Slowing Click Rate Hits Google Shares

(NEWSER) - Microsoft and Yahoo finally officially tied the knot today, with a 10-year deal to integrate their search and advertising businesses, MSNBC reports. It appears Microsoft won't pay Yahoo up front, which is probably a blow to Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who promised she'd only join Microsoft for a "boatload of money." Instead they'll share ad revenue, and Microsoft will pay Yahoo a traffic acquisition fee. More»

Search giant wants to watch your surroundings via device sensors

(NEWSER) - Watching your search habits and email apparently isn't enough for Google. The company was awarded a patent this week for "advertising based on environmental conditions," PC World reports. Google intends to gather information on your surroundings via sensors in your phone or tablet—things like temperature, humidity, light, and even background noise—and use that to decide which ads to show you. More»

Facebook ads mining user data like never before

(NEWSER) - After seven years of concentrating on the cool, Facebook is finally ready to cash in. The social networking giant is starting to mine its immense database to match users to advertisers like never before, reports the LA Times . Facebook's ad revenue reportedly doubled last year to $2 billion, and insiders say it should double again in 2011. "If you take a look at the history of media, ad dollars go where the eyeballs are," said one analyst. More»

$25M search deals with Microsoft, Google push it barely into black

(NEWSER) - Twitter will be marginally profitable this year thanks to deals with Google and Microsoft that open up the social networking site’s streams to those companies’ search engines. The agreement with Google is worth about $15 million, while the Microsoft partnership should net Twitter around $10 million. The short message site is thought to have operating expenses between $20 million and $25 million. More»

But company won't pull doctored photo

(NEWSER) - Hackers have doctored a photo of Michelle Obama to look like an ape and rigged Google search results so it comes up first under an image search of her name. The move prompted Google to take out an ad on the results page, reading in part, “Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree.” But the company says it will not pull the image. More»