In the days to come Google will be paying closer attention to search engine spam, said Google representative Matt Cutts at Webmasterworld's Publishers Conference.

Yahoo Inc., operator of the Internet's most popular site, is keeping a close eye on the social networking space pioneered by start-ups such as Friendster, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

While banner ads have become passé and pop-ups a nuisance, the use of so-called rich media ads is poised for rapid growth, industry experts say. Rich media combines animation, video and sound with interactive features. The big growth driver: 43% of PC users, or 51 million individuals, now connect to the Internet from U.S. homes via a broadband connection necessary for swift downloading of dense video and music digital files, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

Verizon Communications next week will relaunch its SuperPages.com site to give advertisers the option of signing up for lucrative Web-search ad campaigns, the No. 1 U.S. telephone company said on Tuesday.

When the Web was in its infancy, Internet utopians envisioned a political revolution, predicting that the new medium would engage and empower voters as never before. But part of the Web's appeal has been its unbridled nature, and it is showing that it can act as a back alley - where punches can be thrown and things can be said that might be deemed out of place, even if just at a particular moment, in the full light of the mainstream media.

Sharp eyes and a bit of patience paid off Thursday for iTunes fans who figured out a way to "hack" the popular music download service's Pepsi promotion.

In its latest effort to tap the advertising potential of the Internet, the Toyota Motor Corporation has agreed to become the first exclusive automotive sponsor on eBay, the online auction site, in a deal that promotes Toyota cars and trucks on special eBay pages and in online charity auctions.

Cisco Systems Inc. on Wednesday unveiled a system for its Internet-based telephones that promises to allow real-time videoconferencing with television-quality images for less than $200 per user.

Web surfers are anything but loyal when it comes to their favorite search engines, according to new research that could give hope to Net titans Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN as they seek to wrest the search crown from Google.

Unlike the companion-seeking hipsters that people its Web site, Friendster has had no trouble making friends -- especially among venture capitalists.