Daily DigVid Review

OK, I’m late today, but on the bright side that allows me to get all the late-breaking news in this, ahem, afternoon edition. Thank you for your patience with this new feature, which is a bit of a tough taskmaster for a freewheeling freelancer like me. 

Analysts who mused last week that Google’s decline in paid clicks had no effect on the company’s revenues came to the wrong conclusion, said comScore President and CEO Dr. Magid (whom I almost called Magic – good catch by me) Abraham in a letter released to the press this afternoon. According to Abraham, comScore (whose good research reputation he is defending) is correct that Google’s domestic paid clicks are essentially flat, a first for the ginormous Internet portal, which correlates to the company’s domestic revenues. Worldwide, the story is different, and that’s where the analysts got it wrong. Read here for comScore’s defense and here for TechCrunch’s more independent, but similar, analysis.

Apple announced strong Q2 financial results, with earnings up 36%. Some took that as a ray of hope in this bleak economy. However, good quarters for Google, Yahoo! and now Apple seem more indicative that recession has yet to hit Silicon Valley (or the oil industry) but that doesn’t make me feel less nervous for the rest of us. 

Ditto for Amazon, which reported a 30% jump in profits. Wall Street failed to cut the online retailer any slack, sending Amazon shares down 5%.

Oh wait! Things weren’t so bright for Microsoft (which has Vista to blame, I am sure), which announced an 11% decline in Q3 net income.