Google watchers abuzz about the search darling's new desktop tool are already betting on its next product: instant chat. Such speculation isn't new, but it's gained legs as some intriguing facts have come to light this week. First, although few people seem to realize it, Google already owns an instant-messaging (IM) client called Hello that it picked up this summer with its acquisition of photo-sharing service Picasa.

Video chain Blockbuster Inc on Friday said it would lower the price of its online DVD rentals to undercut a similar move by Netflix Inc. that sparked a stock a sell-off of both companies' shares. The cuts caused talk on Wall Street of an impending price war in the still-growing business that Netflix pioneered but has been joined by Blockbuster, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and could soon see the entry of Amazon.com Inc.

Consumers are constantly pitched new products and services through direct mail, telemarketing calls, e-mail spam, and television and radio spots. But how effective are the ads? Which ones actually make people want to buy a new cell phone or sign up for digital cable? Are advertising campaigns targeting the right audiences? Upper Quadrant says it can help companies answer those questions more effectively.

Clearing the way for homes and businesses to receive high-speed Internet services through their electrical outlets, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules on Thursday that would enable the utility companies to offer an alternative to the broadband communications services now provided by cable and phone companies.

No online medium is safe from advertising anymore. In recent weeks, more companies have started bringing advertising to RSS feeds, the popular platforms for aggregating content from multiple sites in a single place. In the past, RSS feeds have typically been free of ads.

It's been barely two months since Microsoft made a pop-up blocker available for its Internet Explorer browser--but Web advertisers have already found a way to slip their loathed marketing pitches past it.

Spam: It's evil, wicked and nasty. It's been legislated against and filtered out, its senders have been banned and busted, and it still keeps on coming. With its evil sidekicks -- spyware and viruses -- spam is the bane and blight of the internet. But in Austin, Minnesota, also known as Spamtown USA, Spam rules.

Microsoft has warned that it's preparing a Google killer in the form of a better search tool. But while MSN fine-tunes its algorithms, Google has struck at the heart of Windows with a beta release tool to search PC desktops.

While the entertainment industry has had some recent setbacks in its fight against piracy in the courts and in Congress, it has a new ally in John Ashcroft, who recently pledged to make cracking down on copyright violators a top priority. On Tuesday, the attorney general released a report from the Department of Justice's Intellectual Property Task Force that outlines plans to beef up enforcement of copyright violations.

Google on Thursday unveiled its first-generation desktop application for searching through personal files and Web history stored locally on a PC, a move that could shake up the landscape of Internet search and raise privacy hackles.