Google and Yahoo have separately met with Flipboard to explore a possible acquisition, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people in the know. Both are in the early stages and have yet to state a price. Flipboard aggregates stories from publishers and users' social networks.

At the main issue of the battle, which has been raging for years, lies whether Google illegally copied part of the Android mobile operating system from a technology called Java, which is now owned by Oracle. Google, for the most part, initially won the first part of the battle; Oracle the second in an appeals court about a year ago. Business Insider reports that if the Supreme Court doesn't take the case, Oracle's appeals win could stand. Tech heavy weights like Marc Andreessen are speaking out.

Not all hands are created in the same color. That's the message graphic designer Johanna Burai, from Stockholm, Sweden, wanted to send when creating the page World White Web on her site. Burai's campaign sends a message that images in searches need to become more diverse, featuring people of color in searches like "hands," "legs," and other body parts.

Any parent with small children who hires a sitter they barely know wishes they could have another set of eyes to keep tabs on what happens when they're not around. Take that one step further and connect it with the Internet of Things. Now a three-year-old Google patent filing recently emerged that could make that wish a reality. The smart teddy bear patent could listen to conversations, watch movements and control media devices. It would have built-in speakers, cameras and microphones. The patent filing suggests the technology could be made into a rabbit, bear, dragon or even alien form.

Samuel Scott explains how to use a site's server log analysis to improve search engine optimization. He defines the term "log file," tells marketers how to access it, and explains ways to analyze the information, and how to gain insights from the data marketers can apply to search engine optimization.

Digital marketing agency Oban Digital is offering a free download of a nine-chapter book written by Donald L. Dunnington, an adjunct professor at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., teaching advertising and online public relations. He highlights how U.S. marketers and consumer have learned that global strategies require local scope, and shows how domestic marketing content and strategies are not easily translated or applied to other markets.    

What has until now been named Google Webmaster Tools will now be known as Google Search Console. Why the change? “Google says because the tool is not just for webmasters, it is for hobbyists, small business owners, SEO experts, marketers, programmers, designers, app developers and yes, Webmasters,” Search Engine Land reports. “Nothing else has changed with this name change, although Google is frequently adding new features to the tool.” 

I'm doing everything by the book, following best practices, so where are my results? Why does my competition rank on the back of spam results or manipulative links? These are two of the five questions Rand Fishkin addresses in a video about the five top things that infuriate SEO experts -- even those with the best intentions -- and how to fix them.

Content, content and more content. To what type of content do readers most often link? Dutch SEO specialist Wouter van der Meij recently published a study of the most linked search industry content.

It's really a matter of opinion. "What does DuckDuckGo search have to offer that other search engines don't?" It's a question that originally ran in Quora. Forbes runs through the comments.