Google's latest push into the Web phone-calling market is a direct challenge to eBay's Skype as well as the online calling software businesses of Microsoft and Cisco, writes BusinessWeek's Olga Kharif. Last week, the search giant released a downloadable Google Voice application for phones running its Android operating system as well as Research in Motion's BlackBerry line of smartphones, moves which could make the voice service more popular. Google Voice allows users to make Internet phone calls, listen to voice messages and read transcripts, in addition to supplying a universal phone number that can track down messages based on what …

Kara Swisher reports that Microsoft is getting ready to overhaul its MSN online portal. The software giant, whose talks with Yahoo over a possible search deal are reportedly close to a resolution, is preparing "a major redo of what U.S. and, possibly, international consumers will see, as it doubles down on five key content verticals, while cutting back on others." Among other things, MSN plans to add data from its Bing search engine to its News, Sports, Finance, Lifestyle and Entertainment sites. "It's a decision to make it so MSN does less better," one source tells Swisher. …

Tim Armstrong has completed his 100-day review of AOL's business, and has identified content as the company's core focus as it seeks to gain back market share lost to rivals Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. "There is going to be a very broad content economy in the future and we'd like AOL to be at the center of it," the AOL CEO told the Financial Times. Armstrong, who will discuss AOL's new direction at a company-wide meeting on Friday, added that the company aimed to improve its Advertising.com display ad network business, invest in and build local niche content sites, and …

In a lengthy interview with PaidContent.org's Staci Kramer, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong reveals his learnings from his first 100 days at the helm of the beleaguered Web giant, which is on the verge of separating from its parent company, Time Warner. At the top of the list is an expansion of AOL-owned content through its MediaGlow content network, followed by growing Advertising.com and its third party advertising network, pushing local content and services and mapping, focusing on AOL email, AIM and ICQ, and starting AOL Ventures, an incubator for strengthening unwanted properties the company may want to sell in the …

In a guest column appearing in The Wall Street Journal, James Altucher, managing partner of Formula Capital, an alternative asset management firm, advises investors to "run for the hills" when it comes to investing in the Internet. "The days of infinite margins, 1,000% productivity gains, and growth of market throughout the universe are long over," he says. "Internet companies now should be treated, at best, like utility companies that get bought at about 10 times earnings and sold at 13 times earnings. Even then, I'm not sure I would give the Internet sector the same respect as the monopoly-protected utility …

YouTube may be our "national trove of free video," says Fast Company's Chris Dannen, but the video-sharing giant still costs Google an unsustainable amount of money each year, as advertising revenues remain paltry. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has an interesting suggestion for the growing problem: charge uploaders a small fee for videos that aren't monetizable through advertising. As Dannen says, this would add significant value to YouTube's bottom line, but it might also tarnish the company's brand. First of all, is such a system technically feasible? According to Munster, it is, and the charge could be …

The music industry will attempt to intercept any money paid to acquire the Pirate Bay, says Alex Jacob, spokesman for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the trade group that represents the music industry worldwide. Meanwhile, Global Gaming Factory, the company that said it would acquire the Pirate Bay for $7.8 million two weeks ago, has been touting a new business model for the file-sharing site, hiring executives like Wayne Rosso, the former Grokster president, to legally obtain content from film and music companies. It remains to be seen if the sale will be affected …

Apple's AppStore does not represent the future of the mobile industry, says Google Engineering VP and developer evangelist Vic Gundotra. Speaking at an industry conference in San Francisco on Thursday, Gundotra said that the future belonged to the Web, and that users would get their information and entertainment from browsers in the future. He also claimed that even Google is not rich enough to support all of the different mobile platforms from Apple's AppStore to those of BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, and others. "What we clearly see happening is a move to incredibly powerful browsers," Gundotra said. …