AIM Pages Users For Social Network

AOL is going up against MySpace and other sites as it attempts to draw some of the younger online crowd to base their profiles where they do their instant messaging.

No Yahoo Stake For Microsoft

Microsoft did offer Yahoo CEO Terry Semel a deal where Microsoft would get a stake in Yahoo's search business, but suggestions that Bill Gates was ready to buy Yahoo simply didn't happen.

France Could Legalize Piracy Software

Not to the get into the intricacies of French lawmaking, I'll defer to a source nearer to it (thanks ZDNet). French lawmakers have modified proposed legislation on digital rights management (DRM) that will make it legal for hackers to crack copyright protection and distribute the software at will.

25 Things I Learned on Google Trends

To give you a sense of its tremendous power for tapping into the world psyche, here are 25 things I learned on Google Trends. Someone should start a blog on this kind of stuff.

Local Search Hosts The Ad Battleground

The major online players, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, all have advanced their efforts at serving local markets with improved mapping products, high-quality imagery, and advertising tools aimed at bringing the offline small business into the online world.