Google's U.S. paid click-through rate posted a strong performance in the month of April, while Yahoo and Microsoft gave up ground, according to figures released late Wednesday by ComScore.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his new COO Sheryl Sandberg fielded questions from Kara Swisher at the D6 conference. The pair stayed on message. Zuckerberg has learned to simply state the company goals in answer to almost any question. It shows focus and the savvy of a budding politician. Sandberg brought serious chops to the monetization and marketing discussion.

While some attendees grumbled that speakers were less than forthcoming, that could most certainly not be said for Rupert Murdoch, who was plenty outspoken in his evening chat.

At its Silicon Valley complex, it's famed for pampering staff with free food and more flavours of smoothie than there are colours in the rainbow, but Google employees closer to home can now feel smug as its London GooglePlex has been named best workplace in the UK.

A group representing Belgian newspaper publishers is demanding that Google pay it up to €49m — some £40m — in damages related to a lawsuit alleging the search giant linked to and cached their news stories in violation of copyright law.

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer reminisced about 28 years of working together and addressed a number of topics, including Vista, Yahoo, Google, Windows 7, and search, in an interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at D6.

In spite of all the bad press Windows Vista has had to endure, Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner stands firm on his belief that the operating system is surging ahead and doing better than its predecessor.

Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information" over the Web, YouTube parent Google said in a legal response to the suit.

China announced a restructuring plan for the country's fixed-line and mobile operators on Saturday, a final step towards the long-awaited release of 3G (third-generation) mobile licenses.

While speaking in Moscow, Microsoft CEO and Yahoo suitor Steve Ballmer said, "Yahoo was never the strategy we were pursuing, it was a way to accelerate our online advertising business...We will spend money on some acquisitions. You can do a whole lot of things with 50 billion dollars."

Several years ago while still working for Novell, I considered going to work for Microsoft in Europe. (Had I waited long enough, I could have worked for Microsoft while still at Novell, but that's another story, albeit one that is paying off well for Novell.) I thought I could help the company figure out open source and navigate the thorny issues that prevent it from embracing open source.

Egypt will host the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' 33rd International Public Meeting in November, after Kenya lost the bid on security grounds.

Google co-founder Larry Page has said that he respects Yahoo's struggle to remain independent, and there is still a chance that an advertising deal between the two companies could work.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is sticking to the company line of give-me-a-piece-of-Yahoo-but-not-the-whole-enchilada.

Google's top brass are meeting Monday to figure out a response to how Microsoft's new overtures toward Yahoo affect Google's potential ad deal with Yahoo.

Although better known for her other child, necessity is also the mother of negotiations.

Microsoft announced on Sunday afternoon that it has issued another proposal to Yahoo, calling for a transaction that would not involve the acquisition of all of Yahoo's assets.

CBS has agreed to acquire CNET Networks in a deal valued at $1.8 billion, the companies said Thursday.

Software giant Microsoft is to appeal a fine of €899m (£709m) imposed by the European Commission in February.

Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang is reportedly still open to negotiations with Microsoft, if the software giant is prepared to improve its takeover offer.

Microsoft just wasn't willing to pay enough for Yahoo to make the deal worthwhile, the company said Saturday.

Apparently Yahoo wasn't just bluffing with its plan for an ad deal with rival Google.

Yahoo could announce a deal within a week to carry Google search ads, potentially including a nonexclusive arrangement to allay antitrust concerns, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.