Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! in battle for supremacy in online ad mkt

Google, in turn, recently acquired major online ad network provider Double-Click to maintain its role as the dominant player in the constantly evolving search universe. On July 21, Yahoo! said it would give activist shareholder Carl Icahn, who had pushed a deal with Microsoft, a seat on its board and two seats for his allies. Earlier this month, under pressure from Icahn , Yahoo! signaled it is still interested in striking a deal with Microsoft, which is seeking partners for a deal to buy and possibly divide the company.

Wharton marketing professor Peter S Fader says he understands why Microsoft wants to beef up its presence in the fast-growing realm of online advertising , but doubts that pursuing Yahoo! is an effective strategy.

Verizon Voice Mail Upgrade Planned for Early Aug. 10

Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving nearly 69 million customers nationwide. Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 228,600 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web.

Remember the Jericho Forum?

"They haven't captured the imagination of the software world," says Dick Mackey, vice president at consultancy System Experts. "Is Jericho Forum having an impact outside its own borders? Not yet."

"A vision of the future that assumes everything can protect itself is great if that future ever happens - but until then, network security will generally lead the way," says Gartner analyst John Pescatore, adding Jericho Forum doesn't appear to have had a major impact on anything over the course of its existence.

And sometimes the rules that influential standards groups come up with seem to work against the principles espoused by the Jericho Forum.

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In the redzone: Internet search gives insight to family history

After about one minute of skimming through the search engine, I discovered results matching up with my great-grandfather on a boxing web site.

Pete Scott compiled an overall record of 12-12-4 during his five-year professional career in the squared circle.

While strolling through his biography I was anxious to find out if he had ever fought for a title or became a champion. In the fifth fight of his career on April 25, 1916, he fought Johnny OLeary for the Canadian lightweight Title at the Garden Theater in Buffalo, NY. Unfortunately, much to my chagrin my great grandfather was knocked out by OLeary in the ninth round.

Pete Scott would never fight for a championship title again.

Although he fought 23 more times after this match.

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Windows Search—If you don't use the Vista search or you use an alternate desktop search engine, you really don't need this service and can increase performance quite a bit by disabling it. Windows Defender - If you are already using another anti-malware product, you really don't need this running as well. Ed Bott's summary speaks for itself:

If someone tries to talk you into disabling a bunch of other services, ask them what you stand to gain. I'll bet they can't tell you.

Editor: Readers should note that a recent Windows Vista tweaking guide, offered for download by Microsoft, does suggest disabling unneeded services.

When it comes to performance tweaking, a very large amount of testing is required each and every time you make a change. The better option is to simply install more RAM and clean up your PC if you are having performance problems, and perhaps demand a little more proof before applying secret hacks.