Internet & Media

Microsoft on Wednesday is launching Redu, a Bing-powered site that aims to act as a "homeroom" for people interested in learning more about the state of American schools. The Web site, to which Microsoft plans to link from Bing.com, aspires to be an online hub for those looking to donate to schools, volunteer locally, or work in education.

"This new site is a great way to galvanize interest and focus on public education," Pamela Passman, vice president of corporate affairs at Microsoft, said in an interview Tuesday.

Among its features is a Bing Map that … Read more

If you believe that Twitter is full of inane, immature narcissism, here's one in your solar plexus.

For an allegation has reached my eyes and baffled them into blindness. The allegation is that, at any given moment, at any given movement of your lungs and toes, 3 percent of Twitter's infrastructure is dedicated solely to the one person who most defines our hopes and our times.

I am not speaking of Kim Kardashian, nor of Rep. Jack Kimble. I am speaking of the one person who can unite men and women, young and old, sane and slightly less … Read more

Google is facing regulatory challenges from the Justice Department over its proposed purchase of online travel firm ITA Software.

The search giant must obtain government approval of its $700 million deal announced in early July to buy ITA Software, which helps travelers find cheaper airfares through relationships with major carriers, travel agencies, and travel search engines. Google wants to incorporate ITA's technology into its own search engine to make it easier for people to find tickets directly through Google.

But the Justice Department is concerned that a Google-owned ITA could give Google too much control over the online travel … Read more

The strangest massage I ever had consisted of the spa masseuse waving her hands all over my body, supposedly sending positive energy its way, without ever touching it.

Some are speculating that Craigslist, having removed its Adult Services section without explanation, is performing a similar sort of energy transfer.

Craigslist has remained entirely tight-lipped about the insertion of the word "CENSORED" where its Adult Services used to be. Yet some wonder whether Craigslist might be trying to prove that closing the section will merely encourage those who place ads for prostitution to use another of Craigslist's sections- … Read more

The good people at Twitter should send a bottle of champagne to Mike Wise.

Wise is the freshly chastised sportswriter from The Washington Post who was suspended last week for taking his company's reputation too lightly when he intentionally used Twitter to post false information on the Web. When Wise keyed in a phony scoop about Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger--using a Twitter account that identified Wise as a Washington Post reporter--he was trying to show how some journalists and bloggers will republish unfounded rumors without doing any fact checking. He intended to illustrate the weakness of blogs and … Read more

There is a strange and troubling rumor that YouTube is actually beginning to make money. (No, this is not merely because of the millions who continue to enjoy JK's supremely inventive wedding dance.)

Indeed, Google CEO Eric Schmidt was quoted by The New York Times as saying, "YouTube is a big component of our display revenue, and display is our next big business."

There is even talk that YouTube will earn $450 million this year. But it's hard to remember too many great ads that have graced YouTube's often prosaic surface.

However, I am grateful … Read more

Some who are at a loose end will find it odd to wake up to a Labor Day weekend and discover that the Adult Section on Craigslist has been removed and that the link to it on the site's home page has been replaced with a black bar reading "censored."

Craigslist has long been the whipping boy for attorneys general seeking to control prostitution within their purview and perhaps also seeking to win the favor of certain members of their constituencies.

However, why the section should suddenly have been removed in such a dramatic way (the censorship … Read more

This may be the year of the iPad's debut, but it's also the year that Android devices exploded in availability. To go along with the extra attention that Android's been getting of late, CNET News has ported its month-old iOS app to the Android marketplace. Debuting August 30, the free CNET News app for Android (Android-only download) offers an identical-but-Androidified feature set to its iOS twin.

Included in the Android app are article bookmarking, full-screen reading (except for the CNET logo at the top), mobile-optimized search, a built-in Twitter feed from CNET editors and personalities, font resizing … Read more

Facebook is taking a page out of Google's playbook.

The social network updated its search this week to include articles that a user's friend has "liked." So, when a person inputs a query into the Facebook search field, any article related to that query that someone in the person's network has liked will be included. All Facebook first reported on the update.

In most cases, the search results in Facebook's improved tool are ranked by the number of likes an item gets. But in a few queries that I input, including "new Apple … Read more