A bounty of links

In fact, a veritable cornucopia!

1) From JMP Securities (via Briefing.com)

JMP Securities raises their GOOG target to $575 from $400, as they believe the company is a clear winner in the AOL bake off. The firm's estimates suggest an even higher implied value for the AOL business than the $20 billion being reported in the media. They say that at $1.2 billion in cash and ad credits for a 5% stake, the deal would imply a value for AOL in the $25 bln range. From a strategic standpoint, they believe the deal gives GOOG multiple entres into the branded market, which is important for the company's long term growth outlook. Firm's confidence in Google's ability to meet or beat their estimates is higher than any other co in their coverage group, and they believe investors are likely to look farther out in the case of Google than most other Internet stocks.

2) Something of an analysis, (shared via regular blog reader, Marty Safir)...
The AOL Winnah: Google, by a Knockout

3) Next, Om Malik, who discerns very real value in the Google/AOL deal -- but not where it is expected...

AOL, by the way continues to be the king maker in the Internet space, despite its troubles. I think many, scratch that, almost all have focused on the advertising aspect of this deal. In my mind, this is a deal which has larger strategic implications. The first - the instant messaging. The two companies explicitly state that they are going to interoperate their IM networks. For Google’s GTalk, this is a big boost, something it needed desperately in order to increase traction when compared to Microsoft and Yahoo. The IM alliance between Google-AOL is a good way to combat Microsoft-Yahoo IM combo.

Wait, there is more...

Continue reading, "Hey AOL, You Got Googled"

4) Then comes Bill Burnham...
Google Base + Vertical Search + RSS = Death of Walled Gardens

A few weeks ago, I promised to write a follow-up on my post about Google Base that detailed how the launch of Google Base might affect the Internet’s so-called “Walled Gardens” (content sites that charge users and/or suppliers for access to their databases). One month and a long cruise later, here it is...

5) An interesting item from WIRED magazine...
Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone.

It seems no one is safe: Google is doing Wi-Fi; Google is searching inside books; Google has a plan for ecommerce.

Of course, Google has always wanted to be more than a search engine. Even in the early days, its ultimate goal was extravagant: to organize the world's information. High-minded as that sounds, Google's ever-expanding agenda has put it on a collision course with nearly every company in the information technology industry: Amazon.com, Comcast, eBay, Yahoo!, even Microsoft.

In less than a decade, Google has gone from guerrilla startup to 800-pound gorilla.

Continue reading article here...

6) The Washington Post reports...

Microsoft Is Losing Some Of Its Elbow Room
As Software King's Growth Slows, Rivals Stake Out Their Own Territory.

Continue reading here...

7) Last, is this article from London's GUARDIAN

Bigger and better: the internet gets a sixth sense
Ambitious plans to connect not just phones and TVs but kettles and fridges to the net will come to fruition in 2006

No more spam. No more "phishing" bank scams. News, pictures and short clips sent seamlessly to your phone ... or your fridge. Video conferencing that works first time, no hassles. Free, stereo-quality phone calls anywhere in the world. No, it's not a utopian ideal, it's the internet that some people will begin to experience in the next 12 months.

Unknown to virtually everyone except IT engineers, the internet is being upgraded to a system called IPv6 (for Internet Protocol version 6)...

Continue reading here...

Sorry for the many links, but each article, for its own reasons, deserves your attention. And anyway, the weekend is upon us -- and a holiday-lengthened weekend to boot. What else is a weekend for, but to read the many articles and essays provided by his or her favorite Deipnosophist...? :-)