionality of Google Local to the mobile phone, adapted for the small screen environment in mostly the clever way that you would expect from those wicked smaht folks. To download the app you can either navigate on your phone’s browser to http://google.com/glm and answer the questions the site poses to you regarding carrier, phone maker, and phone model, or you can use your desktop browser to answer the same set of questions and have Google send your phone an SMS with the link to the right version of the app (provided you don’t mind giving Google your phone number, just like you didn’t as a latecomer to Gmail). If you’re on a network like Verizon, Alltel, or US Cellular that uses BREW applications, you’re out of luck — presumably because this free app doesn’t make it worthwhile for Google to pay Qualcomm, and because Google doesn’t want to go through the carriers but prefers to distribute directly. So, if you’re a Cingular, T-mobile, or Sprint subscriber, have at it.

I actually played with GLM on three different phones — a Motorola ROKR, a Nokia 7610, and a Samsung SPH-A940, only the first of which is listed as supported by Google. For the Nokia I chose a version for another Series 60 phone (the 6620) and the Samsung auto-detected as a slightly older model. In both of these cases there were a few small anomalies that were annoying but far from rendered the app unusable. By far the best features were the automatic click-to-dial associated with any search result, and the driving directions. Each step in the directions is rendered on the map as a text box pointing on the map to your point along your journey, you press the ‘3’ key to advance to the next step and ‘1’ for the previous.

For those who have already become used to the SMS interface to Google Local, this app is unlikely to alter your behavior in areas you know well. However, when traveling out of your comfort zone you will likely prefer the Java app primarily for the mapping feature. My main criticism is that the satellite imagery serves no useful purpose on such low resolution displays, and only serves to drive up network usage while degrading performance — stick with the maps.

While the carriers may bemoan the fact that Google is taking traffic from their own yellow pages and directory information services, in truth this is a very good thing for them. The familiar Google interface as a simple extension of the desktop experience will drive users to consume more data on their phones, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean revenue for carriers like Sprint who price data flat, it means that consumers are shifting their behavior from voice to voice and data -- which is the most significant impediment to the adoption of other data services today.

I had a chance to put the new Yahoo! Maps through its paces this weekend as I went around to open houses on Sunday. Anyone who's been through the drill knows what a pain it is to do this!

First, a quick overview of what's new and different with Yahoo! Maps. 1) Great functionality and update to Yahoo! Maps, especially removing the need for page refreshes thanks to a nice Flash implementation (think Google Maps but with Flash instead of AJAX); 2) Multi-point mapping. Very, very key when managing an open house afternoon; 3) The back button works -- thanks to Flash, I can use the back button to back up when a refinement I've made isn't what I want; and 4) the URL updates automatically, meaning I can copy and send the URL to my husband/broker to give them the directions.

In a word, it was wonderful. I used one browser window to look up open houses and then plotted them on the map. I could drag and drop locations within the directions (albeit, it was a little cumbersome to do this). At the end of the process, I did two things -- I printed a copy of the directions and I also used Yahoo!'s "Send to Phone" option to SMS the directions to my cell.

Contrast that to the process I used last weekend.

1) Find and enter the address each time into Google Maps.
2) Print out each map.
3) Figure out what order to see the houses in with all of them laid out on the table.
4) Stack the houses into the order I was hoping to see them in.
5) Pray while driving around with two kids that the pile didn't get re-ordered. My prayers were not answered. Realized that I should have stapled the entire pile together (aargh).

There's still a lot of work for Yahoo! to do, but it's a big step in the right direction. I have long thought that the Yahoo! Local service is heads and shoulders above Google's offerings -- with the exception of the maps. This should go a long way to helping Yahoo! regain that mapping ground, especially as its made the SDK much more robust for Maps.

But here's the big question -- is this all enough to "win" against Google Maps and keep MSN's Virtual Earth at bay? Robert Scoble doesn't think so and I have to agree with him. This is because the key to a mapping service's success is that it's used outside of the service itself by developers who will tap into the mapping APIs. Scoble uses Zvents as an example and I had a chance to speak with Ethan Stock aobut the service and their use of Google Maps on Friday. Zvents was caught in the middle of a minor hailstorm on Friday thanks to Scoble's post (Ethan blogs about it). At issue are the terms of service which restricted how many server calls can be made and whether commercial applications could access the APIs. Yahoo! revised the TOS and all seems to have died down. But at the core of the issue is a general distrust that Google/MSN/Yahoo! will eventually start charging for access to the maps at some point in the future. As I mentioned in my post about Microsoft's Live initiative, trust will be a major issue for all of these players, but especially so for Yahoo! and Microsoft as Google continues to command mindshare with developers.

The news is out (thanks to the WSJ – subscription required) that Google Base, the long-anticipated Google classifieds and listings service, made a fleeting debut. The site (base.google.com) is now down, but there are a few screenshots floating around (see below for links). Here’s what the original page had in terms of text before it was taken down:

“Post your items on Google.

Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. We’ll host your content and make it searchable online for free.

Examples of items you can find in Google Base:

• Description of your party planning service
• Articles on current events from your website
• Listing of your used car for sale
• Database of protein structures

You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local.”

The WSJ’s take is that this is Google’s assault on eBay. Others will be sure to look at it as a way to link classifieds and the anticipated Google Wallet. But I think it’s actually much, much bigger. Google’s main search index relies on spiders to crawl the Web and the much bally-hooed Page Rank system to understand relevancy. Neither work well in a database environment where pages are generated dynamically and linked pages don’t exist. I believe this is Google’s way to not only build a lucrative listings business but also to flesh out other areas like Froogle and Local with deep content that’s otherwise inaccessible or just plain doesn’t exist.

But what’s interesting to me is that rather than scrape existing databases, Google is going to encourage people, businesses, and organizations to submit their listings directly to Google. This avoids any potential “cease and desist” orders like the one that Oodle.com recently received from Craigslist.org for scrapping its listings. By actually owning a structured database that’s clean from the start (no need for de-duping scripts like those employed by Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com), Google can focus on what it does best – getting loads of consumers and businesses to use its services. Just a point of comparison – Craigslist.org had 4.8 million visitors in the US in September, a drop in the bucket compared to the kind of traffic that Google can drive.

What are the implications? First, it will be a while before Google Base becomes a category killer, but it will exert pressure in much the same way that online job boards like Monster.com have been squeezing print recruitment classifieds for the past 11 years. The likes of Monster, CareerBuilder, and HotJobs didn’t have to worry much about start-ups like Indeed.com and SimplyHired, but when Google comes along and integrates database listings into general search results, then job boards should start worrying. This is because job-related search terms are a growing part of search revenues, with savvy company recruiters already advertising on those keywords (do a search on “technology jobs” and see who’s advertising).

Second, I would expect at some point for Google to tie self-publishing (e.g. Blogger), Google Groups, and Google Base together. For example, I could publish to my blog in a structured format (yes, this is akin to structured blogging), add some tags and have it appear on both my blog and also in Google Base where it can be populated throughout Google. So if I’m selling my car, I can choose a Google Base template and voila, I’m published throughout the Google Network.

I had a chance recently to sit down with Yahoo! Local’s Paul Levine to discuss the new features rolled out on the site this past week. Two features in particular caught my eye. First, virtually every town -- and even neighborhoods in major metro areas – has additional content. Paul described that building such detail by hand would have been impossible, but with a database of geocoded information, Yahoo! Local could do this automatically. The details are obviously richer on the coasts, but I checked out my home town of Riverview, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit), and the results were fairly decent. But then I ventured into Canada, Kentucky, and found almost nothing (there was a photo in Yahoo! Images of the post office). Clearly, a spidered, automatic solution goes a long way to helping organize information, but it doesn’t help if it’s just not there!

This points to the second interesting thing I noticed about the new features – the presence of user reviews. Yahoo! not only exposes reviews, but also encourages site users to rate their favorite hair salon, great dry cleaner, and my tongue-in-check favorite, “honest mechanic”. The lack of good, updated, and most importantly, authentic local content on the Web means that any successful local search site is going to have to get it created. In this case, Yahoo! is using reviews as a starting point. For an example of how far user-generated content can go, take a look at DavisWiki.org – yes, it’s a wiki for Davis, California. Being a college town, it has a significantly higher population that actually knows what a wiki is, but still, this site is impressive, with pages ranging from the Happy Hour Drink specials to a list of Comfy Chairs around town. You can’t get much more authentic than this!

One of the most significant things about the new Yahoo! Local page is that it moves the metaphor for “local” beyond search and into browse. Just as I often browse for general information rather than search for it, there may be specific use cases where local information is better discovered and absorbed through a browsing experience. So looking for a specific business may be well served by search, but if I’m looking for ideas on what to do on Saturday, or a guide to good kite-flying places in San Francisco, I’m much more likely to turn to resources like Daily Candy and goCityKids, respectively. While Yahoo! Local can’t compete against the dedicated editorial and structured content that these great sites provide, it can start compiling that content into these local portals. I believe that to be successful, “local search” will have to start accommodating these broader, localized needs that go beyond simply business listings.

Verizon’s Pay For Call Service

And speaking about business listings, let’s take a few minutes to look at Verizon’s entry into the pay-per-call advertising space. I had a chance to get the details on their new service from Scott Laver, SuperPages.com President, which I think is innovative on three fronts.

First, Verizon will provide businesses the option to have a local phone number, rather than a toll-free number. One of the biggest problems local search and Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) sites have is the high number of national advertisers on the pages – it just ruins the local experience. A key differentiator for a local business is having a local exchange, and existing pay-per-call offerings from companies like Ingenio offer only toll-free numbers. (BTW, note that Verizon’s service is called “Pay For Calls” (PFC) to distinguish itself from Ingenio’s trademarked term, “Pay Per Call”.)

Second, Verizon’s plan to drive calls from its print yellow pages to the top PFC advertisers is brilliant. The print book already drives significant traffic calls to businesses – so why not advertise and capture some of that traffic to the top advertisers in a category? So the florist who is the top bidder will get the xxx-xxxx number that’s advertised in the print book redirected to it. What remains to be seen is if consumers will call a number in a generic ad, especially when that ad has to compete against Verizon’s existing print advertisers.

Third, Verizon plans to distribute and syndicate the PFC ads to other sites on a cost-per-click basis, rather than forcing other sites to create a separate tier for PFC ads. For example, a florist PFC ad may appear on Google as a text ad, with the clickthrough taking the user to a landing page that shows the phone number. Verizon pays for the clickthrough on Google, and then hopefully gets paid for the callthrough to the advertiser – the trick will be that Verizon will have to manage the arbitrage between paying cents for the clickthrough versus getting paid dollars for the callthrough. In many ways, this is the most important innovation Verizon is considering, as it will be important for them to get additional distribution for their advertisers. 

I believe that Verizon is one of the ideal players to be offering this service. As a yellow pages provider, most of its advertisers are in the services business, which typically don’t have Web sites – or if they do, only provide information rather than close transactions on them. For these services business, PFC works great as they can answer questions and schedule the service right away. Verizon also has at its disposal the biggest call through driving service already – the print yellow pages. Combined with its cost-per-click offering, full service support, and soon-to-be-offered paid search buying on Google and Yahoo!, Verizon provides small businesses with a nice, one-stop search advertising solution.

I love it when four of my coverage areas converge -- in this case, online recruitment, vertical search, local search, and social networking (whew). The busy folks at LinkedIn announced jointly a partnership with Simply Hired that should help both of them gain traction in a their respective spaces. LinkedIn also announced LinkedIn Services. Let me take them one by one.

Simply Hired offers a vertical "meta-job" search engine that spiders job boards like Monster.com and aggregates all of the listings into one large index -- their biggest competitor in the space is Indeed.com. Do a search on marketing analyst in San Francisco and you get loads of results from Monster, Craig's List, and America's Job Bank (just to name a few). When you do a search, you can see if any of your contacts work at the company through a link to LinkedIn. So I could see that for a marketing job at E-Loan, I had 19 connections in my network, most of them at least three degrees away. But it still beats sending out a resume into the big, dark void of a recruiter's inbox. LinkedIn will also offer Simply Hired jobs in its jobs directory, probably by the end of May.

In another area, LinkedIn also announced LinkedIn Services, where users can find recommendations for services such as lawyers, financial advisers, accountants, etc. The secret sauce that makes this work over similar services from Insider Pages, Judy's Book and Yelp! -- a built-in social network that already has tons of testimonials and endorsers. While Yahoo! 360 may be better at getting reviews from its users for restaurants, professional services require a higher level of confidence and referral information, which LinkedIn can provide.

So congrats to LinkedIn, which continues to innovate. Now, let's see how well they can monetize all of these great assets -- the proof will be in the pudding when they are able to charge companies for job postings and premium service listings (anticipated in later in 2005).

Topix.net, which aggregates local news, and Citysearch announced today a deal to 1) put news headlines from Topix.net on the home pages of 40 Citysearch guides; and 2) distribute pay-for-performance ads from Citysearch’s ad network of 32,500 advertisers on Topix.net’s local news pages. I had a chance to speak with Taek Kwon, EVP of Product and Technology at Citysearch and Mike Markson, VP of Business Affairs and Chris Tolles, VP of Sales and Marketing at Topix.net about the partnership. This deal means that Citysearch gains more distribution for its budding network of local advertisers while Topix.net receives a viable advertising source.

Rather than try to do everything themselves, each partner is showing how they will behave in the upcoming local search wars. Citysearch has a robust network of advertisers, and relies primarily on its inside sales force and increasingly on third party telesales to convince local small business to advertiser online. They’ll have to work hard – MediaPost reported that a recent Kelsey study found small businesses reluctant to confusing online advertising. Competition from yellow page providers like Verizon, Dex Media, and BellSouth mean that local businesses will be hearing a lot more about local search options over the next year. But all of these businesses won’t be hearing much from giants Yahoo! and Google as they concentrate on national advertisers buying geographically targeted ads around their stores and the top echelon of savvy small businesses that will tackle self-service ad buying.

Topix.net will focus on providing automated news – which the big boys like Google News and Yahoo! News have shown little interest in doing at the local level. Topix.net crafted deals to provide news headlines for Ask Jeeves, and info.com. Most interestingly, about 20% of Topix.net’s traffic comes from RSS feeds, up substantially over the past few months because of a partnership with Yahoo! – meaning that it will have to be experts at converting those feeds into actual readers who will see – and click on – ads on the site.

In the future, look for Citysearch and Topix.net to provide a local news and advertising solution for sites – for example, Citysearch also has an advertising deal with Ask Jeeves. The big three -- Google, Yahoo! and MSN -- will all develop their own local news and ad products. The rest -- like AOL and Ask Jeeves -- will piece together solutions from best of breed providers like Citysearch and Topix.net. Given this future, it would make a lot of sense for IAC to acquire Topix.net. Regardless of acquisition scenarios, deal making expertise will be essential as these two players and their bevy of players battle it out with Google, Yahoo!, yellow pages, and newspapers for local eyeballs and marketing dollars.