Yahoo, which has come under considerable scrutiny for what appears to be an over-willingness--even an eagerness--to cooperate with the Chinese government in incarcerating free speech and democracy advocates, is asking the U.S. government to help in urging China to allow more media freedom. Over the last few years, Yahoo offices in China and Hong Kong have been cited in several Chinese court decisions to jail writers for subversion. Evidence abounds that Yahoo willingly supplied--and in some cases offered--user data to authorities. Yahoo Chief Terry Semel said the company and other companies operating there have no choice but to comply with …

Time Warner's AOL is having problems coming up with original ideas. Fortune asks whether rolling out what it hopes will be new and improved versions of other companies' products will be enough to ring in a turnaround. The "ideas" in question here are AIM Pages and AIM Phoneline, AOL's responses to My Space and Skype. According to the Fortune review, AIM Pages and AIM Phoneline have a few nice features to distance them from their predecessors, but the bad news is simply that "MySpace and Skype already exist." In other words, there's no compelling reason for consumers to switch. …

It should come as no surprise to marketers that the Internet affects purchasing decisions. A new study from Yahoo and OMD identifies four paths, or product research cycles, in following consumers down the purchasing funnel. The study breaks them down into quick, winding, long, and long and winding, paths to making purchases. Quick generally refers to an impulse buy, winding means cross-channel comparison shopping, and the long path means consumers are waiting for an event such as a price drop or new product availability. For bigger items like cars or financial services, consumers, hungrier for information, take the so-called long …

Microsoft built its empire selling software in boxes you install on a Windows-enabled PC. Now it's moving its business over to the Web, opening itself to competition like never before. Many believe the software giant has now become the underdog to Google, the undisputed king of Internet advertising, which is the very business model the new pretenders need to adopt. In many cases, the software and products offered by Google are free, supported by advertising in some cases, and in others, supported by nothing other than Google's playful, unassuming, but prominent brand name. It would seem that this new battle …

Microsoft's shares hit a three-year low last week as investors expressed concerns over the company's first quarter earnings as well as the large amount of cash it plans to spend on research and development in the coming year. Microsoft is undergoing some serious changes to its business model, switching from a software-centric to a Web-based, ad-supported model. Rising competition from Google, which has now publicly said it will be moving into Microsoft's turf, coupled with the costly uncertainty of shifting focus to its new Live suite of Web-based products and services, have had a prevailing effect over investors. The company …

By and large, many analysts think Microsoft is off to a fresh re-start in the video game biz, having released its Xbox 360 a whole year before competitors Nintendo and Sony can bring their new products to market. Microsoft expects its early lead to be by about 10 million?a vast number indeed for the gaming market, which is currently estimated at 100 million game consoles in the U.S., according to NPD Group. Earlier this week, at E3, Bill Gates discussed his vision for XBox 360 and XBox Live, its online platform, saying he envisions a future of "Live anywhere" …

Financial analysts were all over the map when it came to Google's Q1 earnings. When it comes to earnings and street analysts are off by one to two cents, it can lead to tremendous volatility in the trading of a company's stock. A consensus average for 29 analysts polled by Thomson First Call were off by 32 cents, or 14 percent. In the fourth quarter, the analyst consensus was 22 cents higher than actual results. Their message: get used to big-time discrepancies when it comes to Google. Why? Some say search is still young and unpredictable, while others point to …

Recently, Revenue.net, a pay-per-click ad network, launched a cost-per-acquisition model, prompting Adotas to ask: does this signal some kind of change for the vast network of PPC providers on the Web? PPC models, both search and contextual, charge advertisers when consumers click on their ads; these consumers are thought to have taken an action indicating future client potential. Advertisers then measure sales to calculate their return on investment to ensure the campaigns are generating profit. With CPA, advertisers only pay for conversions, the very thing they're ultimately after. Each marketer has to decide what constitutes a conversion, such as a …

From its 110-story perch atop Chicago's Sears Tower, Sears failed to see Wal-Mart coming. GM failed to respond to Toyota and other Japanese auto makers. The New York Times asks if the same fate will befall Microsoft in its fierce battle with Google. Well, if it does--which seems ridiculous to talk about now anyway--it won't be for lack of trying. Microsoft is reinvesting a ton of money in research and development for its products and services, including a recent overhaul of its advertising system. However, history would indicate that past success is often an anchor holding major companies back. As …

ClickZ reports that brands and their agencies are all over this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, having "booked wall-to-wall meetings with ad sales execs at the game studios and with the in-game ad firms that represent their games." Have video games finally arrived? Perhaps. And perhaps the benchmark is Microsoft finalizing its deal to acquire the in-game ad serving company Massive Incorporated. Advertisers now know that Microsoft will be opening up inventory to sell directly through XBox Live the online gaming platform Bill Gates spent some time yesterday talking up. Nevertheless, most of the conversations at the video …