Google has launched a new service that helps advertisers discover the key visitor demographics of sites they plan to advertise on.

Google Ad Planner, which has been released as an invitation-only beta, will also suggest other sites that fit the advertisers’ criteria. (more…)

Microsoft has begun the fight to stop the recently announced Google-Yahoo ad-serving agreement going ahead, reports Reuters.

The day after the deal was unveiled, Microsoft reportedly emailed political advocacy groups to complain that it would not be in the interests of competition in the search advertising sector. (more…)

Yahoo has finalised a deal with Google which will see it carrying Google’s online advertising alongside its own search results.

The agreement comes after months of negotations with Microsoft and will effectively end the Seattle company’s interest in Yahoo. (more…)

The position of Yahoo co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang is under threat, with billionaire investor Carl Icahn calling for changes to the company’s board.

Icahn, who leads a group of shareholders dissatisfied at the way Yahoo’s management handled Microsoft’s recent takeover attempt, has proposed a new slate of board members which will be voted on at the Annual Shareholders Meeting on August 1.
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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…)