Amid mounting pressure from U.S. regulators, Google and Yahoo have revised the terms of their proposed search agreement, which includes shortening the length of the partnership to two years from 10, and capping the total revenue Yahoo can earn from the deal to 25% of what the company earns from search. There was no cap previously. Advertisers would also now be able to opt out of having their ads placed on Yahoo sites. The revisions, which the Web giants submitted over the weekend, followed reports that the companies' fairly open-ended initial plan would more than likely trigger an antitrust …

Through the iPhone and iPod Touch, Apple is moving headlong into the world of portable gaming, and could soon give the likes of Nintendo's DS and Sony PSP a run for their money, BusinessWeek's Arik Hesseldahl says. The slate of games available through the App Store offers "immersive, addictive fun," Hesseldahl says, but most importantly, it's far more easily accessible than both the DS and PSP. "When you consider the ease and reach of Apple's (AAPL) online method for distributing games," Hesseldahl says, "Apple could do in this category what it did in online music." In fact, the App Store …

Web sites like CNN.com and NYTimes.com are expecting record traffic, Reuters reports, as consumers across the nation monitor the progress of today's Presidential election. CNN is predicting more than a billion page views on its Web site after expanding its coverage to include a "Your Races" feature, which follows even the most remote Congressional contests and state ballot measures. The New York Times, which topped all newspaper sites with 20 million visitors in September, according to the report, is also expecting record traffic today. Jim Roberts, associate managing editor of the publication, said the Web site has come a …

George Kliavkoff, the exec who is most responsible for NBC's participation in Hulu, the successfully growing joint online video venture with News Corp., is departing the network after little more than two years as NBC's chief digital officer. In a memo to staff, Kliavkoff said he had achieved the goals he set out for himself when he joined in August 2006, and will take time off before jumping into his next project. The 41-year-old will leave NBC at the end of the year, although he will remain available to NBC CEO Jeff Zucker throughout the transition process. "George came …

Former Microsoft exec Jeff Dossett, a man who has climbed Mount Everest twice, is replacing Yahoo Media Group SVP Scott Moore as Yahoo's head of U.S. audience. Indeed, writers across the land are suggesting that Dossett may have to climb Everest a third time in order to rejuvenate Yahoo's content business, which faces a flagging display market and an economic climate that looks certain to get worse before it gets better. "Where others see risk, I see opportunity," Dossett tells BoomTown's Kara Swisher. "We have this great Web asset...and, from here on out, it is all about execution...there is an …

The Financial Times' Richard Waters says the chances of a Google-Yahoo search partnership are looking "increasingly slim" as the companies fail to convince the U.S. Department of Justice that the move would not prove to be anticompetitive. Google and Yahoo agreed on the alliance in June as part of Yahoo's defense of an unsolicited takeover by Microsoft, but industry associations and advertisers alike have vociferously opposed the move. The companies have not yet implemented the partnership in order to give antitrust regulators time to review it. That deadline has been extended twice since, with the second set to expire later …

Say what you want about Microsoft's online efforts, SAI's Henry Blodget says the software giant has been the hands-down winner of the latest round of the Web Wars. The company's recent success has had less to do with any brilliant actions on its part; rather, Microsoft has simply stood aside and watched as Google's Yahoo deal and Yahoo's proposed AOL merger go nowhere. As Blodget points out, sometimes doing nothing is the smartest move. Ten months ago, Microsoft was prepared to offer $50 billion in stock and cash for Yahoo. Now, Yahoo's tanking share price underscores the wisdom of …