Bada-Bing: Yahoo, Microsoft Close to Search Engine Deal

(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»

Weekend meeting torpedoes hopes of a merger

(NEWSER) - Looks like a Microsoft-Yahoo marriage is off—for good this time, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a meeting last weekend, Microsoft representatives stated “unequivocally” that the software giant was not interested in purchasing all of Yahoo for any price. Yahoo then ruled out an alternative of selling Microsoft only its search business. More»

Bing execs angrily deny cheating charges

(NEWSER) - Call it Nerd Wars II: The Empire Strikes Back. Microsoft angrily denied Google's recent claims that Bing has been copying Google's search results , calling the accusation "insulting," in a ratcheting up of tensions between the two computer giants. "We do not copy results from any of our competitors. Period. Full stop," said a blog post by Yusef Mehdi, a senior vice president at Microsoft, saying Google's accusations were a "publicity stunt." More»

Social networking site beats Google, Yahoo, YouTube combined

(NEWSER) - The average American Facebook user spent 7 hours surfing the site last month, more time than users spent on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft/Bing, Wikipedia and Amazon combined, according to the latest Nielsen numbers. You read that right: combined. The number represents a staggering jump, Mashable notes. Just last June, the average user spent only 4 hours and 39 minutes on the site. More»

Search engines switch India to stricter settings

(NEWSER) - Indian computer users enter "sex" into search engines more than users in any other country, but Internet firms have moved to deliver only sanitized results to the nation. Yahoo's search engine and the Flickr photo-sharing site have switched the entire country's setting to "safe search" only, as has Microsoft's Bing, a Guardian investigation finds. More»