Now that Web access has become standard for just about every new media device on the market, the annual Consumer Electronics Show is turning into a something of advertising event, too. Several CES track sessions are being devoted solely to digital marketing and advertising, which Forrester Research says will grow to $50 billion in just four short years. Marketing execs from McDonald's, Nike, Wal-Mart, Frito-Lay, Unilever and Kraft walked the massive CES floor, where the best that gadget makers have to offer for this year and beyond is on display. According to the report, …

Web giant Yahoo on Monday announced that it was opening up its mobile software and services to outside publishers and programmers. The idea behind the "open" strategy, which has been deployed many times and in different variations by numerous companies over the last six months, is that the software developing masses can help create more and perhaps better mobile software than Yahoo. The move falls in line with CEO Jerry Yang's mission to make the struggling Internet giant the "starting point for the most consumers" on the Internet. So how does an open platform help? Yahoo wants innovative software …

Prior to his final CES keynote as Microsoft chairman and chief software architect, Bill Gates discussed the road ahead for the software giant. He doesn't think the recent slowdown in the U.S. economy will weigh heavily on the company's future. "I don't think the fate of Microsoft depends as much on ... the economy as it does on the getting the breakthrough innovations from Microsoft Research into the products and staying ahead," he said. A great deal of Microsoft's present fortunes depend heavily on Microsoft Windows and Office. Both are at risk from cheaper competitors--the latter …

Web guru Michael Arrington gives a scathing review to Wikia, the community-powered search engine that went live over the weekend, calling it "one of the biggest disappointments I've had the displeasure of reviewing." After playing with the new search engine for four days, Arrington says Wikia is "barely a search engine at all." The poor review from TechCrunch, one of the Web's most influential technology blogs, is a real blow to creator Jimmy Wales', who for more than a year has touted Wikia as the real Google killer. Arrington called the search results "poor and thin," which he …

Just when you thought media vendors were starting to turn their backs on Apple's iTunes, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is close to securing content deals with "most of the big [movie] studios." Film and television haven't proved to be nearly as big a hit for Apple and its suite of portable electronics devices as music was. Again, pricing is the big sticking point: Jobs apparently was reticent to pay the studios more than $14 for each movie sold through iTunes, but insiders say the Apple CEO is now prepared to pay closer to the $17 wholesale price …