The U.S. computer and video game industry grew more than 9% from 2009 to 2012 -- estimated at four times the growth of the American economy (0.72%) during the same time, per a study released Tuesday by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The study, Video Games in the 21st Century: The 2014 Report, which analyzes the industry from 2009 to 2014, also found that approximately 146,000 individuals are directly and indirectly employed in 36 states by the entertainment software industry. Industry employees earn an average annual salary of $95,000; and total direct compensation for all employed in the video game software …

Google-owned Boston Dynamics has taught its robot known as Atlas how to stand on one leg and move its arms up and down like a bird. The robot stands 6-foot, 2-inches tall and weighs 330 pounds. It boasts 28 hydraulically actuated joints and stereo vision, and is one of the most advanced robots ever created, per the Daily Mail.

Consumer Watchdog, a non-profit organization, has criticized NASA's decision allowing Google to rent the Moffett Federal Airfield for 60 years. The Mountain View, Calif. company parks its private jets at Moffett Airfield, which is located near its headquarters. Last year, a Senate investigation found that NASA gave Google access to fuel for its corporate jets -- a deal struck by the Pentagon itself, reports The Register.

The U.S. patent office in October granted Disney a patent described as an "online content ranking system based on authenticity metric values for Web elements." The abstract explains a method for identifying and ranking search results and online advertisements based on authenticity. A search server includes an authenticity index, which includes metric values associated with one or more Web elements. The authenticity metric values may indicate the relative authority with respect to a specific category, keyword, search term, phrase, context, filter, and more. Search results may be generated and ranked based on the authenticity metric values, per the patent.

A Microsoft exec showed off a prototype of what email could look like in the future if it were to embed contextual information supplied by Bing on the back-end. Do the same for Outlook, and the email platform could allow users to see entity information right inside their e-mail. The same way that Microsoft Office apps alert users with a squiggly line to a misspelled word, a Bing-enriched mail app could show users information about bands, venues, nearby restaurants and more embedded in email messages, explains Mary Jo Foley.

How will search engines and brands predict future intent through voice ordering or search in apps? Dominos recently added voice ordering to its mobile application to support, in part, the 55% of teens and 40% of adults that Google says now use voice search. Now the company continues to push the feature in a campaign. It signals that voice search continues to become more accepted as a means to find information. While the MediaPost Search Insider Summits have been exploring this option for years, Jayson DeMey analyzes forthcoming changes.

Google will donate $2 for every dollar the public gives to stop the spread and find a cure for Ebola. The company also will donate $10 million to support nonprofits such as InSTEDD,International Rescue Committee, Medecins Sans Frontieres, NetHope, Partners in Health, Save the Children and U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Separately, Google's family foundation will give $15 million.

Earlier this week, Bing announced a new set of mobile crawlers with Bingbot Mobile User Agents to better support mobile non-responsively designed Web sites. Bing Crawl Program Manager Lee Xiong explained the crawlers it uses to perform common crawl duties, and what marketers need to consider when designing content for consumers.

Microsoft Search Director Stefan Weitz admitted at a conference in Dublin that Bing probably cannot compete with Google's search engine in a head-to-head race, but thinks Redmond's search engine remains a contender in search applications. He gave the audience a demonstration of Microsoft's multilingual search capability as an example, where a user can search in one language, such as Spanish, and have results returned from English-language sites. 

Mary Weinstein takes us through ways for marketers to increase conversions on your AdWords mobile campaigns for local. She suggests using Google My Business, formally Google Local, to gain insight into targeting tactics in AdWords, particularly for mobile campaigns. Weinstein describes how it works and why it works, along with some tips on mobile best practices.