Considering Google’s appalling product success record, I wouldn’t give it much hope though.

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The reason for the suspension appears to be a massive burst of emails with attachements from other gmail users – Even though I cannot confirm that this is the only true reason, it is the only anomality I’ve noticed when I was notified of the “Lockdown in Sector 6″.

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To Google’s defense I must say that I was sent around 50MB in random movie and PPS files, with very little content or description, except the Fwd: Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd: Ha-Haaaa and Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fannay titles.
This is the exact text of the notification:

Our system indicates unusual usage of your account. In order to protect Gmail users from potentially harmful use of Gmail, this account has been disabled for up to 24 hours.

This is likely due to the use of a third party software tool with Gmail. If you are using any third party software that interacts with your Gmail account, please disable it or adjust it so that its use complies with the Gmail Terms of Use. If you feel that you have been using your Gmail account according to the Terms of Use or otherwise normally, please contact us.

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Click Here for the Banned from Gmail Screenshot.
I was able to get back to reading my emails, but no longer able to download any attachments, at least not immediately after the notification of account suspension. Hopefully the account will be get back to normal withing 24 hours as described .

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But this isn’t news now, at least not in internet terms – the story has reached every major technology/web2.0/news site on the (pla)net.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/02/0357210&from=rsse

http://digg.com/tech_news/Breaking_UTube_Sues_YouTube

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/02/pipes_youtube/

The readers’ reaction was the same pretty much everywhere; be it in direct responses to the news item, blogs and forums, everyone were talking about how stupid Utube is, and how it should “cash-in” on it’s traffic and free publicity. Because hey, when sites are being acquired for millions (and billions…) of dollars based solely on the amount of their monthly visitors and Alexa ranking, who the hell are Utube to say that traffic is worthless?

Who are UTube

UTube is a real company, the kind of company that depends on its revenue stream to survive, has a budget and client list, and is operating in a competitive market. Established in 1985, and led by a person with 30 years of experience in tube and pipe industry.

From the Company’s overview:

“We have one of the largest selections of used tube and pipe mills in the world. Utilizing over 125,000 square feet of warehouse space…. “

An example from their product line:

“Replacement Cost for a New Machine is approximately $1,900,000. “

The company was also smart enough to get a website early on, when most companies weren’t considering the Internet as part of their business model at all:

Domain Name: UTUBE.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Updated Date: 10-oct-2006
Creation Date: 26-oct-1996

(Youtube was registered in 2005)

But still, why not monetize the incoming traffic?

This question has been asked in many places (especially SEO and webmaster related parts of the blogosphere and forums), and the simple answer is - SMALL MONEY. Considering the amount of confused visitors (which will drop by around 90% when the lawsuit issue ends), this could probably bring in no more than 1500$ a day using the standard advertising methods. Which is less than what your local coffee shop makes, and is probably less than 1% of what UTube makes in a day. They stick to piping and don’t expand their business to the Online Advertising niche for the same reason webmasters stick to advertising and don’t expand their business to the Tube and Pipe business niche. Because it’s not their core business, and both companies and people should stick to what they know. Especially when what they don’t know brings a lot less money than what they do know.

For Dessert -the UTube Trademark

This is where things get funny, and somewhat ugly. It’s only two weeks old.

Word Mark	UTUBE
Goods and Services	IC 007. US 013 019 021 023 031 034 035. G & S: Tube and pipe mills, rollforming lines, and slitting lines. FIRST USE: 19961231. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19961231IC 037. US 100 103 106. G & S: Refurbishing of tube and pipe mills, rollforming lines, and slitting lines. FIRST USE: 19961231. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19961231
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code	(4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Design Search Code
Serial Number	77023852
Filing Date	October 18, 2006
Current Filing Basis	1A
Original Filing Basis	1A
Owner	(APPLICANT) Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corporation CORPORATION OHIO 26202 Glenwood Road Perrysburg OHIO 43551
Attorney of Record	Richard G. Martin
Type of Mark	TRADEMARK. SERVICE MARK
Register	PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator	LIVE

This information was taken from the USPTO.gov website – notice the date, 18 October 2006. Just 9 days after Google bought Youtube for 1.65 Billion dollars in stock.

So, bottom line is : Yes, UTube is after Google’s money.

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http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/

Demo is availible here – explanations , with voice :

http://services.google.com/websiteop…iew/index.html

From what I see , the tool is geared toward real commercial sites , with set conversion goals . It’s good to see that Google is also providing tools for the real internet economy(like the Google Checkout and this) and not just the content niche . I personally use Adwords and Analytics on a daily basis , so the Optimizer will be a nice addition to the Google arsenal for Webmasters.

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