Search giant Google joined in the SOPA protest Wednesday, not just with its blacked-out Doodle, but by agreeing to slow down its crawl rates during the Internet blackout. This meant sites that blacked out their pages wouldn’t suffer in search rankings… Tweet This Post

Microsoft’s fourth-quarter earnings came in about where Wall Street had expected, but the decline of its Windows business continued during a holiday quarter when it seems pretty clear other gadgets dominated shopping lists… Tweet This Post

While many of the top Internet companies faced a volatile ad market in the fourth quarter of last year, Facebook saw its share of the overall online advertising market increase to 2.7 percent during the period… Tweet This Post

In the world of search advertising, mobile phones and tablets continue to outpace performance of search ads on PCs, although they still represent only a fraction of impressions and investment, according to a new report… Tweet This Post

Ask Ziggy has actually been on the Windows Store for right around a fortnight, but there’s an updated version hitting soon that brings an astounding amount of Siri-ness to Microsoft’s own Windows Phone 7 platform… Tweet This Post

Bing already claimed its title as the world’s second favorite search engine, but in the US it has continued to lag in third place behind Yahoo!. The gap is closing rapidly, however, with ComScore’s latest stats revealing a 15… Tweet This Post

Most of our day jobs aren’t nearly as amusing as life at Wernham Hogg and Excel doesn’t make things any more exciting. But, if you’re looking to spice up your spreadsheets, Microsoft’s ExcelMashup.com may be just what you’ve been waiting for… Tweet This Post

Kiss that old “New Xbox Experience” goodbye — the Xbox Dashboard just went full Metro. Microsoft teased the console’s latest overhaul back at E3, promising to “change living room entertainment forever… Tweet This Post

Need something to do while your loved ones slave over hot stoves and turkey platters? Microsoft and Bing have got your back, offering gamers another free Xbox Live Gold weekend to help you frag your way through the holiday… Tweet This Post

In what could be the first sign of a potential buyout, Microsoft has signed a confidentiality agreement with Yahoo to get access to the company’s financial information, Reuters reported Wednesday. Citing a “source familiar with the matter,” the report says Microsoft is one of many companies now combing through Yahoo’s business… Tweet This Post

The Associated Press reports: “Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL are teaming up to sell some of the online advertising space that they have had trouble selling on their own. The alliance announced Tuesday represents a joint attack on Google… Tweet This Post

In a move that can be simultaneously described as puzzling and pragmatic, Microsoft has decided to bring its Bing for Mobile app to Android and iOS before launching it on its very own Windows Phone platform… Tweet This Post