When Internet giants team up, civil-liberties advocates tend to worry that their consolidated power will end up hurting the privacy of average users.

An agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo to work together on Web search is no different. But at least one expert thinks it could re-energize a three-year trend that has delivered to consumers more privacy protections around the search data Internet companies store.

Jules Polonetsky, director of the research group Future Privacy Forum and formerly chief privacy officer at AOL and DoubleClick, thinks the tie-up could restart competition among the big search providers for bragging rights to who has the best practices.

“Both Microsoft and Yahoo are deeply committed to protecting consumer privacy,” said Mike Hintze, associate general counsel at Microsoft. “We will continue to look for ways to enhance consumer privacy as we move forward with this agreement, in close collaboration with customers, consumer advocates, industry partners, and governments.”

Yahoo currently retains data about people’s search queries — including keywords searched, cookie information and IP address, but no names or addresses — for three months, at which time it takes several steps to further anonymize the data so it cannot be connected to a particular person. Microsoft retains search data for 18 months, after which it says it moves to “complete anonymization.” The company has also said it will reduce its retention period to 6 months — the time frame preferred by European regulators — if Google agrees to do so as well.

Google, the search-market giant with 65 percent share, retains data for nine months, after which it makes IP addresses more difficult to tie to actual people. Then at 18 months, it makes cookie information anonymous. Retaining and mining vast amounts of data reinforces Google’s supremacy in search because the insight it gains helps it to improve its engine and services.

The incident set off a new conversation about what data search engines keep and how long they keep it (and got Mr. Polonetsky the top privacy job at AOL). Soon, European regulators signaled that they thought Internet companies should not hold on to search data beyond six months. The companies, which aim to operate under one global policy, began making changes.

“Three years ago they all had the data forever,” Mr. Polonetsky said. He then added, “They’ve all brought the time frames down and added privacy restrictions. I’m hoping that this period we’ve seen of search competition is given another boost by this” team-up of Microsoft and Yahoo.

People uncomfortable with the big three’s policies have options. You can use Ixquick, which runs queries through popular engines anonymously and doesn’t keep IP addresses. And there is Ask.com and its AskEraser feature for deleting search activity from the engine’s servers, though it has not entirely escaped criticism.

Source:Gadgetwise.Blogs.Nytimes

There are signs that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is taking measures to better compete with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) after the internet-giant-turned Android-maker outbid Apple for AdMob and released a phone of its own that it will sell directly to the public.

The two companies, which have been on friendly terms for years, have now entered a new, more adversarial phase, reports Business Week, which talks to sources close to Apple that say given recent actions by Google, Apple is beefing up activity on two fronts: advertising and mergers and acquisitions.

Apple’s new mobile advertising strategy: After Google outbid Apple and spent $750 million to purchase AdMob, Apple went out and purchased Quattro Wireless. Now, sources are saying that Apple aims to create “new kinds of mobile ads,” which wouldn’t really compete with Google, but to make searching on mobile phones obsolete. The sources would not say how Apple plans to do this, it could tap into user data and location information to make ads more relevant. Theories also suggest Apple could have someone shake the device to win a rebate the same way they do to roll dice in games.

Apple’s new take on M&A: Apple has also hired Adrian Perica, an M&A specialist, formerly of Goldman Sachs, to better compete for deals, according to BusinessWeek. Historically, Apple was never eager to grow by acquisition. Since 1997, Apple has bought only 11 small companies, but that’s set to change. So, what will Apple buy next? AllThingsD suggests Adobe, which has rumored to be a potential candidate for a long time. Whether Apple is considering big-ticket items, like Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE), it’s unclear. It’s market cap is currently at $18.66 billion.

Source: Moconews.Net

Apple Inc. unveiled a tablet computer named ‘iPad’ to revolutionized personal computing. Priced at $499, the device features a 10-inch touchscreen, with 3G data and a custom ARM processor instead of the previously considered Intel Atom processor. It will be positioned in that empty spot between smartphone and laptop in Apple’s product line.

Similar to modern netbooks in design and scope, the iPad is projected to enter the same bloated netbook market with Apple’s high end design (it’s expected appearance looks like a large iPhone), functionality (OS X for its operating system).

According to Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs,”The iPad can display full Web pages, books and iPhone applications, and has a touch-screen keyboard that’s almost full size.” A 16-gigabyte version will sell for $499, while a 32-gigabyte model costs $599.

With its “communication enabled” operating system, the data can be faxed, e-mailed, beamed via infrared or sent to a desktop computer or printer. It is also convenient for voice, video and other advanced technologies when they become available.

Its price is 50 percent lower than the other netbooks. “At that price, they’ll sell millions,” said Hakim Kriout, a portfolio manager at New York-based Grigsby & Associates, which owns Apple shares. “It’s very, very affordable for what it does. This is going to add a huge revenue stream for Apple.”

The device, made of aluminum and glass, can display maps from Google Inc., and has calendar and address-book functions. It also lets users display thumbnail views of photos. The iPad has a 1-gigahertz chip that was custom designed by Apple and battery life of 10 hours, Jobs said.

The device supports Wi-Fi communications and runs the more than 140,000 applications already available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It also works with wireless service from AT&T Inc., the U.S. carrier for the iPhone, though no contract is required.

Apple said there will be two iPad wireless data plans from AT&T in the U.S. One will cost $14.99 and give users up to 250 megabytes of data downloads. The other will have unlimited data and cost $29.99. The company is also working on international wireless plans.