Web researcher Stephen Arnold says he reads Google patents to predict the future. Right now, he's focused on United States Patent 7,027,987--a voice interface for a search engine. Arnold believes the patent reveals Google's plans to deploy voice search across a variety of media devices, from computers to cell phones, as well as for dictating voice-to-text on a word-processing program. "There's no limit to how they can scale it," Arnold says. "They can embed the function on mobile phones, on browsers, on chips, and even on big mainframes. It's entirely device independent." The research has "an important …

"Wow," says CNNMoney's Paul R. LaMonica, "When it rains it pours for Google." He's talking about the search giant's latest snub from a big media firm. On Thursday, CBS launched the Interactive Audience Network, an initiative to deliver CBS shows "CSI," "Survivor" and "The Late Show with David Letterman" to several online video sites--except Google's YouTube. The CBS move is a double-blow for Google because the broadcast giant always seemed to be on Google's side, even after other big media firms had turned their backs on a video deal. To make matters worse, the list of distribution partners …

The media delivery giant Comcast Corp. continues to buy its way into the content business--some might say curiously. Does this mean America's No. 1 broadband provider sees its future in media? On Thursday, Comcast acquired the online ticketing company Fangango to become part of a new Comcast site called Fancast, yet another Web TV/entertainment hub that allows people to customize their video experience. How crowded is this space? It seems like every company out there with even the slightest relationship to media believes it can build the Web's de facto destination for online video content. But Comcast may have …

The Brazilian airline TAM is set to become the first airline to promote itself in Second Life. The company will start offering cyberspace flights corresponding to its real-world international service. Second Life users will be able to put their avatars, or online personas, into virtual TAM planes and take flights to Second Life islands called Milan, Paris, New York and England. As interesting as this sounds, it's also a bit odd when you consider that Second Life residents can fly. Promotions, of course, are the difference. "Avatars can fly there on their own, or we can take them there, …

Newspaper giant McClatchy Co. is in the process of abandoning its online advertising partnership with rivals Tribune Co. and Gannett Co. to join an ad network that will be managed by Yahoo, Inc. The network partners include Hearst Corp. and fellow newspaper rival Medianews Group Inc. Last fall, the group signed an agreement with the Yahoo's Hotjobs employment service to provide classifieds ads, but sources say the partners are on course to strike a much broader deal. One of the requirements would be for the newspaper companies to use Yahoo Search on their sites. Yahoo and the newspapers would …

Facebook is enjoying a run of success that almost no one anticipated. The social network of late has been eating rival MySpace's lunch, adding new users and more page views at a torrid pace. Only six months ago, critics were saying the company was faced with a membership crisis. Yesterday, the company added new features designed to simplify how users navigate through individual member profiles to keep tabs on friends and associates. It also added portal-like pages that provide a bird's eye view of the groups they belong to or might join. The secret to Facebook's recent success …

A new company called Spock takes a different approach to Web search, focusing on people, like a searchable encyclopedia, using a range of sources that goes far beyond social networks. According to TechCrunch, upward of 30% of Internet searches are people-related. And as anyone who's ever tried to look someone up on Google knows, people search could be better. TechCrunch's Michael Arrington gave the site a test drive, and he reports that Spock did a great job finding information about bloggers, celebrities, journalists and other individuals with a Web presence. The best part about the search service, he says, …

For those still holding Google stock from the days when the company went public (nearly three years ago now), they've nearly quadrupled their money by now, making millionaires out of many a Google employee. This year, hundreds will be coming up on their fourth-year anniversary, which means they'll soon be able to cash in all their pre-IPO options. When they do, and many will, they'll be faced an important question: to stay or not to stay? An employee exodus is one of the more "confounding consequences" of success. And while Google is still an attractive company to work for, …

Don't believe what you've read: IPOs in the tech sector are back. in the first quarter alone, nine venture capital-backed tech companies went public, with three IPOs just two weeks ago. However, unlike the cavalier days of the late Nineties, these firms aren't wide-eyed startups; rather, they're mature enterprises. And for the most part, they're not Internet media firms: they sell things like networking hardware and wireless Internet service. Meanwhile, there was nary an IPO to be found from our Web 2.0 firms during the same period. Surprised? You shouldn't be, because two major factors have contributed to the …

Now that the likes of Adidas, Dell, Reuters and Toyota have begun operating in virtual world Second Life, the next step is figuring out a way to leverage their presence in the virtual world. You could argue that just being there serves marketing purposes, especially for those selling virtual incarnations of their goods, or that an online bureau could become an outlet for recruiting new talent. However, Second Life could prove to be most beneficial in terms of customer service. CBS Corp. is a good example, having carved out an area specifically for "Star Trek Voyager" fans to meet …