Advertising

Microsoft said on Wednesday that it has combined its product search engine with its Live Search Cashback, a product that gives users a rebate on certain purchases made directly after using Live Search.

"The new site unifies Live Search Products (the shopping vertical within Live Search) and Cashback to make it easier for you to research, compare products, and save money," Microsoft said in a blog posting.

The move also reflects the fact that on the back end, Microsoft has shifted the underlying engine for Cashback over from technology from its Jellyfish acquisition and onto the primary Live … Read more

Negotiations between sports-governing bodies and TV channels are often rather beguiling.

While News Corp.'s Fox, for example, built the fourth network with the NFL its most sturdy pillar, other channels seem to fall in and out of favor.

Now Comcast, which owns some channels and controls a seemingly infinite amount of cable, is threatening to remove the NFL Network from every last strand of cable because it feels that the NFL is not quite playing ball.

Comcast has never liked the 70-cents-per-subscriber fee that the NFL charges for the its total football network, which occasionally shows a live game … Read more

Fairly fainting from frivolousness, I accidentally wandered onto the Nieman Journalism Lab site the other day.

This is a group of people who seem associated with Harvard, and are trying to make sense of that strange thing that some describe as "quality journalism."

I went there for a little heavy relief again Tuesday and discovered a very interesting tract, written by Martin Langeveld.

You know I won't get all the numerical nuances right when I tell you that he stared at a lot of numbers, accessed a number of electronic fingers for help, made one or two … Read more

With three genuine installments on the Web, it's naturally time for the parodies of Microsoft's "laptop hunter" ads to start rolling in.

The first one I've seen is from LandlineTV. It features Frank, a homeless guy with $1,000 to spend on a laptop.

Frank's first stop is the Apple store.

"These are beautiful," he says, spotting a MacBook Air that is "so thin" but costs $1,700.

"What can I get for $1,000?" Frank asks. Eventually, he winds up in front of a Windows PC.

"… Read more

It seems that Bernie Madoff, the Fonzi of the Ponzi, had little use for technology for much of his life. He may not have even bothered making any online trades, for example.

However, he (or rather the trustees of whatever there is left of his swindling) has resorted to eBay to sell a couple of rather fine tickets to the New York Mets' opening day game.

These tickets--conveniently situated near the Mets dugout--are not the actual tickets that might have been graced with Madoff's behind. His trustees exchanged his chosen tickets for these in a deal with the Mets. … Read more

Discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo about a search partnership, while still preliminary, have taken place in recent weeks, according to a report on the All Things Digital Web site.

The talks have included a face-to-face meeting between Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, the report said. AllThingsD stressed that the talks are centered on what sort of search and advertising partnership might be possible, rather than an all-out acquisition.

Ballmer has been saying for months he would be open to a search deal, while Bartz has appeared less than eager for such an arrangement, in her far more limited comments … Read more

After Lauren, the actress, and Giampaolo, the model engineer, meet Jackson, the cutest kid you ever will see. His mom, Lisa, is quite nice too.

Yes, with its "laptop hunters" campaign Microsoft is going to keep punching with every possible demographic and every last letter in the extremely traditional advertising vernacular until it hears the merest whimper from those smug, designer-clad pretty-boys at Apple.

Lisa and Jackson are a charming pair. Revved up by the folks cunningly pretending to be market researchers, they scurry around Best Buy as if they're playing a sophisticated form of hide and … Read more

Microsoft's assault on Apple is continuing, as the software maker is ready with the third in its "Laptop Hunter" series of Windows ads.

This time it's a mom and kid in search of an entertainment notebook. Guess, what? They go with a PC--a Sony this time. And, instead of going to Fry's, they hit Best Buy.

Otherwise, it's pretty much the same thread as the earlier spots, though this time Microsoft once again plays the kid card.

Microsoft had said when it launched the "Lauren" spot that there would be several ads along the same theme. … Read more