Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has played down the importance of the aborted Yahoo takeover, stressing that the buyout itself was not Microsoft’s aim.

In Moscow for a technology conference, Ballmer told his audience that acquiring Yahoo was just one option to achieve Microsoft’s greater goal of improved search market share. (more…)

Google is confident it can increase its share of the Russian search market - one of the few regions globally where it lags behind the competition.

Russian-born co-founder Sergei Brin says that new technology will help Google close the gap on market-leading Yandex. (more…)

Microsoft is reported to be interested in buying Yahoo’s search business and taking a minority stake in the company, as an alternative to an outright takeover.

Although Microsoft withdrew its improved $47.5 billion takeover offer on 3 May, it announced on Sunday that it may still consider a entering into a different arrangement with Yahoo. (more…)

Google has announced it is to begin using face-blurring technology on its Street View photographic city mapping service.

The system, which automatically obscures the identities of pedestrians by using advanced face detection technology, comes in response to criticism of Street View over instances of personal privacy infringement. (more…)

After two years in development and no small amount of hype, a working prototype of natural language search engine Powerset has been unveiled.

The search engine, optimistically described as a potential “Google killer” by some tech reporters, isn’t designed to just index words on a website - it claims to understand them too. (more…)

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has said his company would be open to further discussions should Microsoft decide to return to the negotiating table.

Over the weekend Microsoft withdrew an improved offer worth around $47.5 billion after another rejection from the Yahoo board. (more…)

Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket chain, has announced it will not engage in bidding on keyword trademarks owned by its rivals.

In taking a moral high-ground, Tesco hopes that others in the industry will follow suit and keep PPC costs down.

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