Planning to sell Windows 7 desktop real estate to advertisers, Microsoft just launched a pilot program that includes Coke, Infiniti and Porsche. Using Windows 7 themes -- collections of backgrounds, borders and audio elements -- advertisers will now be able to brand the desktop, according to the software giant. Microsoft apparently pitched the pilot as a way for international advertisers to connect to consumers. "The new Windows Theme Experience and Windows Personalization Gallery in Windows 7 allow consumers to customize their technology to reflect the things in life they are most passionate about," said Darren Huston, corporate vice …

In the wake of news that Rupert Murdoch was considering removing all News Corp.-owned content from Google's search index, the Telegraph is reporting that the drastic move could occur "within months." Murdoch has long criticized search engines for taking a free ride on his content, and goes so far as to argue that readers who randomly reach a page via search have little value to advertisers. Now, not only is the media mogul ready to block Google's access to his sites, but -- according to Jonathan Miller, News Corp's chief digital office -- once and for all expose …

Rumor has it -- once again -- that Google's highly-anticipated operating system Chrome OS will be available for download next week, which would no doubt be bad news for Microsoft and Mozilla. "What can we expect?" asks TechCrunch. "Driver support will likely be a weak point ... We've heard at various times that Google has a legion of engineers working on the not so glamorous task of building hardware drivers ... And we've also heard conflicting rumors that Google is mostly relying on hardware manufacturers to create those drivers ... having a robust set of functioning drivers is …

Alas, the latest Android 2.0-based "iPhone killer" is not destined to kill the iPhone, or even the BlackBerry, according to InfoWorld's Galen Grumen. However, Grumen does think Apple should be concerned about the cheaper HTC Droid Eris. There are now six smartphones on the market that will appeal to business and professional users, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Along with the iPhone and Droid Eris, they include Motorola Droid, Palm Pre, Research in Motion BlackBerry Bold, and RIM BlackBerry Storm 2. Who is the ideal iPhone owner? Someone who wants a "mobile device that takes full advantage of Web …

Set to debut next week, the latest Xbox Live network will be integrated with Twitter and Facebook in a new interface that has been tailored for the console. The new features are destined to turn "Xbox and Live into this rich media portal that continuously surfaces the most engaging things to do in the living room," Live's General Manager Marc Whitten tells Fast Company. "We look at things like Facebook and Twitter as amazing social experiences, but also entertainment." To date, over 300 million friend connections have happened on Live, according to the company, but allowing users to convert Facebook …

Joe Hewitt, the Facebook developer responsible for the social network's hugely successful iPhone app, says he's washing his hands of the project, and it's all Apple's fault. "My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple's policies," Hewitt said in a tweet this week. "I've handed the Facebook iPhone app off to another engineer."Elaborating on his decision, Hewitt tells TechCrunch it was a direct result of Apple's tyrannical App Store approval policies, saying, "I respect their right to manage their platform however they want, however I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process... …

Microsoft is categorically denying accusations that its new Windows 7 operating system in any way copies, or was even inspired by, Mac OS X. Not helping matters are rumors floating around the Web that Microsoft's UK partner Group Manager Simon Aldous said his company basically created "a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics" in its Windows 7 operating system. Admitting the authenticity of the quote, Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc is slamming Aldous for what LeBlanc's calling an "inaccurate" characterization." He adds, "Unfortunately, this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7.... …

Do Twitterers have a preternatural aversion to advertising, or even the mere mentioning of branded products? Not according to new findings from search engine marketing services provider Performics and ROI Research. One might interpret study results as proof that Twitter users are relatively receptive to ads, and that they even rely on the micro-blogging service to discuss and learn more about various products. For the study, Performics and ROI surveyed about 3,000 consumers, a full 44% of whom said they remain receptive to promotions and offers on Twitter; 44% said they have recommended a product on Twitter; 39% report having …

In the wake of minor layoffs this week, AOL has officially acknowledged that it plans to drop the Ax -- with a capital "A" -- which will result in up to $200 million in restructuring charges through the first half of 2010. The figure, revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, is being associated with an estimated 1,000-to-1,500 looming job cuts at the soon-to-be-independent company. "All told, it sounds like the cuts would amount to about 1,500 employees, depending on the size of the buyout," Henry Blodget said prior to …

To help manage its increasingly massive amounts of data, Twitter has hired Utkarsh Srivastava, who most recently served as a senior research scientist at Yahoo. Reported to be a highly respected scientist, Srivastava is best known for his work on building large-scale distributed systems, specifically his efforts with Hadoop. Hadoop, similar to the Google File System, is a framework that enables applications to work over distributed "server nodes" and significant data sets. At Yahoo, Srivastava was one of the original designers of "Pig", an Apache project for analyzing large data sets, which leveraged Hadoop. It's not yet clear …