Every day, Yahoo displays about 13 million different news story combination on its homepage. Those stories are personalized based on demographic data and reading behavior, and the company keeps track of what kind of stories do well with which groups of people.

To illustrate how this works, Yahoo has created an interactive data visualization that shows visitor traffic data in nearly real time. Using it, one can drill down into specific age groups, genders and story types to see what people's aggregate reading habits look like.

You can view and play with the data visualization here. They even designed the UI in HTML5 rather than Flash so you can check it out on your iPad.

Yahoo, like all media companies, must learn to become a better software and technology company, or it is toast. You can have as many pageviews and ad sales folks as you want, but if you can't build great Web products - which demands great software, as well as great content - you're not going to grow.

You can't seriously tell me that Yahoo Mail, for example, is even in the same league as Gmail - even though some 100 million people still use Yahoo Mail. Or that Yahoo Finance, one of the most important financial news sites in the world, is as well-built or designed as it should be. (It's no Verge.) Or that Flickr should be losing the momentum in photo sharing to Instagram and Tumblr. Or that Delicious shouldn't have been Yahoo's Pinterest long before anyone ever heard of Pinterest.

Hiring Thompson doesn't fix those problems right away. It's not like PayPal is a model Web service in 2012. But it suggests that Yahoo has a leader who understands serious technology. And as far as Yahoo CEOs go, that seems to be new.

As Adam Clark Estes writes for The Atlantic Wire, Thompson is a "huge geek."

With a bachelor's degree in accounting and computer science from a small private college in Massachusetts, he's not your standard Stanford-educated Silicon Valley executive. He's spent much of his career on the tech side of financial firms having spent much of his career at Visa and its various subsidiaries. Thompson also worked at Barclays Global Investors. He's been at PayPal since 2005 having served as the company's chief technology officer before taking over as president, but since PayPal's part of the eBay universe, he's not unfamiliar with what it takes to lead one of the world's largest technology companies.

Ideally, he can now start to recruit high-end engineering and product talent to fix Yahoo, create new things, and help make it a respectable Internet technology company again.

Yes, Yahoo's revenue comes from ad sales, and it's important to have someone good in charge of that, too. But without great Web and technology products, where will the ads even go? So a tech-savvy CEO is arguably more important for Yahoo today than a CEO who has run a TV studio or used to sell banner ads.

That doesn't necessarily mean that Thompson is the right guy, that he'll get the board support he needs, that he'll be able to recruit the right people, or that he'll get the job done. His ultimate job, really, may still be to sell Yahoo to the highest bidder.

But for a company that has pretty much wasted the last decade, it's a solid shot to do things right.

Thompson, who officially starts on Monday, replaces Tim Morse, Yahoo's chief financial officer, who had been interim chief executive since September. Carol Batz was fired in September after two-and-a-half years on the job after failing to raise revenue or gain ground on Facebook, Google and other rivals.

Thompson will also join Yahoo's board of directors, which is currently looking to sell stakes in Asian Internet companies. The company may also sell a stake to private equity investors. When Batz was fired the board said it was considering the sale of all or part of the company.

At PayPal, Thompson grew revenue to $4 billion from $1.8 billion and increased the number of users to 104 million from 50 million in 190 countries.

"Yahoo! has a rich history and a solid foundation to build on, and its continued user engagement is one of the many reasons for my enthusiasm," he said in a statement. "Clearly speed is important but we will attack both the opportunity ahead and the competitive challenges with an appropriate balance of urgency and thoughtfulness."

The app, which comes in advance of Google's own rumored offering, is pretty well-designed. It has less content sources than many existing players, but what it does have is formatted very nicely.

Pretty Layouts, But Limited Content to Fill Them

Rather than being a direct copy of the much beloved Flipboard, Livestand crosses that popular app with something more like AOL's Editions. It's a personalized content app, but it doesn't pull content from your friends on Twitter and Facebook, nor does it let you plug in any old RSS feed your heart could ever desire. Instead, Yahoo has launched with a list of content partners, whose articles and blog posts are formatted in an attractive, magazine-style layout. From that list, which is anchored heavily by Yahoo's own content properties, you can pick and choose sources that suit your fancy.

In putting it through its paces, we noticed a few minor areas that could use improvement. In some cases, the app only loads the first image in a given post. That's unfortunate, because additional artwork could help make the lovely article detail pages look even lovelier. It's downright unhelpful when the post we're trying to read contains an infographic.

We hesitate to be too harsh, though. The thing did just launch yesterday, and on the whole it's pretty solid.

For users who don't necessarily want to trick their news-reading app out with any content source imaginable, Livestand is a worthwhile product. Users who are already happily settled in to an app like Flipboard, Zite or Pulse are probably going to stay there.

Livestand is Yahoo's take on the personalized reading app for tablets, which ousted CEO Carol Bartz announced earlier this year. Sources tell AllThingsD that the app is expected to be released next week. It was originally slated to be launched on iOS and Android during the first half of 2011.

Also in the pipeline is a project from Google, code-named Propeller. Less is known about how that app will look and function, but it's generally understood to be the search giant's answer to Flipboard, which Google unsuccessfully tried to acquire. The app that Google launches instead is expected to include several media partners and integration with Google Plus, something Flipboard doesn't have yet.

The Cross-Platform Advantage and Flipboard's Weakness

Another big advantage that Google, and presumably Yahoo, will have over Flipboard in particular is cross-platform support. As wildly successful and popular as its been on the iPad, the startup has been slow to launch a version for iPhone, let alone Android. For the time being, the iPad remains dominant in the tablet space, so players like Flipboard probably feel safe focusing there for now. But if the smartphone space is any indication, Android is capable of catching up to iOS.

It remains to be seen whether Amazon will succeeding to light another competitive fire in this space when the Kindle Fire ships in a few weeks.

Google's application is described by AllThingsD as "an HTML5 reader for the Apple iPad and Android." Knowing Google, Propeller may well manifest itself as a browser-based Web app (perhaps alongside native apps), which would practically guarantee that it's available on any modern tablet with a Web browser capable of rendering HTML5.

Too Late to the Game?

Even with the cross-platform advantage and enormous development resources behind it, products of this nature from Google and Yahoo could simply fail to catch on. The iPad has been in existence for nearly two years and applications like Flipboard, Zite and Pulse have proven very popular among consumers. To compete, the big players will need to offer something truly unique to readers, publishers and advertisers alike.

Tablets may or may not be the savior that many traditional publishers had hoped for, but early surveys indicate that people who own an iPad or another tablet device are deeply engaged and read more news content than they ever did on desktops. As this space heats up and continues to evolve, it's no surprise to see new contenders jumping into the ring. If nothing else, the eagerness of established tech giants to join in the fun is a sign of just how significant the trend is.

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Disclosure, I worked at Yahoo from 2007-2010 as the Community Manager for both the Yahoo Developer Network and MyBlogLog.

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Bartz said she was "fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board" in an email sent to employees today. Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse will act as interim CEO until a longer term replacement can be found.

The company was already struggling by the time Bartz took the reigns and promised a new approach. The former AutoDesk CEO was hired to help turn things around, but evidently those ambitions proved too high.

As competitors like Google grew their ranks, Yahoo has had to make a series of layoffs while shuttering some of its Web properties, including Buzz, Geocities, its publisher network and its Maps API, among others. After word of its plan to shut down its social bookmarking service Delicious leaked, Yahoo ultimately decided to sell it to YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, sparing fearful users the prospect of having to somehow backup a few years' worth of data.

Despite numerous changes to products and personel, Yahoo has struggled to return to its pre-2009 financial performance. Its stock price remains around $12.50, as AllThingsD points out, which is not far from where it stood the day Bartz took over.

Prior to joining Yahoo, Bartz was chair, president and CEO of Autodesk for 14 years. Before that she was VP of Worldwide Field Operations and an executive officer at Sun Microsystems.

Lead photo by Yodel Anecdotal

Update: Yahoo has confirmed Bartz departure, which is part of a larger reorganization of its leadership.

But will Yahoo's efforts prove better than any of the existing services that already do the same?

Yahoo's app search debut is not surprising. With the ever-growing number of mobile applications out there, there's definitely a need for more refined interfaces that let you dig deep into app store catalogs to surface apps in easier ways than by using the tools the official stores provide. You might even say this is the next big vertical in search.

But Yahoo is joining an already-crowded field with its app search and AppSpot offerings. A number of startups are also angling for app search dominance in this area, including the likes of competitors Chomp, Quixey, AppStoreHQ, Appolicous, AppsFire, Zwapp, Frenzapp, AppBrain, Xyologic and many others.

So what will Yahoo do differently here? With Yahoo's search tools, the company says it will retrieve matching app titles and show you descriptions, price and star ratings from users. This isn't entirely unique. But it also helps you find app you might like, based on the apps you already use - similar to Genius on iTunes, or say, the app recommendations from Boxcar.

Yahoo's app search tools use its search assist technology for fast auto-completion, show related apps and provide download links, too. But nothing Yahoo has launched today stands out as a truly one-of-a-kind technological app search innovation. Instead, it's just a handful of pleasant-looking interfaces for app discovery. Of course, we'll need to put Yahoo's tools through their paces for some time before we know how they really compare to the others.

There is one thing that stuck us as odd about this whole deal: Yahoo is already a partner with Appolicious, makers of a competing product. Why wouldn't Yahoo leverage that current relationship if it wanted to get into the app search space? We're looking into that now, and will update as we learn more.

Meanwhile, the new company, called Alipay, announced it has received a license from the Chinese government to operate as an electronic payments company, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The license was awarded by the People's Bank of China, the nation's central bank.

"The central bank required that all payment-services companies in the country obtain a license to operate," wrote the Journal's Loretta Chao, "and that only local entities would be eligible for the license. It said it would clarify rules for foreign-invested companies at a later date, but has not done so yet."

Given the level of control exercised by the Chinese government over data of all kinds, perhaps it is not surprising that they would wish to control financial data, and the money it represents, as well.

Yahoo and Softbank, another shareholder in Alibaba, are still negotiating with Alibaba to determine their share of the sale of the payment group to the new company. The Journal wrote that Jerry Yang, the Yahoo founder who represents the company on the Alibaba board, met to discuss the situation last week and reported progress.

The Associated Press reports that Yahoo Mail has 277 million users, down 1% from the same time last year. Hotmail is the global leader with 327 million users while Gmail has grown 24% (43 million users) over the last year to 220 million. Yahoo's announcement coincides with last week's iOS update to Yahoo Messenger as the company looks to reassert itself as an innovator and communications leader.

Yahoo Messenger with chat is now easier to use and brings Yahoo Mail much closer to GChat/Talk in terms of communications functionality. Yahoo Mail also allows users to send and receive SMS directly from their account.

We reported last year that Yahoo rebuilt its mail using CSS3 and loads with fewer images, thus reducing load times by 35%. It has also added feature applications within the inbox such as Flickr, Evite and PayPal.

Proposed by Sen. Ellen Corbett, the bill would force social networks to institute default settings upon registration of what users share on the services. Users can opt to share more information than the default, which would only list the users' city of residence. Tech companies are fighting on the basis that the bill is Draconian and unintuitive and that, as an industry, technology can do better than the California legislature.

"Social Networking Privacy Act would establish a barrier between an existing California user of a social networking site and her ability to continue speaking as desired," the coalition wrote. "By hiding from view of all existing usersʼ information until they made a contrary choice, the State of California would be significantly limiting those users ability to "freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects."

The coalition calls the proposals in SB 242 "privacy shrink wrap." The companies contend that the bill would "force users to make decisions about privacy and visibility of all their information well before they have ever used the service." They say that users would quickly click through the registration privacy options without giving it critical thought. A better way, the coalition thinks, is "contextual" privacy where users decide what can be shared on a case-by-case basis and cites the Federal Trade Commission as calling it a best practice in social sharing. Hence, privacy for users would, in theory, decrease under SB 242.

Unnecessary & Unwanted?

The coalition cites research by Pew Internet and American Life Project that says that most social network users who care about privacy are active in controlling their settings, either for more or less visibility. The bill also proposes a $10,000 fine to Internet companies who do not take down personally identifiable information of users within 48 hours if requested. The coalition says that only 8% of social networking users have ever asked for personal information to be taken down.

The letter closes by saying the discussion of online privacy is an important one, but the California law is inadequate and potentially harmful to the state.

"Rather than establishing a floor for online privacy which social networking sites must meet or exceed, SB 242 would establish a ceiling, undermining meaningful consumer choice while incentivizing this growing industry to expand their operations anywhere but California," the coalition wrote.

The argument between the state and the tech industry reminiscent of anti-logging campaigns in Northern U.S. states. Lawmakers are stuck between what could be construed as an altruistic move (saving the environment, or in this case, users' privacy) and an important industry that is the lifeblood of the local economy. In such cases there are no easy answers and the arguments become more bitter as the debate continues on.

Now, in a joint statement, Yahoo and the Alibaba Group have announced they are trying to reconcile.

"Alibaba Group, and its major stockholders Yahoo! Inc. and Softbank Corporation, are engaged in and committed to productive negotiations to resolve the outstanding issues related to Alipay in a manner that serves the interests of all shareholders as soon as possible."

Yahoo bought its stake in Alibaba in 2005 for $1 billion. Since then, Yahoo has arguably declined in prominence while Alibaba has advanced its fortunes considerably. The hope may be that with Yahoo being crowded at home, it can reverse its decline by leveraging the Asian market.

Yahoo currently owns 40% of the Chinese company, with a valuation of $10 billion.

Alibaba said the transfer of the unit was demanded by Chinese law. But Yahoo complained that it had not learned of the transfer until seven months after it was completed, an assertion that Alibaba denied.

China border fence photo by Joe Jones

Cullen also noted that this past month was the first time Google dipped below 90% since August of 2009, but that it shows "little sign of losing its global dominance any time soon."

Before the folks over at Bing break out the party hats, though, here's some advice: StatCounter hasn't always been the most reliable of Web tracking services in the past. For example, in 2009, StatCounter found that Bing had passed Yahoo in the U.S., then fell back to the #3 position. Meanwhile, competing firm comScore said that Bing's search share in the U.S. was doing well, even climbing up percentage points, not losing them.

So when does Bing get to celebrate? When multiple firms independently publish the same findings. Until then, cautious optimism is prescribed.

Although the service will be available on Yahoo's website, too, it has been specifically customized for mobile devices like Android smartphones, the iPhone and tablet computers.

According to a New York Times article citing two unnamed sources, the new platform will be revealed at next week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The concept sounds similar to other mobile apps that use your social networking feeds to customize your reading experience. With the popular iPad app Flipboard, for example, the magazine is built using RSS feeds for popular websites or your own Google Reader RSS subscriptions plus updates from friends on Twitter and Facebook and photos from Flickr. The Yahoo app also sounds similar to My6Sense, a smartphone news reader which builds on top of RSS, Twitter, Facebook and Google Buzz feeds for personalized news filtering.

But the concept of customized mobile experiences created through social news curation isn't limited to these two applications, by any means. There's also the recently launched NewsMix, AOL's forthcoming Editions app and the Twitter-based TweetMag, to name just a few. It's a burgeoning trend not just for mobile applications, but for the consumption of news in general. As ReadWriteWeb editor Richard MacManus noted in a recent post, "the future of the newspaper is about increased personalization, interactivity, social features, more choice of niche content. It's no longer about serving up a selection of middle-of-the-road fare every day and hoping that satisfies a large chunk of the newspaper-reading population..."

What that means is that Yahoo's mobile app strategy, whatever it may be, is at least moving in the right direction while also playing up the company's core strengths. Yahoo's Web homepage has offered a personalized experience for years, allowing users to customize what content is displayed, the layout and other items. Unfortunately for Yahoo, the idea that your Web experience begins with a singular homepage or portal has faded in popularity with the advent of tabbed browsing and always-on broadband and mobile Internet connections. You don't have to launch a news portal to get caught up on the news from the Web anymore - you're always connected, always "dialed in."

Not Just an App, a Platform

The New York Times article said the mobile platform, code-named "Deadeye," has been in development for several months with a team of 50 engineers focused on the project. Yahoo also plans to work with outside publishers like Hearst to create third-party apps powered by the platform's engine.

In other words, Yahoo is not just launching one Flipboard-esque mobile competitor, it seems, but a platform which would allow publishers to build their own personalized apps, too. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz had promised "a new wave of mobile apps" to investors during Yahoo's earnings call in January, a strategy that the company hopes will help its declining revenue and audience share. It remains to be seen if that will hold true.

For example, if a user was to search for the keyword "sports," Yahoo would return app listings for "Sports Brush," "Sports News" and "CBS Sports Mobile." When a user taps one of those results, they're taken directly to GetJar's download page for the application.

In this example, a user searching for "YouTube" would be directed to the link of the appropriate YouTube application for their device.

For now, the Yahoo/GetJar partnership is being tested in the United States, but it will expand to other countries in 2011.

Because GetJar is an independently run, third-party application store, it's able to host all the different versions of a particular mobile app across all major platforms, including everything from smartphone apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian all the way down to simple mobile Web applications which can run on feature phones.

GetJar is also able to detect what type of phone a Web surfer is arriving from and then serve up the correct download link for their device. This is helpful for the less technically savvy mobile customer who wants apps for their phone but may not know what mobile operating system their device runs or their device model. And for those who do know these technical details, device detection is just a great time-saver.

GetJar Partnerships: Yahoo, AT&T

Yahoo isn't the first big-name mobile player to partner with the up-and-coming application store. Earlier this month, GetJar won a deal with AT&T, which involves having its application library made available within the carrier's "AppCenter" store. The partnership brings GetJar apps to approximately 50 different AT&T handsets, from high-end Blackberry devices to feature phones. However, iPhone users are not able to download GetJar to their devices (although they can browse its mobile website).

It wouldn't be surprising to see more carriers following AT&T's lead here, as they all attempt to fill out their own application marketplaces with content.