eMarketer points to a Q1 2012 study from Viacom that suggests tablet owners use their devices 74% of the time at home. The study finds that tablet owners are most likely to use their devices for entertainment while waiting at an airport or in an airplane when outside the home. Some 36% use their devices in a store. The analysis suggests that tablets do not have the same mobile shopping draw as smartphones. While the study does not explore the why, the most logical reason might be the cost for multiple cellular service agreements. The tablet would transition from the …

Microsoft annnounced Monday it invested $300 million in Barnes & Noble's e-reading subsidiary, which the retailer will form from its digital and college businesses, taking a 17.6% equity stake in the business. The two companies said a Nook application will become available for Windows 8, making Barnes & Noble's library of books, magazines, and newspapers available to Windows customers. The Microsoft operating system becomes available at the end of the year.

Research presented at CHI 2012, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Austin, would allow people to search for content on computers by touching the desktop rather than the screen. Venture Beat describes a technology presented at the event called Touche. A touch-sensitive desk surface that allows users to manipulate objects on computer screens with far greater fidelity than even today's best tablets could become one potential application. This new technology would give users the entire surface of a desk to work on.

Pinterest is looking for translators beginning with French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, but hopes to launch soon in Dutch, Greek, Italian, Korean, Malay, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Swedish, and Turkish, according to the company's blog. Apparently, the site will continue to expand globally, supporting a variety of languages. Pinterest takes its place as the No. 3 social site behind Facebook and Twitter. It has become one of the fastest-growing social sites.

Melissa Fach points to an infographic that tells us how display ads drive search campaigns. The infographic highlights the close relationship between display and search by using statistics from recent studies. It details the impact and shows us that search volume increases in a variety of industries. For example, according to Yahoo, 5% of conversions were attributed to customers seeing display ads followed by search ads. 

eBay and Wal-Mart have been developing on-site search engines for their respective Web sites -- a trend that continues to grow among tech-based companies. It's not surprising the two have been separately increasing commitments to search. ebay acquired search engine Milo in 2010 to support online shopping. Wal-Mart's tech division, known for developing and implementing emerging technologies, built a supply chain -- manufacturing and distribution -- strategy on radio frequency identification technology and real-time products replenishment.

Based on high scores in a tool judging AdWords campaign performance, compared with similar budgets of others, several experts give feedback on tips and tricks for producing successful campaigns. Some give considerable attention to search query reports, while others focus on relevance and analysis. Whatever works, pay attention to spikes and dips to optimize as needed.

Marshall Simmonds provides pointers on integrating enterprise search engine optimization tactics into strategies for startups and small businesses, as well as justifying the plan to management in an effort to gain buy-in. He tells us that when trying to convince management the value that SEO can bring, we should not be afraid to use examples of past failure as a tool to move the company forward and to show how optimization could have prevented the slide.

Simple -- the word of the day. Even Microsoft this week began rolling out a new simpler look for Bing search aimed at offering users a de-cluttered, cleaner and faster experience. The engine also provides faster page-load times and improved relevance for queries in an effort to help people spend less time searching and more time doing -- just like the ad campaign describes. Sally Salas tells us to stay tuned -- there is more to come.

Creative folks typically work at something for the love of it. The Wall Street Journal reports that one of the site's new original-content channels, WIGS, pays everyone working on set-level production $15 an hour based on a per-diem rate. Perhaps Google needs to develop an ad revenue share model that supports original content. It turns out that News Corp. (owner of WSJ) Digital Media Group, a unit of News Corp., is the marketing partner for WIGS.