Tech Directions - November 2007 - (Page 14)

mastering computers Reid Goldsborough reidgold@netaxs.com Wherefore Art Thou Yahoo? Yahoo, the company behind the first comprehensive directory of the World Wide Web, is in trouble. In June, the company’s chief executive officer resigned, a result of stockholder criticism of Yahoo’s poor adrevenue performance compared with Web search market leader Google. A month earlier, Yahoo shut down its auction service for failing to compete effectively against market leader eBay, and its chief technology officer resigned. Semel, a move reminiscent of Apple bringing back cofounder Steve Jobs as CEO 10 years ago after the company floundered. Yahoo remains a huge Internet presence, offering a wide range of popular services. Along with its directory, it offers Web search, email, discussion groups, news, shopping, and more. Things got started back in January 1994 when Yang and Filo launched a Web site named “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” which three months later was renamed “Yahoo!” with the exclamation point. The exclamation point was needed, according to the company, because other companies in other industries had already trademarked the name without exclamation point. Most people, and publications, don’t use the exclamation point. With or without it, the name never did effectively represent the seriousness of Yahoo as a business enterprise. On the other hand, the Internet has a history of zany naming conventions, with the job site Monster.com being one of many other examples. Still, what would you have more confidence in, a company named after the number 1 followed by a hundred zeros, connoting its ability to make sense of the huge data repository of the Web, or a company whose name is synonymous with oaf? Another meaning of “yahoo” is “whoopee,” a celebratory interjection. Yahoo’s first major diversification Reid Goldsborough is a syndicated columnist and author of the book Straight Talk About the Information Superhighway. For more on computers from Reid Goldsborough, visit www.techdirections.com/computing. html A Restart? Yahoo was founded in 1994 by Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo, and it was Yang who just took over the reins from outgoing CEO Terry Celebrate Black History Month! Inspire your students with posters of African Americans who have had a major impact on the course of American history, from the research lab to the battlefield to the courtroom. These posters will help educate your students as well as perk up dull classroom walls. Each poster provides brief biographical information and a timeline of key life events—all designed around a stunning image of these notable black Americans. Technology’s Past series includes: George Washington Carver Lewis Latimer Garrett Morgan Black History Pioneers series: W.E.B. DuBois Frederick Douglass Martin Luther King, Jr. (Portraits) Martin Luther King, Jr. (March) Thurgood Marshall Rosa Parks Sojourner Truth Harriet Tubman Booker T. Washington Malcolm X The Buffalo Soldiers (lPlains) The Buffalo Soldiers (Uniform) Montgomery Bus Boycott The Tuskegee Airmen Each 18" × 24" glossy poster is only $12.95 Save over $50! All 14 Black History Pioneers posters $127.95 Add 3 Technology’s Past posters $29.95 To order: Online: www.techdirections.com/posters.html ● FAX: 734.975.2787 Phone: 800.530.9673 ext. 200 ● Mail: Tech Directions Books & Media, PO Box 8623, Ann Arbor, MI 48107 14 techdirections ◆ NOVEMBER 2007 http://www.Monster.com http://www.techdirections.com/computing.html http://www.techdirections.com/posters.html

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Tech Directions - November 2007 Technically Speaking Contents Direct from Washington The News Report Technology’s Past Technology Today Mastering Computers Video Game Programmers Learn to “Pitch” Project Teaches Students to Diagnose an Ailing Windows OS See the Math with Your Binoculars! Fire Safety Technician ACTE Convention and Career Tech Expo Hands-On Activities More than Fun

Tech Directions - November 2007

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