At the end of 60 Minutes this evening Ed Bradley announced a preview of their new deal with Yahoo. Bradley concluded a long double segment which featured a profile of golf legend Tiger Woods by saying, “For a preview of our new relationship with Yahoo go to Yahoo.com and type Tiger Woods in the search box.

The relationship which was revealed last week is launching in the Fall.

>>> Click here to see the Tiger Woods - 60 Minutes page on Yahoo <<<

The page links to additional unseen footage of the Tiger Woods interview, FlickR photos of Tiger, and other Tiger news and information available within the Yahoo portal.

It’s an unprecedented experiment on the merging of prime time television with the Web. I think the key is playing to one of the strengths of the internet … unlimited space and time, by offering more footage of interviews. The site is sponsored by Buick.

Is Google Finance evidence of a Google Portal master plan? I think not. Google’s strategy is focused on creating pageviews in any way possible to satisfy a huge demand for targeted key word advertising.

Google Finance in particular fills that need because the financial industry is already one of Google’s most lucrative Adwords customers. In other words Google is simply following the money.

And by the way, despite some reviews to the contrary, Google Finance is another great breakout product. It delivers something other financial sites don’t … and that is simplicity. On launch, Google Finance packaged the features investors want without all the fluff, big images or even ads. Of course, ads will come but in the traditional non-intrusive Google style.

In some ways Google Finance will challenge Yahoo, MarketWatch and TheStreet.com but as a publisher myself, I actually see this benefiting its competitors. Google is a traffic monster that will cause millions of new humans to read and follow financial news. But these new pageviews will in large part be flowing through Google to sites like TheStreet.com which have talent like Jim Cramer writing articles. A good part of Google Finance is news aggregation … clicking on a stock provides links to news on that company. This is good news for any site writing financial news stories.

Traditional portals like Yahoo, AOL and Excite mostly link to content within their domain. Google is not so selfish. I’m sure Google will continue to create Google Portal type properties … like Google Health and Google Sports. However, by centering on automated algorithmic links to outside content from news publishers and bloggers Google is still more of a search engine than a true portal.

Just my opinion ….

KinderStart filed suit yesterday in U.S. District Court in San Jose alleging that Google improperly “blacklisted” its website. We have not yet obtained a copy of the legal filing but news reports confusingly use the term “blacklisted”. An AP wire story states that KinderStart claims Google blacklisted its website which would mean the site would not be found in Google. However, KinderStart.com has over 43,000 pages in Google.

The legal issue probably centers on PageRank because all 43,000 KinderStart.com pages have a rank of zero. Google famously uses PageRank to help determine results for web searches. A rank of zero would likely mean KinderStart would rarely show up in the top ten results for any search.

The civil complaint asks the court to be certified as a class action “representing the owners of all Web sites blacklisted by Google since January 2001″.

From AP reports:

“The world is becoming increasingly ‘Googlized,”‘ said Gregory Yu, a lawyer for KinderStart. “For most people, that has been a good thing, but not for everyone.”

A Google spokesman said the company hadn’t seen the suit and had no immediate comment.

KinderStart alleges Google has engaged in anticompetitive behavior and misled the public by positioning its search engine as an objective source for finding Internet content. The suit seeks unspecified financial damages and a court order that would require Google to change its ways.

… KinderStart’s lawsuit alleges Google’s policing efforts have penalized Web sites that have done nothing wrong. To make matters worse, the suit alleges the banished sites can’t determine how they can restore their standings because the company doesn’t explain its actions.

The argument KinderStart is making is based on antitrust principles that Google has grown so big and powerful that it must abide by fairness standards not normally required of business. These new standards might include publishing specific rules for websites to follow in order not to be blacklisted or have PageRank removed. Google could also be required to notify websites with reasons for blacklisting. They may also have to offer specific ways to remedy blacklisting.

Interestingly, the KinderStart.com website features Google Adwords.

KinderStart filed suit yesterday in U.S. District Court in San Jose alleging that Google improperly “blacklisted” its website. We have not yet obtained a copy of the legal filing but news reports confusingly use the term “blacklisted”. An AP wire story states that KinderStart claims Google blacklisted its website which would mean the site would not be found in Google. However, KinderStart.com has over 43,000 pages in Google.

The legal issue probably centers on PageRank because all 43,000 KinderStart.com pages have a rank of zero. Google famously uses PageRank to help determine results for web searches. A rank of zero would likely mean KinderStart would rarely show up in the top ten results for any search.

The civil complaint asks the court to be certified as a class action “representing the owners of all Web sites blacklisted by Google since January 2001″.

From AP reports:

“The world is becoming increasingly ‘Googlized,”‘ said Gregory Yu, a lawyer for KinderStart. “For most people, that has been a good thing, but not for everyone.”

A Google spokesman said the company hadn’t seen the suit and had no immediate comment.

KinderStart alleges Google has engaged in anticompetitive behavior and misled the public by positioning its search engine as an objective source for finding Internet content. The suit seeks unspecified financial damages and a court order that would require Google to change its ways.

… KinderStart’s lawsuit alleges Google’s policing efforts have penalized Web sites that have done nothing wrong. To make matters worse, the suit alleges the banished sites can’t determine how they can restore their standings because the company doesn’t explain its actions.

The argument KinderStart is making is based on antitrust principles that Google has grown so big and powerful that it must abide by fairness standards not normally required of business. These new standards might include publishing specific rules for websites to follow in order not to be blacklisted or have PageRank removed. Google could also be required to notify websites with reasons for blacklisting. They may also have to offer specific ways to remedy blacklisting.

Interestingly, the KinderStart.com website features Google Adwords.

AOL will be implementing the Goodmail certified emailer system at the end of the month. This will create a new email tier guaranteeing that customers of Goodmail get their email delivered into the top of the inbox.

AOL touts this new partnership as helping their members stamp out spam. Of course this is a complete and utter falsehood. The Goodmail system actually will ensure that sponsor emails hit the top of the inbox. It doesn’t mean these advertisers are spamming but who else is going to pay but advertisers and corporations. Sure, the AOL member probably opted in at some point … but now at AOL the advertiser message is going to take priority.

The Goodmail system relies on a significant payment by emailers. No one but advertisers and large corporations will pay …. period! AOL has called statements such as this extreme and fanatical. But really, who is AOL helping here with this new for-pay priority email system? Let’s follow the money… An advertiser or corporation pays Goodmail. Goodmail does nothing but tell AOL that they are not spammers. AOL then takes 50% of the Goodmail cash every time this company sends an email to an AOL address. What does the subscriber get ? Nothing!

So in summary, Goodmail and AOL get lots of money and AOL’s subscribers get advertisements at the top of their inbox. Obviously, AOL is doing this deal for money… no other reason. Unfortunately, it may be penny smart and pound foolish because AOL subscribers have many other email options. And the first option that comes to mind … Gmail … sounds kind of like Goodmail … but is completely different … it’s free!