Nearly a year after Google's IPO marked the start of a new phase in Web search competition, the upstart is making industry giants Microsoft's MSN and Yahoo! look like also-rans. Google's share of U.S. searches hit 52% in June, up from 45% a year ago, according to Web analytics firm WebSideStory Inc. By contrast, Yahoo's and MSN's share slipped to 25% and 10% respectively. Says Mark S. Mahaney, an analyst at Smith Barney Citigroup: "People haven't been given a good reason to switch from Google."

Yahoo Inc. is rolling out a service that lets users in the United States tap the Internet media giant's Web search using text messaging, matching a service now offered by rival Google Inc.

Police have arrested a man for using someone else's wireless Internet network in one of the first criminal cases involving this fairly common practice. Benjamin Smith III, 41, faces a pretrial hearing this month following his April arrest on charges of unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony. Police say Smith admitted using the Wi-Fi signal from the home of Richard Dinon, who had noticed Smith sitting in an SUV outside Dinon's house using a laptop computer.

As more U.S.-based advertisers expand internationally, interactive agencies are finding themselves facing new challenges. Though the globalization of digital marketing is nothing new, it has taken on new proportions in recent months, according to many media buyers. They say as regional clients have gone multinational, agencies have had to build up their regional hubs and more intensively manage cross-border communication.

Reporters who promise to protect sources' identities do a disservice to their profession and the public by breaking their word. That's why it's disillusioning to see Time cave in to the Plame probe, even while The New York Times stands its ground.

Viacom network Nickelodeon has launched TurboNick, a broadband video platform of TV-like programming on Nick.com. Advertisers including General Mills, Kellogg's, Activision, Topps and Sony Pictures have deals with both the children's network and the Web site, a spokeswoman for Nickelodeon said.

A production company owned in part by Morgan Freeman, the actor, with backing by Intel, is forming a new venture to sell movie downloads on the Internet. So far, attempts to sell movies online have had limited appeal, but the growing pace of movie piracy, using software like BitTorrent, is causing Hollywood to look for new approaches to online distribution.

Google Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Hearst Corp. are investing about $100 million in Current Communications Group, a start-up that offers high-speed Internet connections over electricity lines, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Internet services company America Online Inc. plans to offer new services that can give its subscribers greater control over their personal data, the company said on Wednesday. AOL is undertaking the project with Plaxo, which supplies tools allowing Web users to automatically update electronic address books.

Dell Inc., the world's largest personal computer supplier, and Napster Inc. on Wednesday said they will provide colleges with a legal online music hardware and software package. The offering combines Napster's digital music service with Dell's PowerEdge 1855 servers that will boost network bandwidth at schools. Colleges will be able to use the servers to store music from Napster's library locally, allowing network processing speed to remain fast while hundreds of students simultaneously download music.