AP - It sounded like a winning proposition — free money — for Internet access providers. By tracking their subscribers' personal Web surfing habits, they could help deliver ads targeted to the consumers' interests, and claim a share of the burgeoning online advertising market dominated by Internet search companies. But those efforts to sniff out consumers' interests are running into the ditch.

Reuters - Google Inc. , facing a U.S. Justice Department probe of its search-advertising partnership with Yahoo Inc. , will proceed with the agreement by early October, Bloomberg said.

Reuters - Microsoft has agreed to buy Greenfield Online, owner of popular European price comparison website ciao.com, for about $486 million to boost its Internet search and e-commerce business in Europe.

PC Magazine - Google will house its Android marketplace on an open content distribution system similar in style to YouTube, and the first Android phone will include access to a beta version of Android Market, the search engine giant said Thursday.

Reuters - Mobile service provider Verizon Communications Inc. is nearing an agreement with Google Inc. on a wide-ranging partnership, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Reuters - U.S. mobile service provider Verizon Communications Inc. is nearing an agreement with Google Inc. on a wide-ranging partnership, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

AFP - Watch out Google -- Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales hopes that Wikia Search, a project he spearheads, will break Google's domination as the world's most widely used Internet search engine.