Mobile search is on its way to becoming big business and could be worth as much as $2.4 billion in three years, according to Mobile Content Networks. MCN is a mobile search rival to Google and Yahoo; it earns money placing ads alongside mobile phone search results and screens. The mobile search firm believes the market will more than double each year as consumption of wireless data and mobile content accelerates through 2011. "The mobile search business has started to move from an investment phase to the phase where it is a business on its own merits," MCN co-founder …

Microsoft is already pulling the plug on its Bill Gates-Jerry Seinfeld act, Valleywag reports. Apparently, the software giant's press people are now frantically trying to explain to reporters why "phase two" of the Microsoft Vista campaign no longer includes Seinfeld -- without making anybody look bad. Microsoft's version of the story is that it always planned to drop Seinfeld for the second wave of Vista ads. However, as Owen Thomas says, "The awkward reality: The ads only reminded us how out of touch with consumers Microsoft is -- and that Bill Gates's company has millions of dollars to waste …

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes told investors on Wednesday that the future of AOL would be decided "fairly soon." The media giant has been in talks with Microsoft and Yahoo for much of the year about different deals involving its Web portal. Sources tell the Financial Times that one scenario would see Yahoo and AOL merge, with Time Warner holding a stake in the joint company. "All of the players, including us, are exploring what kind of scale combination would improve the operating and strategic positioning of AOL and other Internet players," Bewkes said at a Goldman Sachs media conference. …

Rumor has it that Google is on the verge of buying Valve, a video game publisher and game delivery network provider. The company is perhaps most famous for publishing the "Half-Life" series of PC and video games. The move would firmly place Google in the category of content provider, and would no doubt make other content delivery firms nervous, says GigaOm writer Om Malik. However, Valve's distribution network, Steam Publishing, is really what Google is after, Malik says. The software platform works offline, but it also syncs with the Web for updates and patches to its games. "If the acquisition …

We know that Google isn't the top search engine everywhere in the world. In a new report, the Financial Times tells us exactly where the search giant falls short. In Russia, Yandex is king, handling 46% of search queries. In nearby Czech Republic, Seznam handles 63% of searches. The Chinese search market, another area where Google has invested millions, belongs to Baidu, which handles more than 60% of searches. Naver in South Korea also surpasses the search giant with a 60%-plus share. And lastly, Yahoo Japan claims slightly more than half of the search market in the Land of the …

iLike, a popular Facebook app that allows users to download and share music, expanded its streaming music deal with Rhapsody to allow developers to easily add iLike playlists to their Web site or application. According to TechCrunch, the integration comes with a long list of partners: Google, Evite, TypePad, SGN, Flixster, Watercooler, Connected Weddings, Slide and Mesmo TV. The app is apparently very easy to integrate, and music is served up via HTML and Javascript, not Flash. Listeners can also create, edit and listen to playlists without registering with iLike. Of course, there's one glaring limitation (imposed by Rhapsody): users …