Google Extends Web Search Lead

Sam Gustin says: And the beat goes on.ComScore released its July Web search engine rankings Thursday, which show Google increasing its lead, while Yahoo and Microsoft are slipping.Google dominated the U.S. Web search market in July with 61.9 percent, up...

Aug 22 2008

Web Search: Game Over, Google Won

Sam Gustin hates to break it to Jerry Yang and Steve Ballmer, but the internet search wars are over. You lost.When Microsoft made its unsolicited takeover offer for Yahoo earlier this year, many observers, including this one, suggested that a...

Jun 10 2008

Google, Yahoo Might Ditch Their Ad Deal

Sam Gustin writes: The controversial Google-Yahoo search ad deal may fall apart, on its own.After meetings with the Justice Department Thursday, both companies are considering walking away from the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.The deal has been highly...

Oct 31 2008

Microsoft Faces "Uphill Battle" on Yahoo

When Microsoft announced its unsolicited $44.6 billion bid to buy Yahoo! this morning, antitrust lawyers who have represented various players in the internecine battle for dominance in the software industry took note. The deal, should it happen, will present serious...

Feb 01 2008

Microsoft's Supreme Search Screw-up

If Microsoft is back at the table trying to buy Yahoo's search business, an outside observer can only conclude that Microsoft has failed miserably at search. The question then is: How can Microsoft have tried so hard to crack the...

May 20 2008

Chrome: Why Google Fears Microsoft

Sam Gustin says: Listening to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin answer questions following the company's demo of Chrome, I thought I detected a hint of something not usually associated with the Web search giant.Fear.Although Microsoft was the entity...

Sep 02 2008

Parsing Yahoo's Shareholder Letter: Baby, You Know I'd Never Hurt You On Purpose

Nothing has a shorter shelf-life than bad spin.

Jun 26 2008

Yahoo Gets Vertical Search. Where's Microsoft, Google?

Blaise Zerega still hasn't found what he's looking for.  Yahoo's announcement to offer BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service-- what happened to the Y?), is a better late than never attempt to do something different to compete with Google. Fair...

Jul 10 2008

Yahoo Earnings: Just How Bad?

Sam Gustin writes: It's been a rough year for Yahoo. For several months, the company fended off Microsoft's attempts to buy it. But with Yahoo's share price trading at under $13, many think chief executive Jerry Yang made a colossal...

Oct 20 2008

Microsoft Live Search to Facebook: Good Move, But No Silver Bullet

Sam Gustin wonders what took Facebook so long to incorporate Microsoft Live Search? Could it be because Redmond's been a little distracted lately?In any event, the deal announced today, which will bring Microsoft Live Search and search advertising to Facebook's...

Jul 24 2008

The Latest Microsoft-Google Front: Verizon

Sam Gustin writes: Now that Microsoft has apparently moved on from Yahoo, the software giant is looking for new avenues to attack Google, its arch-enemy. The latest battlefront is mobile search, and the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft...

Nov 12 2008

The 10 Dumbest Lies of the Micro-hoo-gle-cahn Saga

Once promising to be the most-scrutinized corporate governance event in history, this Friday's meeting of Yahoo shareholders will now likely unfold in anticlimactic fashion, diffused by the forced-coziness between Carl Icahn and Yahoo's board. (Take our poll and vote on...

Jul 28 2008

Yahoo Explains Tie-up With Google

Blaise Zerega lives in the Golden State. On the heels of yesterday's news that California was joining other states in scrutinizing the anti-trust implications of the recent Yahoo-Google ad partnership, Yahoo executive president Hilary Schneider this morning explained how the...

Sep 11 2008

First Bytes: Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Google, iPhone, MacBooks

Randy Falco: If Jerry Yang's out, expect Sue Drecker to follow.[SiliconAlleyInsider]Analysts expect Yahoo board to get aggressive on a Microsoft, AOL deal.[PaidContent]First look at Google mobile application for iPhone.[TechCrunch]MacBooks enter a golden age of anti-piracy.[TechCrunch]Poll: Who's your choice for Yahoo's...

Nov 18 2008

Report: Enterprise to Embrace Web 2.0 as Prices Drop

Ars Technica reports: Social media tools designed for the enterprise are getting all grown up, and a new report from Forrester Research says it's time for a market readjustment. Forrester analysts cite a number of reasons for impending price drops...

Oct 14 2008

Microsoft Sends a "Hard" Message

If you write to Yahoo and don't get the response you desired, then you may want to try contacting them through AP and the New York Times.

Feb 19 2008

Microsoft Getting Tetchy About Vista Bashing

Kevin Maney writes, at least until his laptop with Vista freezes up: Microsoft has HAD ENOUGH! It's the LAST STRAW, baby! One more insult of Vista -- one more! Bam! Zoom! To the MOON, Alice! So, what happened: Forrester Research,...

Jul 29 2008

Microsoft & Yahoo: The Tech Players Watch with Bemusement

A couple of quick comments on Microsoft's renewed dance with Yahoo, from tech industry leaders who have seen a lot of stuff come and go over the past couple decades.One email from Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, which provides software...

May 19 2008

What If Microsoft is Completely Pursuing the Wrong Business?

I was just re-reading Ballmer's email to employees explaining the decision to drop the Yahoo bid, and something struck me. When Ballmer detailed Microsoft's strategy, he never once used the word "software." Check out this section from the email: Our...

May 05 2008

First Bytes: Microsoft, Facebook, San Fran Muni-Hacker Update

-- Two days after Yahoo reached a truce with financier Carl Icahn, Microsoft announced a major executive shakeup and said it is ready to move beyond its Yahoo bid. In a letter to employees, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said...

Jul 24 2008

TED Flash: Star Wars for Microsoft and Google

Tech bloggers are hoping to find out at the TED conference just what makes Robert Scoble cry. Scoble, a popular blogger among the geek elite and a former technical evangelist for Microsoft, stirred the blogosphere into a tizzy earlier this...

Feb 26 2008

First Bytes: YouTube, AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, Apple, Telecom

YouTube to deliver full-length MGM movies.[eFluxMedia]AOL lands big bucks to promote Google's G1 for two days.[AllThingsDigital]Microsoft can't escape it: still needs Yahoo.[SiliconAlleyInsider]IBM blocks Mark Papermaster from working at Apple.[CrunchGear]Big layoffs coming to telecom. [GigaOm]--Andrea Chalupa...

Nov 10 2008

Nintendo is Trouncing Its Competitors

Ars Technica reports: Nintendo has been dramatically outselling its rivals in the video game business since the Wii was released, but this month's NPD numbers can be considered the company's victory lap in America. While the recession has yet to...

Dec 12 2008

"Purple" Problems at Yahoo

It's pretty obvious that whoever takes the reins from Jerry Yang as C.E.O. of Yahoo, a deal with Microsoft will be a big issue on the table again. But so will several other items, including talks with AOL over the...

Nov 19 2008

MicroYahoogle: Is Wall Street's 'Misery' Over?

Sam Gustin says: So it's over. Or is it?Despite the seeming finality of Yahoo's decision to slam the door on Microsoft and run into the arms of its erstwhile arch-rival Google, some on Wall Street don't believe this saga is...

Jun 13 2008

Down the Rabbit Hole with MicroYahooGle

Sam Gustin felt like today's Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing over Yahoo's proposed search partnership with Google was an exercise in virtual reality. It just depends on whose reality you'd like to believe.As expected, Microsoft blasted the proposal, with general counsel...

Jul 15 2008

First Bytes: Sony, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft

Sony cuts 8,000 jobs and its stock still falls. [Reuters]What are New Yorkers searching for on Google? [NYT]Google Chrome is coming out of beta. [Tech Crunch]A major Yahoo investor is urging the company to make a search deal with Microsoft....

Dec 10 2008

First Bytes: GPhone, Yahoo, Cablevision, Netflix

Has Harbinger Capital Management rattled Cablevision boss James Dolan? The hedge fund has been quietly building up its stake.

Aug 15 2008

Ballmer Avoids His AOL-Time Warner; Can't Find His MySpace

Are we to praise Steve Ballmer, or bury him? Oh, what the heck, let's do both. Though we'll go light on the praise part. Because Microsoft has proven itself to be horrendous at this whole M&A game. Microsoft-Yahoo won't happen,...

May 04 2008

First Bytes: SanDisk, Fred Wilson, Yahoo-Google

- SanDisk and the four major record labels are announcing a new format called slotMusic. [WSJ]- Fred Wilson, celebrity venture capitalist. [NYT]- Why the Yahoo-Google search ad deal isn't something to fear. [NYT]- Why the deal IS something to fear....

Sep 22 2008