Though it's not the first time, Microsoft is rolling out a new search loyality program, reports Search Engine Land. Bing Rewards Preview is a credit card or airline-style loyalty program that offers users credits that can be redeemed for products, gift cards or charitable donations. To make use of the program, people first have to install the Bing Bar toolbar, have a Windows Live ID, be on a Windows machine and use Internet Explorer. "No Chrome or Firefox, no Macs," writes Search Engine Journal. Uses get 250 credits for signing up, and then accrue additional credits by …

So, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington claims to have uncovered a clandestine cabal of venture capitalists involved in collusion and price-fixing. Several members apparently even told him how they hold down the valuations assigned to early-stage companies; how to block VCs from investing in companies that outgrow the cabal; and how to undermine startup incubator Y Combinator, which invests very small amounts in ideas deemed too underdeveloped for angel funding. "This isn't minor league stuff," says Arrington. "We're talking about federal crimes and civil prosecutions if in fact that's what they're doing." For its part, Gawker thinks that …

For the seventh consecutive year, Apple has bested all rivals in the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, with a score of 86 out of 100. What's more, its Apple's highest ranking since the annual survey began in 1995. "The real story is how much further ahead of its peers Apple is in this area," writes CNet. "Most of the rest of the field (Acer, Dell, HP, and others) is tied with a score of 77, while HP's Compaq brand is ranked 74." In all fairless, all of the PC makers improved their scores this year, …

If Verizon ever does get the iPhone, what impact will it have on the market? A new report from Credit Suisse suggests that an as many as 1.4 million AT&T subscribers will change carriers. As VentureBeat notes, Credit Suisse's report relies on a supposed February 15 launch of the Verizon iPhone, based on a Bloomberg report, along with and other mounting evidence. The survey conducted by Credit Suisse indicated that a full 23% of AT&T iPhone users would switch to Verizon given the opportunity -- "even though most of them are under contract and only 3 percent of the …

Don't look now, Fourquare, but Facebook just rolled-out what TechCrunch is calling a "de-facto follow feature." As Inside Facebook originally reported, the top social network just changed the way users can "reject" friend requests. Rather than ignoring (or denying) a request, users can now respond with a "Not Now" reply. More to the point, TechCrunch notes, "When someone requests to be your friend on Facebook, this automatically subscribes them to all of your public ('Everyone') posts in their News Feed ... You see these posts until this person rejects you (because obviously if they accept you …

The future of location-based services hangs in the balance as consumers and analysts vet the latest version Foursquare's popular iPhone app. "The big theme seems to be directing users to new locations and activities, rather than just sharing their location with friends," writes MobileBeat's Anthony Ha. "Perhaps this will give me a better answer the next time one of my non-Foursquare friends (and there are lot of them) asks, 'But what's the point?'" "In version 2.0, Foursquare emphasizes Tips and To-Dos, which are now split up and given prominent placement in the …

Google today is expected to debut a Transparency Report tool, which will publish where and when Internet traffic to Google sites is blocked, while the blockages will be annotated with details when possible. "For instance, the tool shows that YouTube has been blocked in Iran since the disputed presidential election in June 2009," notes The New York Times' Bits blog. The Transparency Report will also house Google's government requests tool, a map that shows every time a government has asked Google to take down or hand over information, and what percentage of the time Google has …

Since its debut earlier this month, there's been no shortage of opinions surrounding Google's Instant search feature, which dynamically refreshes search results (within the search box itself) as users enter search terms. Rather than an SEO killer or search game changer, Matt Van Wagner, founder and president of search engine marketing firm Find Me Faster, just calls Instant an "amazing" PR win for Google. "With just a press conference and a few well-placed interviews, Google has parlayed this relatively minor speed improvement into an attention-grabbing front-page news story," Van Wagner writes in Search Engine Land. "From the …

The Wall Street Journal investigates those technology companies bent on delivering video to the living room over the Web, and offering ads on their services. Quite simply, they're "seeking to capture some of the billions of ad dollars that flow to television," it writes. TiVo and Microsoft, among others, have released ad products tied to broadband-video services designed to be accessed on television sets, not computers, reports The Journal. "They include ads that can take a viewer to a movie trailer on YouTube when the viewer pauses a TiVo-recorded TV program, as well as ads that can …

Rovi, a developer of interactive program guides for TVs and set-tops, said it has reached a "multi-year agreement" with Apple for access to Rovi's intellectual property, per a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "The specific terms of the license agreement are confidential," reads the filing. "Rovi, originally founded as Macrovision in the early 1980s, offers several technologies related to interactive television program guides and anti-piracy technologies," according to MacRumors.com. "The company also maintains an extensive database of metadata on TV shows, music, and movies. No further information on Apple's interest in Rovi's technology has been revealed, …