Parents everywhere are silently rejoicing …. it is Back to School time again. We know having your kids around early on in the summer is fun, but come late summer, they sure are ready to go back to school. In order to get them prepared for classes you will probably need to do some Back to School Shopping.  WalMart has Back to School Sales that will knock your socks off.  Whether you are getting your kids to go back to middle school or you need supplies to send your child off to college, WalMart will have the Back to School items you need to pick get for your children.

WalMart’s Back to School Sale of 2010 has everything from notebooks and school supplies, to , computers and laptops, furniture, iPods and loud alarm clocks so your kids will never be late to school.  Back to School shopping is actually made easy by WalMart.  You can get your children everything they need from one store, and you don’t even have to leave the couch.  I highly recommend taking a look at the 2008 WalMart Back to School Sale …. you won’t be disappointed.

Here are some great items on sale for Back to School:

iPod touch 32GB, Black
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HP 17″ Pavilion dv9930us Laptop PC w/ Intel Core2 Duo Processor T5750
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Professors’ Guide to Getting Good Grades in College
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Jwin AM/FM Dual Alarm Clock Radio with Jumbo LCD Display

Rumors continue to swirl about the possibility of Google releasing a competitor for the Apple iPhone. It’s speculated title is the gPhone, and it is rumored to be bigger and badder than the iPhone. Not in looks, but in functionality and features.

In other words, don’t expect a fancy touch-screen, which would only raise prices. Do expect a lot of applications, all of which will probably have advertising built-in. Google maps, Gtalk, search, and many more features will be readily available. Another way they plan to keep the cost down is by not making the actual phone themselves, rather they will contract another company to design the phone, and they will supply the software bundle that will make the phone a Google device. In a way, the Google phone will be more like a mini-computer than a cell-phone, with an easy to use operating system making the gPhone a great buy for all levels of cell phone users.

American Blind and Wallpaper Factory has dropped their lawsuit regarding their trademark name and paid search.  American Airlines isn’t giving up as easily.  The major airline carrier stepped into the fight against Google, and not long after American Blind and Wallpaper Factory reached a non-monetary, out of court agreeement.

American Blind and Wallpaper Factory can’t afford to take Google to court and American Airlines can.  To me this is crap, because instead of spending millions of dollars in litigation, they should be using that money to lower outrageous airline ticket prices.  I hope American Airlines loses this fight and I hope Google owns their world.

100 YouTube publishers have been recruited by Google to offer up videos for Adsense publishers to use on their sites.  Adsense wants to give their publishers more options on the content front, and now Publishers can host videos on their sites that work the same way as normal Adsense ads.

This move by Google wasn’t an unexpected one considering they are always improving Adsense.  Options are somewhat limited in the categories offered for video content, but Google is expecting to expand deeper breadth-wise and create a number of niche categories.

Google is defending themselves in court saying that the deal between Google and DoubleClick (for $3.1 Billion) will increase competition in the online advertising industry.  They also refer to the deal which was completed earlier in the summer, in which MicroSoft bought aQuantive for $6 billion and no one made this big of a fuss over that deal.

One of the big problems that MicroSoft is claiming with the Google, DoubleClick Deal is that there is a major consumer privacy issue.  Between Google and DoubleClick, they have the world’s largest database of personal information.  This personal information will fuel ad delivery and ad placement models offered through the new Google/DoubleClick service.  MicroSoft claims that this deal will do a dis-service to consumers, advertisers and publishers.

MicroSoft is looking to buy a minority stake in Facebook. The deal MicroSoft is interested in would give them 5% ownership of the company. earlier in the year MicroSoft was willing to shell out $10 billion for social networking site, but FaceBook said it was not for sale.

Google is also said to be interested in the minority stake in FaceBook. Google doesn’t need FaceBook as badly as MicroSoft does. Google is constantly innovating and growing their business within the company and with outside acquisitions. Google’s applications are an example of their internal growth and the Google-DoubleClick merger is an example of their outside activity.

MicroSoft did well with their acquisition of aQuantive earlier this summer, but they are still lagging in terms of growth and visibility. Google’s growth is still over 20% annually, whereas MicroSoft’s is closer to 5%. We’ll have to wait and see who has the better first date with Facebook.

MicroSoft is clearly upset that Google was able to buy DoubleClick.  They clearly fear their old dominance in the online world is slipping, and this deal is pushing them farther from the top.  So MicroSoft has hired a PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, to go around and bad mouth the Google & DoubleClick deal.

Burson-Marsteller has been spreading their word throughout the online community, specifically media outlets and Internet companies, about the potential side effects of this deal.  They are worried that Google isn’t operating on a fair playing field.  MicroSoft has lost even more ground in the online advertising industry online, and they fear they cannot make the ground up now that Google owns DoubleClick.  MicroSoft wants a more competitive and transparent online business-scape.

I understand why MicroSoft has fought the Google & DoubleClick deal at every turn, but it has already been approved by regulators, and none of MicroSoft’s bad-mouthing will stop this deal from taking place.  MicroSoft is wasting money they should otherwise be using to improve their positioning in the online advertising industry.  This is a petty effort by Microsoft and it makes them look like amateurs in my eyes.  May the best company take over the world!

According to Internet Retailer, Google is the leader in online video viewing, clearly thanks to YouTube, capturing 27% of all online viewers. 75% of people view online videos watch 3 hours or more of video a month. Affiliates should be utilizing video as a means to market their merchants. It is the present and it is the future and it should be utilized when applicable.