For those keeping track, Frank Reed tells us Microsoft's online loss for the fiscal year totals $2.56 billion on revenue of $2.53 billion. He provides a graph, complements of Silicon Alley Insider, of Microsoft's online track record. Reed asks whether there's any hope.

Looking for some new tools to get organized and optimized? Jesse Friedman gives us details about SugarSync, Buffer, and Google Apps. He describes each of the three tools, explains how they work and how to use them, and provides recommendations. For example, he explains that Google Apps allows marketers to collaborate through the use of Google's services in the cloud such as Calendar, Docs, Analytics and other tools.

Olivia Isaacs and Dixon Jones give us a primer on counting links. They begin by defining the concept, terms and structures, then tell us why counting backlinks is not straightforward. That's because Google will occasionally count 301s and sometimes not. Other times Google might recognize the link, but not the context of a redirect. Go figure.

Ah -- another link-building tool. Vanilla Coke reviews Wordtracker's Link Builder, reminding marketers who practice search engine optimization that they need links. Period. The gray areas include anchor text, quality, volume, and other features, but when it comes down to basics without links, indexed pages are basically invisible in search results. So Coke defines the tool, describes its uses, and provides screen shots to help marketers verify they're on the right track.

Baidu has launched a browser to compete with Microsoft Explorer and Google Chrome, according to The Wall Street Journal. China's search giant launched the browser, which resembles Google Chrome, to attract more traffic to its engine. Baidu began offering beta downloads earlier this week. There's also a "Treasure Vault" section with 30,000 applications and other features such as games, videos and links to thousands of Web sites.

What competitor is trying to grab keyword traffic or just increase the cost for clicks by bidding on brand terms in the sector? Research firm eMarketer estimates that U.S. marketers will spend $14.4 billion on search advertising in 2011. And some are trying to grab branded keywords to drive up prices. eMarketer cites a report which found that competition was so intense that some brand terms had up to four companies bidding against each other on the major search engines. The post provides a synopsis of L2 Think Tank's "L2 Digital IQ Index" for financial services companies.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz provides a rundown on the search alliance with Microsoft during Yahoo's earnings call Tuesday, along with the financial and operational impact. She said the transition to Microsoft's system has been completed in five countries, including the U.S. The plan is to move several markets to the new system this year, but plans to complete the transition will be solidified as AdCenter improves revenue per search.

Cyrus Shepard describes two strategies for the "outreach" around linking content to external sources. He describes some benefits and problems with each for making new connections and getting something more valuable in return. As an SEO expert, do you use a link-out strategy?

Shaun Anderson provides insight on tools to check search engine rankings, and protect the privacy of those doing it. Search engines don't like automated bots that scrape their content ("the irony," he writes). So, he also tells us about a tool to change the computer's IP location, and another to save reports to a free storage Web site.

"Your computer appears to be infected" is the message some searchers might see at the top of their Google Web search results. The search engine found some unusual search traffic while performing routine maintenance on one of its data centers. The malware causes infected computers to send traffic to Google through a small number of servers called "proxies." Google hopes by taking steps to notify users whose traffic comes through proxies it can help them update antivirus software and remove the infections.