Yahoo closing Geocities web hosting service

Yahoo will close Geocities, the free web hosting service it paid $4bn for 10 years ago.

“Sorry, new Geocities accounts are no longer available,” read a message on the homepage on Friday.


In 1999, when Yahoo purchased Geocities, it was the third most visited site on the web behind AOL and Yahoo, with 19 million unique visitors in December 1998, according to a Comscore Media Metrix report. Now Geocities is slightly outdated in the current Web 2.0 era, giving users no way to integrate their sites with third-party applications.

The closure is also evidence that the revenue model for hosting free web sites is difficult to sustain, especially in the current economic climate.

Yahoo has encouraged Geocities members to start upgrading to the company’s subscription-based Web Hosting service, although it assured them in a statement that they will still be able to access their sites and Geocities services until “later this year”.

Subscription to the Web Hosting service - which offers a personalised domain name, email, site building tools and premium customer support – costs around $114 (£78) a year for a 12-month contract.

The announcement follows a similar decision by Google to shut down Page Creator in June 2009 and migrate users to Google Sites.

Competing web hosting sites, such as Jimdo, are vying for both Google and Yahoo customers. Jimdooffers both a free service, as well as a professional version called JimdoPro, which costs £60 a year.

“Come to Jimdo! We're hard at work on an easy way for Geocities users to migrate over to Jimdo accounts,” the company said in a statement today. “Yahoo hasn’t said when the last day is so jump ship while you can!”

Yahoo has promised to release more details about the Geocities date of closure and how users can save their site data soon.

Ballmer Just Said He'd Still Buy Yahoo

Microsoft corporate is frantically backtracking:

"Our position hasn't changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo; there are no discussions between the companies."

When we followed up on this, a Microsoft source explained that Steve made the "deal still makes sense" remark while deep in a discussion with Gartner Group analysts ("Response to a question opened up some questions.") Our take, therefore, is that Steve Ballmer just inadvertently revealed HIS OWN attitude toward a Yahoo deal, not Microsoft's official one. But given that Steve is Microsoft's CEO, it's his own attitude that matters.

EARLIER: As soon as Steve Ballmer said a Microsoft-Yahoo "deal might make sense," reporters rushed to the phones and called their sources. Then they breathlessly reported that the market's immediate move to bid up Yahoo (YHOO) was wrong. Why? Because "there are no new Microsoft-Yahoo negotiations."

So?

Steve Ballmer just reopened negotiations. He also even made a vague bid for Yahoo. So it's no wonder that the stock has jumped.

Remember when we last left this story? Yahoo was trying everything it could to resurrect a deal that it had blown through its own intransigence. Yahoo went so far as to say that it would be happy to do a deal at Microsoft's last bid, $33. And the strong impression we got was that a chastised and sobered Yahoo would be happy to do a deal below that.

And that was when Yahoo's stock was in the $20s. Yesterday, it settled around $11.50.

For the past several months, Microsoft has steadfastly refused to reopen any sort of Yahoo discussions. Microsoft, the party line went, had "moved on." Well, now, all that has changed.

What Steve Ballmer just said was:

We'd be glad to buy Yahoo. Of course we're not paying what we would have paid before because Yahoo's stock has collapsed. We also imagine that Yahoo's management is still hallucinating about the value of the company, in which case we have nothing to talk about. In the event that they have come to their senses, however, they should give us a call.

What price does Steve have in mind? $20 would probably do it. We also imagine that Gordy Crawford, Carl Icahn, and many other major shareholders are now demanding to speak with Jerry Yang and Roy Bostock and ordering them to resume negotiations.

Read more

Plan Public Transit Trips in and Around New York City with Google Maps

Users will now be able to access station and schedule data for every service provider overseen by the MTA: New York City Transit (which includes subway and bus service), Long Island Rail Road, Long Island Bus, Metro-North Railroad, and the MTA Bus Company. Other connecting services also provide data via Google Maps, including NJ Transit (commuter rail, light rail and bus), Staten Island Ferry, and The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PATH Rail, AirTrain JFK, and AirTrain Newark). The trip planner can create trips across multiple agencies.

Being able to plan public transit trips in Google Maps makes it easier than ever to take advantage of all that New York has to offer. With this new partnership, users can get detailed itineraries that utilize any MTA services across its 5,000-square mile service area. Itineraries will include three routing options, complete with station locations, schedule times, transfer information, total trip time, and step-by-step walking directions. Icons for MTA train and bus stops will now be visible on Google Maps which heightens awareness of the availability of public transit options for users who are exploring an area; when clicked, the icons will display the routes serving the stop and upcoming departures. Additionally, when a user searches for driving directions within the MTA service area, a public transit itinerary will appear as an alternative. Need directions while on-the-go? Transit routing is also available on many mobile phones via Google Maps for mobile.

The MTA joins more than 75 other transit agencies spanning 12 countries that have joined the Google Transit program. To learn more about this announcement, head to maps.google.com/nyc.

Original article from Google Press Center