Despite Bill Gates’ early efforts, Microsoft has so far missed out on the tablet revolution. Now, in what would come as a shock to many, Microsoft is reportedly ready to go at tablets alone. At a Monday event, “Microsoft [will] introduce a Microsoft-manufactured tablet at the event, marking a foray into a new hardware category that would put the company in direct competition with giant rival Apple,” reports TheWrap.com, citing sources. “After signaling for months that it would attack the market only through its traditional hardware partners, Microsoft has decided to enter the tablet business more directly,” AllThingsD writes. …

With an eye on social, Microsoft is reportedly in discussions to acquire Yammer for over $1 billion. “A deal may be reached as soon as tomorrow,” reports Bloomberg, citing sources. “Adding Yammer would help Microsoft … add social-networking tools to the suite of products it offers corporate customers.” “Yammer is used primarily as a tool for group communication and collaboration within companies and started off life looking very much like an early version of Facebook,” writes The Verge. “Unlike Mark Zuckerberg's creation, however, Yammer proudly proclaims itself ‘the enterprise social network’ and offers no pretense of competing in the …

So, as it turns out, not everything Apple touches turns to gold. Take Ping, the company’s social network for music, which (at least internally) it’s finally calling a failure. “Rather than continue to maintain Ping, [Apple] is abandoning it and using its partnerships with Twitter and Facebook to make its various software and service offerings social in a way that consumers actually care about,” AllThingsD reports, citing sources. “People who made music never used ping,” Gizmodo writes. People who listen to music never used Ping. Did anyone at Apple even use Ping? Doubtful, as they might have realized how horrid …

With its latest suit of software features, it’s unlikely that Apple has a single motive in mind. Yet, that didn’t keep The Wall Street Journal from reading into the various mobile and computer enhancements. Taken together, the effort underscores how Apple is trying to distance itself from Google, WSJ argues. Among other developments, Apple has struck a “long-negotiated deal” with Google rival Facebook to integrate various services. “In several places during the nearly two-hour keynote, Scott Forstall, Apple's senior vice president for iOS software, referred to areas where the mobile software called iOS outperformed Google's Android software, such as user …

Angling for a more mainstream crowd -- and the brands that love them -- Twitter debuted its first TV spot during the Pocono 400 Nascar race, this weekend. “You always know when a tech company is becoming modern and sophisticated in its marketing … It starts doing TV ads,” CNet half-jokes. “The [hashtag-heavy] ad features driver Brad Keselowski … using his phone to share his point of view with the world,” The Next Web reports. “With hashtags becoming increasingly prevalent on TV, it’s a smart move by Twitter to ensure it is able to provide a user friendly branded experience …

With global growth at risk, top Web companies are reportedly facing the threat of an “Internet tax” -- and from the least likely of bodies: the United Nations. That’s right, the U.N. “is considering a new Internet tax targeting the largest Web content providers, including Google, Facebook, Apple, and Netflix, that could cripple their ability to reach users in developing nations,” reports CNet. Offered for debate at a December meeting of a U.N. agency called the International Telecommunication Union, the European proposal reportedly seeks to levy U.S. companies for the bandwidth they use outside of the States. “In response, …

Trying to keep the dream (of LBS, or location-based social networking) alive, foursquare just unveiled a new and improved mobile app. “This new version of foursquare is more about finding things around you based on where you are right now,” The Next Web notes. “Instead of loading up the app when you arrive at a restaurant or bar and checking in, foursquare wants to be the app that you use to find new places to go. The ‘All New foursquare’ is all about discovery.” “With this release, Foursquare becomes a direct competitor to the current recommendations leader, Yelp,” remarks ReadWriteWeb’s Richard …

Giving it a fighting chance among rival “supply-side” ad platforms, PubMatic just raised a $45 million round led by August Capital, along with existing investors, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Nexus Venture Partners, Helion Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. The company, which helps publishers manage their display ad inventory, continues to face stiff competition from AppNexus and the Rubicon Project, both of which are also heavily funded, and are thought to be considering public offerings. The entire segment, however, is falling out of favor with certain investors. “After a few years of infatuation, many investors have grown out of love with ad …

Likely bolstering Google+’s publisher tools, Google has agreed to buy Meebo for a reported $100 million. “We don’t know if this means there’ll be some sort of new Google+ toolbar coming,” reports TechCrunch. “But presumably the existing Meebo properties will be morphed into G+ or otherwise closed." Driving the deal, Google is “hungry for new ways of reaching its still-nascent social networking audience,” according to the  Los Angeles Times. Still, “how Meebo will be integrated into the Google world remains to be seen,” ZDNet reports. “Meebo’s most popular product as of late, the Meebo …

As was widely rumored last week, Salesforce.com has agreed to buy social media marketing firm Buddy Media for nearly $689 million in cash and shares. “That’s almost exactly how much Salesforce.com generated in sales in the first quarter of this year as a whole ($695 million),” The Next Web notes. Last week, Peter Kafka at AllThingsD predicted that the close would close north of $800 million. This week, he suggests that discrepancy can be accounted for in this line of the press release: “All of Buddy Media’s vested and unvested options, restricted stock and …